The manifestations and meaning of compassion

From a psychological point of view, a person can express a wide variety of emotions. Moreover, he can show his feelings outside or keep inside himself. Today in our article we will talk about such an important phenomenon as compassion, and also consider what feelings are its integral components.

It should be noted that today there is no clear definition and generally accepted concept of compassion. This feeling is often associated with love, understanding, respect and selfless help.

Compassion itself (empathy, empathy) is a phenomenon that has been studied and analyzed in various areas of human life.

• Religion. The capacity for compassion is an essential quality that every religious person should have. It is believed to be the highest form of human existence. Many religious leaders talk about compassion as a kind of communicative miracle.
• Charity. It is generally accepted that only wealthy and famous people can do charity work. However, this fact is not true. In fact, ordinary people can also engage in charity work: the main thing is to remember that you can donate not only your money, but also your time.
• Self improvement. In this sense, self-improvement should be perceived as spiritual work on oneself, a complete rejection of selfishness and the perception of one's personality as the most important and best.

Generally speaking, compassion as a feeling is impossible in the absence of other people and attention to them. A compassionate person is imbued with other people's problems, they show empathy. However, this feeling is not a manifestation of pity, which often humiliates other people. At the same time, compassion is equalizing. A compassionate person does not try to solve the problems of others, does not show arrogance towards others, does not put himself above others. On the contrary, he helps and guides, supports in difficult situations.

It is generally accepted that compassion is a feeling that is mostly inherent in the female half of humanity, but this is not at all the case. This trait in their character should be developed by both women and men. In any case, in order to be compassionate, you need to be spiritually strong and self-reliant.

Such a personality characteristic as compassion is important (especially in our time). Indeed, this feeling is quite often needed not only by the person in relation to whom it is manifested, but also by the one who manifests it. Thus, from the point of view of psychology, it is very important to be able to show compassion to the people around you.

Emotions of empathy are needed in life, as they develop the very personality and the spiritual sphere of a person.

• Thanks to compassion, such important feelings as kindness, humility and philanthropy develop in a person's character. The thinking and actions of the individual turn out to be more flexible, the person becomes happier and more positive.
• Positive characteristics develop in the character, negative traits disappear (anger, hatred, pride, jealousy and much more).
• Life itself takes on more meaning and high significance. A person lives not only for himself, his desires and needs, but also for the sake of the people around him.
• A person's soul is filled with love (both in relation to himself and to those around him). Many people who actively develop compassion devote a lot of attention, strength, and energy to serving others.

Compassion (as a manifestation of a positive general mental state of a person) can be expressed in a variety of ways. Let's talk about them in more detail.

• First of all, it is necessary to say about such an important quality as kindness. A compassionate person actively shows kindness and concern towards other people, which makes the whole world appear and be perceived in a positive context.
• Responsiveness is an emotional, timely and sincere reaction to the difficulties of others, help in situations that have arisen, and the ability to provide support.
• A compassionate person is necessarily compassionate. This characteristic is considered the highest manifestation of collective humanity.
• Altruism is gratuitous and selfless help to other people in a situation when they are in pain or deprivation.

The clearest and most common manifestation of compassion is the volunteering movement. Generally speaking, volunteers are people who are actively involved in charitable activities of all kinds. For example, such activities can be manifested in helping animals, orphans, homeless people, the elderly and many others.

Feelings of compassion can be shown not only in the process of volunteering, but also in the framework of interpersonal relationships.So, it is not necessary to look for low-income or vulnerable people - it is enough to understand and accept the difficulties of your immediate environment and try to help (within your capabilities).

The difference between feelings such as pity and compassion is enormous. Many even perceive these characteristics of a person as opposed to each other. It is believed that pity itself is a destructive (destructive) feeling. It does not manifest itself in any actions, it is passive. In contrast, compassion is always creative and effective, it comes from the heart of a person and is characterized by the maximum level of sincerity.

It is important to understand that compassion is not a one-dimensional characteristic - it is a complex feeling. It is based on a large number of basic emotions.

