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What’s More Important: Sympathy or Compassion?

We have just received the news our son, Trey, and his College team have just won their conference tennis Championship for the third year in a row. They are now off to the US Nationals later this month.

 

I was asked an interesting question recently: What’s the difference between compassion and sympathy.

Sympathy is often defined as having feelings of sorrow and pity for someone’s misfortune. 

When you have sympathy for someone who has been through an emotionally hard time, you tend to go to their emotional level.

It’s important not do this.

You can’t help another person if you are emotionally low with them.

To help others, it is important to detach from another’s woes and endeavour to lift them to your level.

Compassion, according to Vishen Lakhiani, author of “The 6 Phase Meditation Method”, “is about loving connection with other beings, no matter who they are or where they’re from.”

Vishen goes on to say, “Compassion is the art of surrendering to a better version of yourself. It’s about being warm and radiating that warmth outward. It is about genuinely caring about ourselves and other people.”

According to scientists, “compassion is the act of moving from judgement to caring, from isolation to connection, from difference to understanding”.

When using Kinesiology, we find sympathy energetically weakens us whereas compassion strengthen us.

Develop an understanding that people have a need to do what is best for them, whether it is road rage, yelling at someone or not doing what you would like or expect them to do.

Others do what makes them feel good, even if it’s at your expense.

Give up any need to retaliate or to be right.

Feel good about who you are so you always control the way you feel.

Feel at peace with yourself so you can then feel at peace with others.

At all times, determine how you want to feel.

Do what’s best for yourself AND others.

You’ve got this.