Compassion is defined as a feeling of wanting to help someone who is sick, hungry, or in trouble, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Compassion is a fundamental characteristic needed by health care providers. Compassion is what makes patient care enjoyable; without compassion, patients would begin to feel neglected. There are many different types of health care providers, but the ones who have the most contact with the patients are the nurses. Nurses provide such selfless and devoted service, compassion, and dedication to their patients and to their job. Many nurses work long twelve hour shifts, but not all. This can be very tiring though, and it may not leave a lot of room for a personal life.
Sometimes nurses are so consumed with work, that they often neglect their personal needs. In doing that, it makes them susceptible to a disorder called compassion fatigue or burnout.
Compassion fatigue is exactly what it sounds like; it is an indifference to charitable appeals on behalf of those who are suffering (Google dictionary). It is characterized by a gradual lessoning of compassion over time. Often times, compassion fatigue occurs due to the demands of the stressful situations health care providers are forced to encounter everyday. There are five major concepts of compassion fatigue.
Paul Gilbert is an author and professor of clinical psychology
My first degree was in economics and I was very interested in the link between economic conditions and people's mental states. I also became interested in the Buddhists' concepts of consciousness and their spiritual views, particularly those of compassion. The recognition that both our evolved minds and our social context shape us, and that we have less control over our minds than we think, is to me a call to compassion.
Does this book represent a convergence of different theories?
Cindy Ricardo, LMHC, CIRT - Suffering causes people to want to recoil from the pain. Not reacting or judging oneself opens the door to self-compassion.
Opening Heart and Mind Helps Connect and Heal
Running groups for survivors of domestic violence, I hear stories about physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. These stories are traumatic and heart-breaking. They all share a common theme of fear, loss of identity, and confusion. The shared experience of having to set aside their needs in an attempt to meet the needs of a controlling partner, whose wants and expectations are insatiable and unrealistic, left them with a sense of low self-worth, shame, and suffering. What helps them heal and become empowered is their ability to let go of judgment, share their stories in a supportive environment, and learn to develop a practice of self-care and compassion.
James R. Doty, M.D. is the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. He collaborates with scientists from a number of disciplines examining the moral, social and neural bases for compassion and altruism.
“To feel ‘compassion’ without anadequate practical result ensuing fromit is not to show oneself an ‘Altruist’but the reverse. Real self-developmenton the esoteric lines is action.” (Helena P. Blavatsky, in her article“What Shall We Do For Our Fellow-Men?”) The healing power of compassion has been written about since ancient times. It is well known that compassion is an important part of any healing relationship. There are many excellent ways to define compassion. However, once compassion is regarded to be a skill that one can learn through training and put into action, then one can test, check and verify its power to benefit physical health, moral stamina, and relationships with others. by Steven H. Levy
Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Ethics is pleased to invite all civic, interfaith, intercultural, environmental, social justice and educational organizations to join in the first planning meeting of the Compassion Games: Survival of the Kindest on Sunday, July 28th at 4:15pm at the Yahoo Center
Community Room 2500 Broadway in Santa Monica, CA. 90404. The cross streets are Cloverfield and Colorado. Please RSVP to Sande Hart at sandehart at gmail.
What is it exactly about compassion where sometimes it feels so arbitrary? In this week’s Overheard in Yoga Class, Marc Holzman poses an interesting question. Why is it that we feel so compassionate sometimes and then other times when something happens that would equally stir up compassion, we have no feeling at all? What is it exactly about compassion where it sometimes feels so arbitrary? Do you think we can cultivate a life in which compassion is a fundamental, permanent, on-going condition that we live in? Something to contemplate – the unpredictably of the feeling of compassion.
Offering compassion rather than judgment can ease difficulties and leave you feeling better too.
Compassion is a choice you can make it at any time. It requires no special schooling, no extra time or money, nada but awareness and a decision to lead with love.
And, while you think you are acting with compassion to help someone else – and it certainly will help them – compassion is really more about you and how close you want to live to your heart. In the end your compassionate action says more about you than the person receiving it, but it is the one thing that will change both of us.
When we cannot offer compassion, we limit ourselves more than the other guy. We dim a bit, become less creative, more reactive and worried and caught up in what others have done instead of what we can do.
Dalai Lama Fellows, a unique global program personally authorized by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, envisions and works towards a world that tends to the good of the whole as well as of the individual.
Parts of the NHS have come under fire in recent months, with David Cameron among those calling for health professionals to show more compassion. But Tom Shakespeare asks if there are dangers in placing too much emphasis on empathy.
A few months ago, I found myself interviewing would-be medical students. When each young person came to my station, my task was to ask them to define empathy and to give an example of when someone had failed to display this quality.
Almost without exception, the candidates were able to do this. So far so good, and I filled in the marking sheet accordingly.
A new book highlights how mindfulness can help improve social relationships and nurture compassion toward oneself and others.
The health benefits of practicing mindfulness are now widely recognized. Research has shown that mindfulness can help reduce stress, improve mood, increase immune function, and decrease chronic pain, leading many hospitals around the country to offer classes in mindfulness to their patients.
Less well publicized are the ways that mindfulness can help improve social relationships and nurture compassion toward oneself and others. Paul Gilbert, head of the Mental Health Research Unit at the University of Derby and appointed Order of the British Empire, aims to correct that disparity with his new book, Mindful Compassion. Drawing from his research and clinical experience, Gilbert gives us a thorough understanding of how we can cultivate mindful compassion in ourselves in order to better understand our emotions and make the world a more compassionate place.
