Who Needs Kindness, Compassion, and Empathy?
Everyone. Everyone needs kindness, compassion, and empathy.
Somewhere along the way, a certain sector of our society decided that being kind, compassionate, empathetic, and caring about anyone outside yourself or your immediate circle was a sign of weakness. They took this further and labeled it as being “woke”, like that was a horrid, unacceptable thing.
What’s the opposite of awake, or “woke”? Asleep, or unaware. (Or let’s apply the thesaurus here, oblivious, ignorant, and unconscious.) Tell someone who takes umbrage with “wokeness” that they’re ignorant or uninformed and watch how fast they become defensive and potentially violent. Why? Because they feel, when you call them out, you’re being unkind and uncompassionate. Funny, right?
When all is said and done, who needs kindness, compassion, and empathy? EVERYONE. Even the horrific, awful world leaders doing terrible things want people to think kindly, compassionately, and empathetically of them. I think the problem here is that they live in a reality quite separate from the rest of us. That’s probably because they’re the hero in their own story – but that’s another topic for another day.
The first problem, when it comes to kindness, compassion, and empathy, is that we tend to deny them for ourselves.
Why are we so unkind to ourselves?
I’ve written many times about my belief that you and I are not taught about self-awareness. Maybe the basics are glossed over in social studies in Middle and High School. But nobody discusses how to look within and know yourself. Too much focus is given to putting the cogs in the machine of society.
Hence, many people have little to no awareness of themselves. Likely, they have surface awareness, but going into the depths and exploring the subconscious – and what beliefs, values, and habits they have – gets little to no attention.
Couple that with messages about selfishness, greed, narcissism, and worse, and you have a recipe for treating yourself poorly, if you practice self-care at all. And not self-care in the idea of getting a massage or taking a vacation. This is self-care in the idea of getting rest, finding balance, doing things good for your mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health, and generally taking care of your wellness and wellbeing.
This comes down to being present in the now, the only time that’s truly real or at all in your control. From there, you can look within and gauge your thoughts, feelings, intentions, positivity or negativity of approach, and actions. With that, you can alter them if they don’t suit you.
For many people, kindness, compassion, and empathy toward themselves hardly enter their minds. Yet, if you don’t give these to yourself, it’s difficult to give them to others. Too many things in society at large point out your numerous imperfections, inconsistencies, and failings. This is the opposite of kindness, compassion, and empathy; it’s unkindness, cruelty, and insensitivity. When you accept it, and it often seems like you must, it allows uncertainty and fear to dominate.
You have a choice, of course.
Applying kindness, compassion, and empathy every day
First and foremost, kindness, compassion, and empathy are never weaknesses. Not at all. They’re strength. Kindness, compassion, and empathy empower.
How do you feel when someone holds a door for you? What about when a driver on the highway lets you merge? If you start to cry, do you appreciate when someone hands you a tissue? All of these are basic, simple, everyday examples of the practices of kindness, compassion, and empathy.
What about toward yourself? Don’t beat yourself up when you make a mistake. Instead, try to reframe it as a learning and growth opportunity. Did you eat that donut despite your diet? Forgive yourself and resist the second one. Say something that caused someone to feel hurt because you were angry? Accept that anger happens; it can cause you to do and say things you normally wouldn’t, forgive yourself, and then apologize (if appropriate).
Whether you give kindness, compassion, and empathy to yourself or others, doing so is easy and empowering. Why empowering? Because of how it puts you in the now, makes you think and feel, and is an active choice.
Too many choices and decisions left to the subconscious takes away what control you have. When all is said and done, you ultimately can choose and decide who, what, where, how, and why you are. Yes, some circumstances and situations reduce and limit choices, but so long as you make them, you enrich and strengthen the muscle of choice.
Why are choices and decisions so important? Because when you make them, you express your autonomy and self-sovereignty. That’s free will in action.
Kindness, compassion, and empathy empower
With media and social media emphasizing groupthink, mob mentality, and herding the sheeple, it’s easy to get lost. Those who are scared of change and uncertainty are presented with scapegoats and outsiders to blame, which makes them feel falsely empowered. That’s where you get this notion that being “woke” is somehow bad for you.
Everybody needs, desires, and wants kindness, compassion, and empathy. Why? Because they make you feel seen, heard, acknowledged, maybe even loved. When you choose and decide to practice them, you empower yourself.
Empowerment comes from within. Nobody gives it to you. It’s a choice to take the wheel of the car, choose the path through the wilderness, and decide for yourself. Rather than just accepting things that might not align with your sense of being, you can make choices and decisions about who, what, where, how, and why you are.
Empowered people recognize when they’re being played. They see through the artifices being used to herd them. When you’re empowered, you recognize and acknowledge that kindness, compassion, and empathy are builders of a better world for everyone.
Finally, kindness, compassion, and empathy are infinite. There’s no limit, no lack, and no scarcity of these intangibles. They don’t lessen anyone, and caring about the wellbeing of strangers is ultimately caring about yourself. Why? Because you’re a stranger to someone out there, too. Seriously, someone you consider “other” probably considers YOU to be the “other”. It’s all a matter of perspective, and along that line, I have never met anyone who didn’t desire kindness, compassion, and empathy.
Can you appreciate how everyone needs kindness, compassion, and empathy?
This is the seventh-hundred-forty-first (741) exploration of my Pathwalking philosophy. These weekly essays are my ideas for – and experiences with – applying mindfulness and positivity to walk along a chosen path of life to consciously create reality.
I share this philosophy because I desire to make a difference in the world and help as many people as I can to find their empowerment with conscious reality creation.
Thank you for joining me. Feel free to repost and share this.
The first year of Pathwalking, including some expanded ideas, is available here.
Also, please check out my author website for the rest of my published fiction and nonfiction works.
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