Quotes About Compassion

In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they're about brains, but in the future they'll be about the heart. —MINOUCHE SHAFIK, director, London School of Economics

The bottom line is that we need each other. And not just the civilized, proper, convenient kind of need. Not one of us gets through this life without expressing desperate, messy, and uncivilized need. The kind we are reminded of when we come face-to-face with someone who is in a deep struggle.

Cruelty is cheap, easy, and rampant. It's also chicken-shit.

One reason empathy and compassion are so powerful is the fact that they say to someone, "I can hear this. This is hard, but I can be in this space with you.

Until we can receive with an open heart, we are never really giving with an open heart. When

When we hear others talk about their shame, we often blame them as a way to protect ourselves from feeling uncomfortable. Hearing someone talk about a shaming experience can sometimes be as painful as actually experiencing it for ourselves. Like

The clearer and more respected the boundaries, the higher the level of empathy and compassion for others. Fewer clear boundaries, less openness. It's hard to stay kind-hearted when you feel people are taking advantage of you or threatening you.

No matter how separated we are by what we think and believe, we are part of the same spiritual story.

In the past, jobs were about muscles, now they're about brains, but in the future they'll be about the heart.1 —MINOUCHE SHAFIK, director, London School of Economics

I'm brave enough to listen." I actually put it on repeat: "I'm brave enough to listen.

Advice Giving/Problem Solving I can fix this and I can fix you. Sometimes when we see pain our first instinct is to fix it. This is especially true for those of us whom people seek out to help with problem-solving. In these instances, rather than listen and be with people in their emotion, we start fixing.

The heart of compassion is really acceptance. The better we are at accepting ourselves and others, the more compassionate we become.

Self-kindness is self-empathy.

Laura's courage is acknowledging hurt without running from it, and my courage is acknowledging hurt and not hurting back. We also agreed that cruelty is never brave

We can never become completely resistant to shame; however, we can develop the resilience we need to recognize shame, move through it constructively and grow from our experiences.

by-products of shame—fear, blame and disconnection—and move toward the courage, compassion and connection we need to live our best, authentic lives.

How much we know and understand ourselves is critically important, but there is something that is even more essential to living a Wholehearted life: loving ourselves. Knowledge

The need is for someone to be fully present to the magnitude of their loss without trying to point out the silver lining.

we just can't fill a self-worth gap by leading and using power over people,

You cannot shame or belittle people into changing their behaviors." When

We use shame as a tool to parent, teach and discipline our children.

Rather than judgment (which exacerbates shame), empathy conveys a simple acknowledgment, "You're not alone.

It's as simple and complicated as this: If we want to fully experience love and belonging, we must believe that we are worthy of love and belonging.

Mercifully, it will take only a critical mass of people who believe in finding love and connection across difference to change everything.