World-renowned Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Compassion is a verb”. Being deeply aware of another person’s suffering and then acting to relieve that suffering is true compassion. We see this compassion when people do kind acts like volunteering for a cause they believe in, lending a hand to a neighbor in need, or listening to someone in pain and saying kind, encouraging words.
Compassion greatly benefits the receiver by making him or her feel good but it also has incredible benefits for the giver. Here are some:
- Compassion makes you happier
- Compassion uplifts others around you, making them feel valued and heard
- Compassion makes you less judgmental
- Compassion improves your physical and mental health
Most of us have a compassionate nature but practicing compassion can give our lives and the lives of others an immediate boost in happiness and health. To jumpstart a practice, think about the way you interact with people in your daily life. Do you deeply listen to others when they really need you to? Could you be kinder to someone? Do you step out of your comfort zone to help another person? These questions can help you see where you can cultivate compassion. As you practice compassion, you’ll start to see the difference this makes in your life and others.
Here is some compassion quotes to help elevate your life and others:
1. “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” ~Dalai Lama
2. “Sometimes things happen that makes no sense at all, you ask yourself how can another person willfully hurt another. It is more of a statement of disbelief than a question. All we could hope for is that our collective voice against the inhumanity of the few and our universal desire to live in a compassionate filled world extinguish the fire of hatred others have spawned. Let us not forsake our humanity.” ~Dodinsky
3. “Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.” ~Thomas Merton
4. “Don’t worry if you feel you can only do one tiny good thing in one small corner of the cosmos. Just be a Buddha body in that one place.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
5. “If compassion was the motivating factor behind all of our decisions, would our world not be a completely different place?” ~Sheryl Crow
6. “Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.” ~Buddha
7. “Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else.” ~Karen Armstrong
8. “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” ~Dalai Lama
9. “I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion―and where it isn’t, that’s where my work lies.” ~Ram Dass
10. “If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, no humility, no compassion.” ~Eckhart Tolle
11. “There never was any heart truly great and generous that was not also tender and compassionate.” ~Robert Frost
12. “Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest self.” ~Russell Simmons
13. “You were made for the place where your real passion meets compassion, because there lies your real purpose.” ~Ann Voskamp
14. “Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us.” ~Jonathan Safran
15. “Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment, we rise above ourselves.” ~Mason Cooley
16. “Let our hearts and hands be stretched out in compassion toward others, for everyone is walking his or her own difficult path.” ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf
17. “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~Leo Buscaglia
What quote speaks to you the most above? How can you use it to take action in your own life? Let us know by commenting below. We’d love to hear from you!
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