The Essential Meaning Of Compassion
But what is compassion in a practical setting? How do you apply it? First you have to be consciously aware of distress which is difficult if your stress-levels have gradually built up over many years. If you're not aware of distress, there's no reason to alleviate it. Furthermore, if you're aware of distress within yourself but aren't willing to alleviate it, you're obviously going to be less willing to help others. The essential meaning of compassion is interconnectedness - love. These compassion quotes illustrate this principle. Meditation means awareness and is helpful because it increases your emotional awareness, which also includes negative emotions and stress, while simultaneously helping you alleviate stress. This is not a coincidence because when you're not aware of stress it especially affects you because you are affected by the people you interact with. We're here dealing with positive feedback - you reap what you sow while you're sowing it... Let's review an example of feedback and the meaning of compassion in action... If you're whistling with "happiness" and suddenly face an angry spouse or co-worker, your whistling will probably die out pretty quickly. Before you know it, your whistling has become angry shouting, and together, you and your spouse/co-worker are interacting in a positive feedback cycle of anger. There's nothing positive about this cycle (explained in the cause of stress.) UNLESS you (or your spouse/co-worker) decide to detach yourself from the situation and the negative emotions, and thus alleviate your stress. If not, you are both likely going to further spread anger and negative emotions into your social environments. Making the decision and acting upon the decision is how compassion is brought into action. Compassion involves action and smart decisions. And with decision comes choice. Now let's turn to the choices you're facing when dealing with a troublesome situation --
Compassion and choices.
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