View from the Top | This Holiday Season Vow to Show More Compassion!
As we approach this holiday season, let it serve as a poignant reminder of the profound importance of compassion and empathy in fostering a sense of shared humanity and connection. At its core, compassion around the holidays is respecting the individual choices we, and others, make. How we listen and seek to understand other perspectives, honor boundaries, and seek to create a space where everyone feels safe and supported. During this time of year, when festivities often highlight the diversity of individual experiences, the practice of compassion becomes a guiding principle in promoting understanding and unity.
Everyone needs to be more empathetic. Being empathetic is about understanding what another person is going through and putting yourself “in their shoes.” Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University, describes empathy as stepping into someone’s mind to experience their feelings.
Prof. Richard Davidson, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes that “encouraging the focus on the person’s well-being and happiness, instead of their distress, actually shifts our brain’s pathways from experiencing painful empathy to the more rewarding areas of compassion.” Feeling compassion influences you to act to help those in need rather than simply trying to “feel their pain.”
In essence, the holiday season becomes a canvas upon which compassion paints the colors of togetherness, kindness, and understanding. These qualities enrich our personal experiences and contribute to creating a more compassionate and connected global community, reminding us that, regardless of our backgrounds, we are bound by our shared capacity for love and understanding. With so much suffering, we need more Compassion and less empathy now more than ever.
Happy Holidays SRAI!
Authored by Gloria W. Greene, Assistant Vice President, Contracts & Grants
The University of Alabama at Huntsville
SRAI Board of Directors President
#December2023