Tips for Compassion

The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University School of Medicine was founded in 2008 with the explicit goal of promoting, supporting, and conducting rigorous scientific studies of compassion and altruistic behavior. Here are three tips for compassion by founder and director Dr. James Doty.

1. Realize that while you may be having a difficult time, in their own way, many around you are also suffering as well. Like you, they may be trying not to show it. Recognize this reality and be compassionate to others.

2. In a similar vein, when one acts or responds negatively towards you for no apparent reason, understand that their attitude or response may have nothing to do with you whatsoever. Being in pain or suffering often results in one responding or reacting negatively to all those around them. Recognize this reality when someone acts in such a manner and respond with compassion.

3. The greatest gift we can give to ourself and others often is a pause between a negative stimulus and our reaction. It is in this pause that compassion can be most powerful.