Steps To Become More Compassionate

Compassion is one of the few abilities in life that can create both short – term and long – term joy for you. It involves realizing that we are not the only ones who suffer, and trying to create a better world for other people. By putting our focus on how to improve the lifes of others, we seem to forget our own problems. We also feel recharged, and our joy of life and optimism become stronger than ever. How can we include compassion in our lifes in order to be happier? There are several techniques you can use, but two of them are specially useful: empathy, and random acts of kindness. Let's see what they're about.

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to connect with other people and understand their feelings and thoughts, as well as where they come from. We all want to think that we are empathetic, but in most cases we could do much more to improve this ability. When we are able to connect with other people and their suffering, suddenly we don't get angry so often. We are more calm and relaxed, and can focus on makin everyone happier instead on how hard our life appears to be. If you think developing empathy can be useful for you, here are some tips you can start practising immediately: Pay real attention to other people. When we are talking with somebody, most of the time we are just waiting for our turn to say something.

However, this usually means that we don't really listen to what they are telling us. If you want to truly connect with others and develop your compassion, you have to start by learning how to stay present while you talk with another person. Mindfulness can help you a lot in this regard. Try to understand where they're coming from. Even if somebody has very weird beliefs or ideas, you must try to remember that there's a reason behind them. Next time you find somebody whose thoughts shock you, ask yourself: what has this person gone through? What led him to develop this way of thinking? Just by posing yourself these questions, you will start feeling more open towards others. Forgive those who hurt you. The final step to improve your empathetic superpowers is acquiring the ability of connecting with everyone, even with those that mistreat you. When a person hurts you, it means that he has a problem and he's just lashing out. If you get angry with him, nothing gets solved; but if you're able to understand where he's coming from and treat him with kindness (even if you have to walk away in order no to get hurt), you will not only gain more inner peace and be happier, but it is also more probable that he will treat you better in the future.

Random acts of kindness

The other part of becoming more compassionate is trying to make people's lives a bit happier. We don't have much power over how others feel, but we can have a small but important positive impact on them. Even something as apparently trivial as making somebody smile or complimenting them can make the difference between a really bad day and a good one.

So, once you have developed your empathy, try to look for opportunities throught your day to have a positive impact on somebody. You will see that, while you do this, your own feels will improve and you will slowly become a more optimistic, happier person. In conclusion, if you try to have more compassion for your peers, you can be better starting from now. Even if you normally don't think about the feelings of others, with a bit of practice you can reach the top in the terms of having this ability.