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Showing compassion to friends is the easy part . . .

7/19/2019

3 Comments

 
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With current political headlines on how the President of the USA reacts to those who he disagrees with, I was drawn to Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts on showing compassion and friendship to your enemies. 

It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

It's certainly true for me. I find it hard to instinctively feel any kind of empathy for those who I dislike. I find the views of people who are racist to be abhorrent for example. Or those who are violent, rude, obnoxious . . . Yep its hard to feel anything warm for people like that.

But here are some more thoughts on that . . .
  1. Is that person causing or encouraging me to have similar traits? Umm . . . no.
  2. Is the way I am feeling about that person causing me pleasure or pain? Well it's not the former.
  3. Why is this person exhibiting this behaviour? What has happened in their life? What troubles and anguish have they gone through and how are they feeling? Hmmm . . .
  4. If I was in that other person's shoes, what would I be feeling, saying, thinking, doing . . . ? Good question . . .

Cultivating compassion for those we don't like is maybe one of the hardest things, but also the most liberating. Putting yourself into someone else's shoes. Understanding things from their perspective. Becoming aware that people who exhibit qualities we don't like may in fact be crying out for help. And above all, being thankful for the teachings that person has given us.

Go on . . . try it . . . starting with just one "enemy" . . . right now.
3 Comments
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11/18/2020 12:22:39 am

That is one of the hardest things to do - to show compassion for the people we do not like. But, the thing about being compassionate is that you are able to see past through a person's flaws or bad personality. Being compassionate is all about showing concern and care for people no matter what their background is. Compassion is not something you only show to those people you get along with. It is something that you practice, even with people who you might not be a fan of.

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Run Graph link
9/14/2023 06:26:55 am

Lovely post, thanks for posting

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Vincent G link
8/3/2024 03:28:04 pm

Great blog, I enjoyed reading

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    https://www.lifekindness.org/Hi I'm Richard Norris. I live in Wellington, New Zealand, with my wife Jolanda.

    After many years or working and observing human nature I decided to launch www.itsgoingtobegreat.org - all about happiness, mindfulness and feeling great. 
    ​

    Much of the material is taken from everyday life experiences. My motivation is to give something back to a world that has given me so much - and the hope is that someone, somewhere reading this just might realise some of their dreams.

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