{"id":468,"date":"2015-05-08T06:50:55","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T10:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=468"},"modified":"2015-05-08T13:35:35","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T17:35:35","slug":"week-34-start-with-your-heart-nine-ways-to-be-truly-compassionate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/?p=468","title":{"rendered":"Week #34 – Start with Your Heart (Nine ways to be “Truly Compassionate”)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""All<\/a>

“Start with your Heart” (Photo credit: Grace Church)<\/p><\/div>\n

Week #35: Start with Your Heart (Nine Ways to be \u201cTruly Compassionate\u201d)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The words \u201cTruly Compassionate\u201d appear in thick, black Sharpie ink on Rob\u2019s word board.<\/p>\n

The word \u201ccompassion\u201d literally means \u201cto suffer together.\u201d \u00a0And that\u2019s a tall order — because we all want to be helpful, right? \u00a0But we don\u2019t want to get hurt or dirtied up in the process.<\/p>\n

Dictionary.com defines compassion as \u201cfeeling deep sympathy or sorrow for another\u2026with a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.\u201d \u00a0(And wow…that is one fully loaded\u00a0ellipsis if I ever saw one!)<\/p>\n

One thing I notice though\u2026the definition says \u201cdesire to alleviate the suffering\u201d. \u00a0This eliminates two paths we male and female humans most often take:<\/p>\n

1. Commiserating: \u00a0Literally, this means \u201cbeing miserable together.\u201d \u00a0Sometimes misery does love company\u2026and a cold beer\u2026or some ice cream…and a good movie. But let\u2019s just be honest and call it what it is! \u00a0This might get our MINDS off the suffering\u2026but it does nothing to fix the problem.<\/p>\n

(Which leads me to\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Fix it for them: \u00a0The definition says \u201cdesire\u201d to alleviate\u2026not \u201ctake action\u201d to alleviate (or “take responsibility, either!). \u00a0Compassion requires that we feel\u00a0first\u2026and I think that\u2019s important because our nature is to want to get our HANDS\u00a0into it and fix things. \u00a0(And most of us know this can be maddening when we haven\u2019t quite had the chance to feel and sort out our own feelings first, anyway.)<\/p>\n

One of the ways, I believe, Rob was \u201ctruly compassionate\u201d was he lead with his HEART. \u00a0What about you?<\/p>\n

Your assignment for this week:<\/strong>\u00a0Compassion may seem complicated — but here are nine synonyms that offer specific ways to cultivate compassion in your own life. \u00a0Pick one as a theme for the week or try different strategies on for size. \u00a0Either way — start with your heart!<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Benevolence: simply\u2026the desire to do good toward others (wish someone well, even if it\u2019s only in your heart)<\/li>\n
  2. Empathy: identify or understand the feelings of another (help someone name a difficult feeling)<\/li>\n
  3. Grace: forgiveness (remember\u2026it doesn\u2019t mean forget, it just means release expectations)<\/li>\n
  4. Humanity: instead of just \u201cpeople-watching\u201d…take a step back and watch human hearts at work\/play instead<\/li>\n
  5. Kindness: literally…treat others like your own<\/li>\n
  6. Mercy: goodwill or forgiveness towards an enemy or offender<\/li>\n
  7. Sorrow: share distress, grief, or sadness with another<\/li>\n
  8. Sympathy: share feelings at all (happy ones too!)<\/li>\n
  9. Tenderness: soften your heart in a difficult situation<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Spread Happyness — and Start with your Heart this week!<\/strong> \u00a0(And remember to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!)<\/p>\n

    PS: Happy Mother’s Day!!!<\/p>\n

    5\/8\/15 by Grace Church
    \n<\/em>\u00a9 Grace Church<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Week #35: Start with Your Heart (Nine Ways to be \u201cTruly Compassionate\u201d) The words \u201cTruly Compassionate\u201d appear in thick, black Sharpie ink on Rob\u2019s word board. The word \u201ccompassion\u201d literally means \u201cto suffer together.\u201d \u00a0And that\u2019s a tall order — because we all want to be helpful, right? \u00a0But we don\u2019t want to get hurt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=468"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":477,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468\/revisions\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spreadhappyness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}