The Science of Compassion
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This is the science and function of compassion, or how to make happiness happen.
Gandhi said, "Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Let's illustrate it: See Gandhi's words as a human being: your mind equals what you think and say, and what you do equals your body. What brings your mind and body together? The same qualities that bring a marriage, a nuclear family, and, in an ideal world, a global community together: Compassion.
Compassion is love in action -- the doing of happiness, which, when done consistently, becomes what you think and say. On the other hand, distress is compassion's exact opposite, and it kills brain cells, marriages, and human beings.
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Compassion seems to be poorly understood. Even dictionaries fail to properly define it! So what is the meaning of compassion?
The Science of Compassion Meditation
"The Brain and Positive Emotions..."
Recent fMRI studies (brain scans) show that compassion meditation activates areas in the brain linked to language, communication, and happiness. In a 2008 study, sixteen age-matched controls with no previous training were taught the basics of compassion meditation two weeks before the brain scanning took place.
The controls in this study were asked first to concentrate on loved ones, wishing them well-being and freedom from suffering. After some training, they then were asked to generate such feelings toward all beings without thinking specifically about anyone.
This follows the principle of mantra and mindfulness and how they interact. When you focus on compassionate mantras (a mantra is any point of focus), your mantras grow larger. All perceptions grow if you repeatedly focus on them. How you feel depends on the emotional quality of your mantras.
As you become mindful, you then detach from the specific mantras and "bask" in the general feelings that your mantras stimulated. The practice is easier than the theory as you can see from this step-by-step
compassion meditation.
Back to the study...
It also suggests the following about compassion meditation:
- It can be learned in the same way as playing sports or a musical instrument.
- Through training, you can develop skills that promote happiness and compassion. People are not stuck at their emotional set points.
- It can benefit bullying children, people prone to depression, and society in general.
- Learning compassion for yourself is a vital first step in compassion meditation.
- Compassion meditation can be beneficial in promoting more harmonious relationships.
Compassion is effective not just on your family relationships, but also on your business relationships.
The brain scans revealed heightened activity in the insula, a brain region that plays a crucial role in bodily representations of emotion. Richard Davidson, professor of psychiatry and psychology at UW-Madison and an expert on imaging the effects of meditation, says:
"The insula is extremely important in detecting emotions in general and specifically in mapping bodily responses to emotion, such as heart rate and blood pressure, and making that information available to other parts of the brain."
"...Heart rate and blood pressure..."?
"Positive Effects on the Heart"
The science of compassion has discovered positive effects on heart rate and blood pressure.
The average heart rate is around 70 beats per minute. During a minute the heart rate varies, usually increasing when we breathe in, and slowing down when we exhale. This speeding and slowing is known as Heart Rate Variability (HRV).
When the parasympathetic nervous system is more active, HRV increases. This is healthy.
On the other side, an overactive sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight/stress) has the opposite effects on the heart...
A stressed or depressed person has, amongst many other health risks, a decreased HRV and is 450% more likely to die from a heart attack. And if the person survives the heart attack but becomes depressed (65% do), the chances of dying within four months of the attack increases by 600-1,000%.
How does compassion intervene?
Compassion increases parasympathetic activity due to positive emotions. This means a greater HRV, a healthier heart, and decreased risk of heart disease.
Why?
Ultimately, we're dealing with the brain which can act on all parts of your body and also interact with itself (mind/brain). The cause of stress in the brain goes into more detail.
Stress and compassion have the exact opposite effects on your mind/brain and body. Let's here simplify and mirror them...
- Stress and negative emotions are harmful to your mind and body. Compassion and positive emotions are good for your mind and body.
- Stress separates and isolates, compassion connects and unifies.
- Stress is caused by perceived threat and passive loss of control. Compassion causes perceived opportunity and strong, active decision-making.
Compassion is the antidote to stress.
Long-term stress and negative emotions may lead to
depression, cell death and suicide.
Long-term compassion and positive emotions lead to depression's opposite –
true happiness
- because you are doing the decision-making and the leading.
Compassion is smart, healthy love in action. The stressful feedback cycle can spin in either direction depending on your choices and actions. Cutting through any buts and excuses, it's just that simple.
From dry theory and the science of compassion, this is a more understandable and motivating
definition of compassion:
"Compassion is the
Peace and Love of Happiness."
Without compassion, there's no true happiness. None. So decide to consistently show compassion for yourself and those around you.
You can do so by meditating.
Meditating (and relaxing), a person reduces his stress-levels, becomes more aware, emotionally more stable, and he understands which decisions he must make and why he must commit to them and follow through: His peace, love and happiness is at stake.
If you read these compassion quotes you will notice that the science of compassion seems to be transcended by the practice of it, and that compassion certainly has a powerful impact on those who use it. (And the great, compassionate men and women also have a profound impact on us).
So there's no reason to wait for the science of compassion to catch up with ancient wisdom and common sense.
If you would like to practice,
click here for the guided compassion meditation.
Go from The Science of Compassion to Learning meditation.
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