A grandmother with her two young grandchildren, no power, water, and rationing crackers to stay alive. An American citizen stranded on the island of Puerto Rico, waiting for salvation. The CNN interviewer, held his hand over his heart and said, “I can feel your anxiety.”
Compassion is the “quivering of the heart in response to another’s suffering.” When you see the devastation left behind from hurricanes and earth quakes on television, or receive an unexpected phone call from a friend telling you that her father has passed away or that she’s received a painful diagnosis, it’s hard to be happy. You may even feel guilty about your own health, wealth, and wellbeing.
But happy you must be…
Compassion is a truth teller. The quivering of your heart that you feel, is a call to action that demands an answer, “What can I do to add to the light and healing of the world?” Your joy is the answer.
The worst thing you can do is refuse to feel or be happy, or celebrate your good fortune because others are suffering. It is through your good fortune, your health, your emotional and spiritual abundance that you can love your friend through her pain or heed the call to go lend a helping hand. The world needs your joy and happiness.
From Ernest Holmes:
I WAS TOLD TO LIVE
By some inner mystic Presence,
I was told to live and to love, to laugh and to be glad.
I was told to be still and know of the One Almighty Power, in and through all.
I was told to let that Power work through and in me.
I believed that voice and I receive my Good.
I [and the world] are healed—The joy of Life.