One Thing To Remember That Will Help You Be More Compassionate
...if I was that person, there’s a good chance I’d do the same thing, too.
The great Steve Maraboli once said: “How would your life be different if you stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…You look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.” I just love this. In fact, if there were one emotion we could enhance in our lives that would DRASTICALLY improve our health, I’m convinced it’s compassion.
Going through our days can be TOUGH (person cutting us off at the light // customer service rep just being SO COMPLETELY UNHELPFUL // babysitter cancelling at the last minute and derailing the entire day…any of these ring true?), so here’s a little something I like to mantra to myself in times of frustration:
If I was that person, there’s a good chance I’d do the same thing, too.
Now, before we get too high and mighty and say “no way, I would adhere to my commitments and responsibilities and kindness!”, hear me out. I’ll use my experience as a foster parent here, and how navigating the system for the last four years has really changed my perspective on compassion.
How My Experience As A Foster Mama Has Enhanced My Compassion
It’s easy to blame parents when their kids end up in the foster care system, but if you pause and dig into their history even just a little bit, you’d see how exceptionally hard it is to do even the simple things we assume should be easy (side note: I find parenting pretty intense at times and am dripping in privilege when compared to most of these women and men).
Birth parents have struggled with things by the age of five that I’ve never had to consider in my life—homelessness, abuse, inequality, the stress of living in shelters, food scarcity, mental health problems that were never addressed, not receiving the proper interventions at school and falling behind at an early age, no consistent parental figures or mentors—to name a few of the roadblocks. Of course raising another human is hard when you’ve never had the chance to properly heal yourself from a traumatized life. If I was stuck in the same sh*tty situation, there’s a good chance I’d do the same thing, too.
Holding this mantra near and dear to my heart as I navigate through my days truly helps me meet people where they are—if someone is especially rude or just not helpful or not holding to the same standard that I would hold myself to, I keep in mind that it really has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with where they are on their personal life journey right this minute.
Let’s widen our net of compassion, and realize that everyone is doing their very best with the energy, karma, mental grit, and personal capacity that has brought them to this moment. More compassion, my friends. It will change you, and s l o w l y, the world.
I’d love to hear your take on finding compassion in tough moments. Share in the comments!
Sending light and love,
Jess (Your Ayurvedic Health Counselor, Making Holistic Health Cozy, Not Clinical)
p.s. in case you missed it, here’s a chair yoga full body stretch class:
What a beautiful sentiment! So much for us to think about and remember.
I completely agree with this! I don't always put it into practice 😬 but when I am aware or remember to have compassion, I always feel calmer when dealing with frustrating situations or people. 🩵🩵🩵