- What is compassion?
That's our topic today.
We'll explain what it means
and look at some places you might be able to see it
in your own life.
So let's get into those details.
(loud booming with nebulous music)
Hello there, and welcome back.
I'm Alex Lyon, and we are doing a four-part series
on compassion, especially angled toward compassion
in professional settings.
And it's the first video in that four-part series.
I'll link to all of them when the series is complete
in the description below the video.
I'd like to start with a quote that I love
by Ian Maclaren.
He says, "Be kind.
"Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
I love that quote 'cause it's really about compassion.
It's often attributed to Plato, by the way,
but based upon my limited research online,
it looks like Ian Maclaren wrote that in 1897.
So compassion is care, kindness, especially the tendency
to think about the needs and the good of others.
Compassion is a state of mind and a state of emotion
that drives our kindness and our mercy toward other people.
We might show compassion through charity, for example,
through volunteering, helping others, spending time
with individuals who are hurting in some way.
In other words, compassion begins with that state of mind
or emotion, but ideally it motivates us
to do something practical, to offer some kind of support,
whatever that looks like.
Now it's not exactly the same as love,
non-romantic love, but it's obviously related.
Compassion, you might say, is a loving kindness
that we show toward other people.
It's also not the same as empathy,
but it is related as well.
So empathy is where we put ourselves
in the other person's shoes to feel what they're feeling.
And that, empathy, can stir up compassion in us for others,
especially if those people are suffering in some way.
So it makes sense to me that people often talk
about compassion, love, and empathy in this trio
because they all really are connected.
But we're going to stick mainly with compassion right now,
in terms of how we see people in some kind of need.
Maybe they're sick or hungry or lonely
or in pain in some way.
And to make that more concrete, I notice compassion
in three clear ways around me.
And so I'll talk about these three ways,
and maybe you'll see these in your own life
and they'll be familiar to you.
The first way I see compassion is with pets.
Many of us, for example, feel strong compassionate feelings
for our pets.
Now obviously this is not the same as feeling compassion
for a person, but it helps us understand those feelings.
So I have a beautiful dog, a golden retriever.
And as a pet, she can't really do too much
without our help.
She can't feed herself or throw the Frisbee.
She can't let herself in and out of the house.
She needs to be cared for.
And when I'm at work, I think about, sometimes,
how she might be home alone, and that fills me
with compassion for her, that aloneness.
And one of the reasons I talk about pets, by the way,
is that there's a variety of research out there
that shows that children who learn
to treat their pets with kindness and compassion
when they're young, end up treating people
with more compassion and kindness when they grow up.
So question for you is do you have a pet,
and do you ever feel that compassion well up
in your heart for that pet?
So go ahead and tell me about your pet
in the description below the video.
I wanna hear all about it.
The second way I see compassion in my life is for kids.
So kids have some freedom, and they can do a lot of things
on their own, but they're also much more vulnerable
than adults in many ways,
so, through hunger, or potential abuse, poverty,
certain kinds of sicknesses that seem to go after kids.
And it's one of the reasons through this channel
that I sponsor two kids through Compassion International.
So I saw their photos and I read about their lives
and I was filled with compassion
to become a monthly sponsor for them.
So thank you for being a part of this channel,
because you're helping to support those kids.
And sometimes we feel compassion for adults too,
like, if they're really old or if they're a bit sick.
So question, who are the younger people
or older people in your life?
And do you feel compassion for them?
The third way I experience compassion is through leadership.
It's one of the topics we talk about on this channel a lot.
And the workplace is a context
where compassion can play a really important role,
especially if you're in a supervisory
or a leadership position in any way.
So in some ways, there are people "under you,"
and really they're under your care.
So leaders create the culture of the workplace.
And in most organizations, people at, what you would call,
the bottom of the pyramid,
they don't get paid what they should
and they have hard jobs oftentimes,
that sometimes they have problems in their own lives
outside of work.
And leaders are positioned to show compassion
for their followers by treating them well
and paying them fairly, letting them know
that we value them.
Now obviously people don't all see leadership this way,
but I want us be clear that I do.
And there's another video in this series
that I'm making on compassionate leadership.
And when that's done, I will post to that
in the description below the video.
But these are three basic examples
of where you might see compassion.
But really, everybody, virtually everybody,
has hard days, hard seasons of life,
whether it's health problems, unemployment,
financial difficulties, depression, loneliness,
lack of purpose, self-hatred.
We live in a really complicated and hard world.
So to answer the question again, what is compassion?
It's kindness and care for others
when we think about their needs.
Like Ian Maclaren said, "Be kind.
"Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
So before we leave I wanna talk about two items.
Again, this is the first in a series,
so I will link to the next video in this series
on compassionate leadership.
And you can check that out when it's done.
I'll post the link to that.
I also wanna let you know about a free PDF download
that I created on the essential communication skills
that all professionals should possess.
I will link to that and also pin that link
in the first comment in the comment section below the video.
So you can check it out through there.
And I look forward to reading all your comments
about compassion, especially about your pets,
below this video.
So thanks, God bless, and I will see you
in the next video on compassion.
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