Waves rise under a floating lotus leaf. My heart is moved to touch you. – Toshiyori Minamoto

Compassion goes beyond sympathy. we can describe sympathy as pity, affinity or fellow feeling.
Fellow feeling is easy for people you know, people you see on a regular basis. Theses are people you know or know through someone else. This is your circle. Suffering happens to others outside your circle.

Compassion goes beyond to others. It cultivates fellow feeling with people you only hear about through the news. Grow fellow feeling for those displaced by flooding in Houston. Grow affinity for Syrians seeking refuge in Europe and the Rohingya facing persecution in Myanmar.

How do you cultivate sympathy for others? Read their stories. Hear everything they have to say without judgement. Stop thoughts of what you would have done. Stop questions about what could have been done. Instead, listen and hear. Work to understand the loss. Is it loss of security? Life? Hope? Material items? Food and shelter? Loved ones?

It is essential to grow your compassion. Caring about what is going on in the world won’t change the world initially. Your ability to develop care and compassion changes YOU first. Your ability to care for those you love will deepen as you develop sympathy for the “other” outside of your experience.  

Growing your sense of fellow feeling positions you to change your world.

Spend a few minutes in quiet reflection. Look at a map of the affected area or a picture from a news article. Believe that it is important to care first, even if you can’t do anything. Allow this time of quiet reflection to foster sympathy.