What Is Compassion?

I’ve wrestled with this.

Does someone have to suffer like another or experience something similar in order to be compassionate?

During a very heavy season of my life, I noticed something about myself and others. Do we want to be understood so much so that we unintentionally wish suffering upon another?

And as I reflect on this today— I do believe in order to truly understand and hold space for someone, you need to understand the steps they’ve walked and their life experiences.

People are very quick to brush things off or judge— when life experiences can be quite disorienting. This leads to us needing each other as healthy support.

So today, I define compassion as a definition and reflection: “not needing to know, yet willing to understand the pain in one’s heart and validating their story without attempting to fix it for them, more so holding it with them (not for) so they know they’re not alone— they’re not crazy— nothing is wrong with them for experiencing whatever it is— and allowing their nervous system to settle, soften and feel safe again.”