As organizational researchers, we have a unique interest in understanding how compassion can be unleashed or stifled in human communities. An organizational lens attunes us to the important role played by routines and practices in “grooving” the ways we interact with one another. By routines we mean the recurring, repeated patterns of action that typify a particular organization or unit (Feldman & Pentland, 2003). Many organizational researchers think routines are key to an organization’s capability to reliably produce products and services (e.g., Nelson & Winter, 1982) and we see routines as part of the key to understanding an organization’s one time (Dutton et al, 2006) or ongoing capability for compassion (Lilius et al., 2011; Grant et al., 2008).
Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, Ph.D., is the science director of the UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. In this talk for the 2012 Mindfulness and Compassion conference, Dr. Simon-Thomas explains the neurological mechanisms that support compassion--and why mindfulness meditation can help support the growth of compassion.
Pope Francis presented the vision for his papacy today, calling on Catholics to battle what he called the “globalization of indifference” to create a more compassionate church that champions the poor as it works to achieve social justice in an increasingly secular and money-oriented society.
Compassion is a word that can feel a bit overused these days. Everyone seems to remind us to be compassionate with ourselves and others. But there is immense worth to the concept and the deeper meaning behind it.
I’ve been reading a classic in the great variety of Buddhist books, Chogyam Trungpa’s “Spiritual Materialism”. Trungpa was one of the first Tibetan lamas to bring the dharma to the West, and his insights are of a timeless validity.
“Compassion is not feeling sorry for someone”, he writes. “It is basic warmth.” This warmth is to be extended to oneself first with the help of meditation practice. “Meditation is a delightful and spontaneous thing to do. It is the continual act of making friends with yourself.”
“You do not need to secure your ground”, Trungpa said. We don’t have to hold on so tightly to what we think we need from life. We can stop making unreasonable demands and just be open whatever comes at us.
The Compassion Games are designed to make our communities safer, kinder, more just, and better places to live. No matter where you are you can perform a Random Act of Kindness, or become a Secret Agent of Compassion and receive a secret mission for each of the eleven days.
Look out Seattle, our community is about to become safer, kinder, more just, and a better places to live. That’s what we win as a result of our participation, let’s hope we win big!
This is the second year of a friendly rivalry that began between Seattle, WA and Louisville, KY. In 2013, twelve more cities from across our country and around the globe will join in. You can see the full list of participating communities below.
The Compassion Corner Earthbench commemorates the work of David Breaux, who has dedicated the last four years of his life inspiring passers-by to reflect on the meaning of the word "compassion" at the corner of 3rd and C in downtown Davis. The California Aggie and AggieTV were there to capture the construction and inauguration of the bench, which is a gift to the City of Davis' public arts collection.
DANBURY -- Months before the Dalai Lama's October visit to Western Connecticut State University, its leaders resolved the university would honor his message of compassion and tolerance once the Nobel Peace Prize laureate moved on.
Now that resolution is taking shape. The Board of Regents, the state university system's governing body, has approved creation of the Center for Compassion, Creativity and Innovation at Western. Led by Chris Kukk, professor of political science and director of the honors program at the university, the center has the potential to guide the teaching of compassion around the world.
See how it compares with the results from our Compassionate Organizations Quiz.
Are you part of an organization—whether a workplace, religious congregation, or volunteer group—where people comfort one another and lend a hand when times are tough? Do your leaders seem to care about their members, and help with real-life challenges?
The answers to these questions aren’t just important for feel-good reasons. Recent research suggests that more compassionate workplaces reap substantive benefits when it comes to employee wellness, creative problem solving, productivity, and the bottom line.
Are you part of an organization—whether a workplace, religious congregation, or volunteer group—where people comfort one another and lend a hand when times are tough? Do your leaders seem to care about their members, and help with real-life challenges?
I wonder how they define "compassion." People confronting one another, lending a hand when times are tough, and leaders caring about their team members are only specific manifestations of compassion.
Compassion is not just about warmth, kindness and gentleness. It is better described as a sensitivity to distress (both in others and in ourselves) together with the commitment, courage and wisdom to ‘do something about it’ (see Paul Gilbert’s ‘The Compassionate Mind’). Our ability to be compassionate has evolved from the capacity for caring required in the infant-parent relationship and is hard-wired into our brains. In fact humans have evolved to function best in a compassionate environment. There is growing evidence that compassionate relationships have significant physiological effects influencing heart rates, breathing and other internal systems, including our brains.
The Host Committee for the Dalai Lama’s May 19-21 visit to Louisville, Kentucky, has announced the Dalai Lama’s personal instructions to allocate $100,000 of event revenues to Dalai Lama Fellows, a diverse San Francisco-based network of young social innovators drawn from colleges and universities around the world. The Dalai Lama met with Dalai Lama Fellows program staff and five representative Fellows on Monday, May 20, to hear a progress report on the work that he authorized in 2009 and reaffirmed his enthusiastic commitment and ongoing personal support for the program. The contribution was announced after final accounting in Louisville.
Caring too much can hurt. When caregivers focus on others without taking care of themselves burn out, poor judgement and bad overall health can follow.
According to the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project, caring too much can hurt.
When caregivers focus on others without taking care of themselves burn out, poor judgement and bad overall health can follow.
It's also possible that members of the general public also face compassion or emotional fatigue by constantly witnessing bad news events such as the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, Super Storm Sandy, the Oklahoma tornadoes, the Boston Marathon bombing and other tragedies.
It's hard to admit this, but sometimes I can be kind of a B. Maybe I had a bad day, maybe I haven't eaten in the last three hours...but in any case, I've been known to snap at my man or give the side-eye to the woman taking forever in the grocery checkout line from time to time. Not. Cool.
But, apparently, harnessing one's chi to be a little bit more patient, compassionate, and more pleasant to be around in general is actually pretty easy, at least according to new research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the study, researchers asked participants to practice a Buddhist technique called "compassion meditation,..."
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