The Powerful Presence of a Friend

Compassion is that mysterious feeling inside each one of us that makes it possible to take on and empathize with suffering that does not actually belong to us as an individual, and is not our primary concern or actual problem, but we personally take it on to a point where it affects us, on some level, as though it were. It's an intuitive feeling and selfless reaction to a situation that ultimately reveals our nature and gives insight as to our true character.

Compassion is one of those ties that binds people together. Compassion is merging yourself into another person's circumstance, molding yourself in a way that you instinctively understand what the other person needs of you and it allows you to acknowledge and respond to those needs in an appropriate manner.

Compassion recognizes the universal cry of our human longings, our aspirations, and even the tragedies we face. Compassion has no expectation of reward or recognition. Compassion is not merely the sympathy you show toward another person. When our actions are an automatic reaction that causes us to reach out and help another human being, friend or stranger, with no motivation, outside of the fact that that person is in need of our help, or may be in a life threatening situation where there is imminent danger, our compassion, at that point, is in action.

Compassion is about putting yourself in another person's shoes, imagining their pain, trying to feel and grasp it. It is about sympathizing with their anxiety and their fears. It's getting down to the source of their pain and comprehending it, validating the emotions they are feeling. It's asking yourself 'how would I want to be treated if I was the other person, dealing with their unique situation?'

A compassionate person is somebody who recognizes the needs of another and they try to do their best to care for that person and make sure those needs are met.