Compassion has been on my mind a lot lately. It was a topic of study for me about two months ago and has continued at “top of mind” for me. It is also one of the definitions of relent that I discussed in my first post on this blog. Leo from ZenHabits has a post on cultivating compassion with a specifically Buddhist bent. I am not Buddhist, but enjoy many of their teachings and particularly how they teach.

One thing I love about the practice of compassion is how powerfully effective it is in nullifying wrongs done. And it works both ways. Compassion can be a great vehicle to receiving forgiveness from somebody you’ve wronged, certainly. But even more powerfully, compassion seems to have a soothing effect when you yourself are being wronged. Somehow, finding compassion for the source of your difficulties can eliminate the feelings and negative emotions generated by the actions. Ahh, the beauty of counter-intuitive “soul lessons”!

Today has been a bit of a difficult one for me. Today is my birthday. But, my wife and I received some disappointing news regarding an adoption we are currently pursuing, and I am frustrated by a group of people because of it. I’ve been feeling sorry for myself to have to deal with mental anguish on my birthday (poor me:). But even the thought of having compassion not only for the child we wish to adopt, but also those that are struggling to do the best they can is a balm. Bad news is bad news, but who knows what tomorrow will hold … and why not be compassionate in the meantime?