Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Importance of Having Compassion With Understanding

If we seek to understand with our minds and our intellect, we may think we understand, but we do so with judgement, because that is what the intellectual mind does , makes judgements about situations to make logical assessments so we can decide what to do, and what is right or wrong based on our own thoughts, ideas and experiences.
We may think what we judge is true and right, which leads us to think we understand.
 
This is not understanding.
This is judgement. 
This makes it about your ego. 

When we bring compassion into the mix, when we open our hearts to the person or the situation, when we put our selves into the feeling of the situation ( so we feel vs think ) and employ kindness and compassion for everyone involved regardless of their role, regardless of OUR judgement of right or wrong, healthy vs unhealthy, then we can truly realize that "understanding" doesn't matter. Being supportive and loving to a fellow human being is better for all involved, instead of saying "I totally get it, I understand what you're going through" which can make a persons journey seem insignificant in that moment, because we can't really know, we haven't lived it first hand, we can sympathize, we can empathize, but we don't KNOW. Instead, just be present, listen and offer your support -which may be sharing part of your story to express camaraderie, or what worked for you to get better, just do it with the intention of helping, instead of the idea of understanding, and let what they choose to do with that go.
If you find that someone else's actions or choices go against what you think is right, take that as an opportunity to express compassion anyway, a chance to send them love anyway, a moment to realize that what they (or you) are going through is probably bigger than the both of you and has a purpose that you just can't see yet.