Compassion & True Mental Health

     "Compassion goes beyond empathy to the heartfelt yearning, 'May you be free of suffering and its causes. How may I help?'"

       B. Alan Wallace. "The Attention Revolution. Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind." Wisdom, Boston, 2006.
 
     How often am I actually compassionate? Maybe in a healthcare setting, but outside of that? All too rarely to be truthful. Compassion is the opposite of our default individualistic, competitive, adversarial, self-centered way of being.
     Yet a part of us deeply understands that compassion is healthy & natural. And we can cultivate the mental balance in which compassion naturally resides.

 

Shahnewaz Karim, National Geographic   http://photography.nationalgeographic.com