How Compassion Transforms Crisis: Building Resilience and Kindness in Tough Times

Speed Bumpers Ahead

We’re hurting right now. We’re uncertain about our immediate future. Some of us are juggling two jobs – being a full time employee and being a full time parent learning the ropes of digital learning. We’re dealing with a lot of stuff right now. In our suffering, we seemed to have found a common ground in our humanity.

But hasn’t that been the case for as long as we can remember? In our busy lives, we’ve always had stuff to deal with. Things were falling apart, marriages were ending, kids were getting sick and so much more. And when stuff falls apart, we pick up the pieces and move on. We try even more when times get trying, because we forget that there are many things out of our control.

When we keep this central idea within our eye sight, we don’t get overwhelmed. We stop repairing, fixing, trying to manage everything. We simply be.

There’s a beautiful saying that the rock is only heavy if you pick it up. It is to say that having passing thoughts of doom and gloom like a marquee scroll across your mind is OK. But, dwelling on them and making them linger to the point of dread is dangerous.

Give Yourself Permission

We all crave a sense of order, balance and calm in a world of information overload. And in this daily pursuit, we find ourselves even more lost. By adopting a compassionate approach to ourselves, we can stop chasing the perfect version of life that doesn’t really exist. We can stop the overwhelm and anxiety that are byproducts of our daily grind. Here are few things we can do, starting with exhibiting self compassion.

Grab pockets of joy, even if they’re small and fleeting. You’ve earned them. Find meaning in what you do. You’re doing epic shit. OK, OK, you suck. But, you don’t suck everywhere, in every aspect of your life, do you? Well if you said yes, you my friend, have a problem which is beyond the scope of this article.

Inhale The Present

Invisible things in our life can cause harm, terror and death. But there are also invisible things in nature that bring the warm of the sunlight to us, the blossoms of spring flowers and the joy that fills our hearts.

Get out. Look up to see the beauty that’s all around us. Some of the best things in life are free.

Find yourself in nature. The five elements, earth, fire, water, air and space, don’t seem to tell each other that in their own power, they stand alone, and are not really dependent on one another. They simply exist with unconditional trust, freedom and generosity in this shared space. We can learn to reserve our judgments, perceptions, and just be accepting and content. And that we’re blessed to someday disintegrate and become one with them.

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Nurture Enduring Relationships

Empathy is the single most factor that determines what kind of a contributing human, leader and adults we’ll be. What is Empathy? Empathy is how we treat absolute strangers. It is our ability to put ourselves in the situations that others are going through.

More than ever before, social and emotional learning – taking perspective, self awareness, appreciating similarities and differences in others – in addition to academic learning is more relevant now in the digital age where distractions and addictions are just a click, swipe and a hashtag away.

We’ve to ask our children how they would treat other people, why we have rules and what being respectful entails. We’ve to teach them the importance of respecting those that love them unconditionally. Fostering meaningful conversations and dialogue to see the other point of view is critical.

Foster Problem Solving

The world will always keep changing and we will always have problems. That’s the only constant in our lives. Let’s teach our children how to design solutions to problems. We must teach them how to face obstacles and find the self motivation to keep going.

We must expose them to adversity and not hide them from it. How long can we keep safeguarding them from real life anyway? Life is not perfect all the time and the sooner they know it, the better they’re ready for it.

When faced with problems, giving them a perspective of the abundance they still have left is imperative. While arriving at a solution, the depth of their engagement and the journey are also part of the final solution.

One Humanity

When we combine our unique strengths as a team to use communication as a tool, make solid friendships, apply critical thinking and creativity to solve projects we build a productive global environment to thrive.

We become attune to others and we understand what moves them. When we’re keenly attune to others, we understand ideas from their perspective. Then we develop the ability to make a deep, meaningful impact in the lives of others. Together then, we are one humanity ready to solve any crisis. Because, every life’s worth fighting for!

The bottom line is to combat your irrational fears, you must become other focused. We must think of how we can contribute to the greater good. Will there be a nagging feeling of worry and fear in the back? Of course, there will be.

Because only when we step out of our comfort zone, we will experience crisis. If we want to prevent crisis AND exponential growth, we must stop taking calculated risks, simply stay in status quo and not aspire for our ultimate desired state.

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