• Mercy. The nature and character of this personality trait can be judged by the name, in a literal sense, it characterizes the "sweet heart" of a person. A merciful person will always offer disinterested and gratuitous help. In addition, mercy necessarily implies the ability to forgive and forget the bad, not to keep evil.
• Kindness. The vast majority of people associate kindness with caring. It should be borne in mind that these feelings are not always obvious. For example, parenting may at times look like restrictive or overly strict, but in reality it just has a long-term, not the desired short-term, effect.
• Respect. When a person is showing true and sincere compassion, he is showing respect at the same time. If there is no such quality, then compassion is replaced by pity. It can be concluded that respect and understanding are inherent characteristics of compassion.
• Patience. Compassion is necessarily combined with patience. If a person is patient with others, with their shortcomings and negative characteristics, then he can be called compassionate.
• Love. Obviously, the basis of compassion, like all other positive characteristics of a person, is love (both for oneself and for others). At the same time, love should be all-embracing and all-forgiving. In addition, love is most clearly manifested when compassion is expressed not to loved ones and acquaintances, but to strangers.

Thus, a person who is compassionate must necessarily show a number of other accompanying qualities of his character.

To begin with, it is important to note the fact that compassion is inherent in every person. However, its level can vary and vary. It is important to understand that even if compassion is sincere, it can only be manifested in the family (in relation to loved ones). In relation to someone else's misfortune in the modern world, there is a problem of manifesting compassion.

That is why it is very important to learn compassion - the ability to correctly express this feeling plays an important role in the life of every person. At the same time, the absence and inability to express compassion (for example, if you are not ready to show it outside) can negatively affect the psychological and mental state of a person, cause the emergence and development of negative character traits. It is important that the misfortune of other people resonates in your soul and your heart.

Although learning compassion can take a long time, and also require a lot of strength and energy from you, this quality should be learned without fail. There is a simple, step-by-step, practical plan.

The first thing to do is create a morning ritual for yourself. Be grateful for the fact that you are awake, for the fact that you are healthy, for your loved ones, for a roof over your head and other simple but so important things. In addition, it is important to promise yourself to start the path of self-development and self-improvement. However, such principles should be applied not only in relation to yourself, but also to those around you. And also during the morning ritual, it is recommended to actively practice such a feeling as empathy.

When interacting with other people, try to pay extra close attention to what unites you, rather than your differences. Try to emphasize that, despite possible discrepancies (for example, in character or worldview), we are all people equal to each other. In the process of life, we all meet with the same sorrows and difficulties, so we should always help and support each other.

After you have perfected the first two steps, you can begin to practice liberation from suffering. This means that after you have learned empathy, began to understand what difficulties other people face, and also know how to put yourself in their place, you should try to free yourself from suffering. Think about what actions you could take to get rid of unwanted feelings, as well as help others to get rid of them.

As stated above, kindness is a quality that is the basis of compassion. To develop this character trait, you need to create various tasks in your imagination. For example, imagine adverse situations in which you or your loved ones will feel bad, and then imagine ways how you can help them, showing the most important quality of your character - kindness. At the same time, remember that you should maintain the greatest possible sincerity and kind-heartedness.

All the steps above will help you learn to have compassion for your friends and loved ones, as well as your family members. However, this type of compassion is the simplest, it is often inherent in people from birth, it just needs to be developed and improved a little.

However, it can be difficult to show compassion for strangers, or even for those for whom you have negative emotions (and receive the same negative in return). In this case, again, you need to resort to solving mental problems. At the same time, you must remember that even in the most unfavorable situations, in no case should you hack in the heat or show unrestrained emotions. In this case, the most important role is played by the feeling of empathy in relation to another person. You must understand that even your enemies on their path in life encounter a large number of difficulties, difficulties and obstacles.

After you have completed all the previous tasks, you should take care of the formation of the evening ritual. So, every evening before going to bed, you need to think about how today's day went, what good did you manage to do, how you behaved in relation to your own personality, to your loved ones, as well as to strangers.