The Science of Compassion
Over the past 2 weeks I found myself really truly cut off from my emotions. When I looked at the extreme suffering in the news, the emotions I would expect to be moving through me didn’t seem to be there. Cognitively, I was aware of the horrors of conflict, but I felt physically numb. I was worried that instead of actually feeling my feelings I was storing them somewhere in my body.
Allowing emotions to move through us rather than get stuck in us allows us to stay healthy.
So the other night when I couldn’t sleep I decided to practice compassion meditation. As I lay there, I brought into my heart all of the children in the world who were scared. I turned toward and acknowledged their suffering. Breathing in I had a sense of wrapping my arms around them, and breathing out, I offered a wish for their safety. After resting with this for a while, I opened my heart to the suffering of everyone who feels at risk or judged for being who they are. Breathing in I welcomed them just as they were, and breathing out, I offered a wish that they feel cherished and valued. As I allowed myself to open to the suffering of others, there was a sense of loosening, of being able to breathe, and there was a sense of hope.
Science shows us that this is just what compassion practice does. When we witness the struggles of others, we empathize with them - we feel their pain with them. This is an essential human skill. It helps us create bonds with our fellow humans, a skill that enabled us to survive as a species. But it’s incredibly depleting. When we witness the suffering of others, the pain center of our brain lights up as if we are sharing their experience. It’s why burnout is so common for front line workers, first responders, and for anyone whose work calls for them to be frequent witnesses of suffering. These days, we are all frequent witnesses of suffering as we’re bombarded with images of conflict from near and far. When we stop at empathy, we burn out. But we don’t have to stop at empathy - we can move from empathy to compassion.
Compassion resources us, and primes our brain to take action to end suffering.
When we witness someone’s suffering and add a wish for an end to that struggle, something miraculous happens. A beneficial cascade of neurochemicals is released:
dopamine - which helps with motivation and learning;
oxytocin - the human bonding compound; and
serotonin - which helps to reduce anxiety.
And compassion primes our brain so that we are ready to take action.
Preventing empathy fatigue and burnout is one way Community Mindfulness Project serves the community.
We offer free and open mini-mindfulness sessions every Wednesday to nonprofit workers, and we work directly with organizations to support the well-being of their staff. You make this work possible when you support CMP. And right now, your impact will be doubled: a generous group of donors has offered to match $30,000 of donations now through year end.
May we all feel safe, cherished and resourced to be a force for good.
