The most important thing I have learned about compassion is that it’s a vibration. A force that we can call upon, if we choose, to help us.  Compassion is free, has no intermediary, and is available to every human being on earth no matter their state, status, or condition. Compassion is neutral, and anyone can meet its vibration as you would a potential friend or ally and be in relationship with it. As you practice calling on compassion you develop a relationship that over time will increase your ability to utilize its benefits and bring ease and comfort to your life experience on all levels.

For a long time on my path I viewed compassion as something “I” did.  I saw it as a place I had to reach, like I interpreted the Dali Lama and Mother Theresa having reached. Being a well-intentioned person, I would try and “be” compassionate and “do” compassionate things and “have” compassionate thoughts.  This reaching for compassion never manifested true compassion. I noticed that I was still impatient, judgmental, and often in situations that needed compassion, acting out of fear instead. I felt that real compassion, in the way I intuitively knew was possible, was out of reach for me. Like many of the teachings I have received on my spiritual path, I didn’t quite get it, my behaviors showed it, and I was embarrassed to say that I didn’t know how it worked. By moving from the concept of compassion to a relationship with compassion as my teacher, I discovered that compassion is a living vibration that heals. It is a guiding force that can transform us and a nourishing spiritual food that carries us in difficult times. The process of facing our weaknesses as we journey through life is made easier with compassion as our ally.  And we don’t have to look far for it’s accessible right inside of us.

The key to compassion, and other energies available to us for our healing, (such as humility, gratitude, forgiveness, love, and faith,) is that you can learn to consciously call upon them and when you do, they arrive. We don’t create compassion by using our will in the traditional sense of the word. Compassion already exists, waiting for us to step into its place in our hearts, and then we only need to open ourselves to receive it, first for ourselves, and then for others. Once the energy of compassion awakens and is vibrating in our hearts, then do we know what action to take with our suffering. It may be that we do nothing but sit and wait, or perhaps listen and hold space for someone’s suffering, or even our own. It may be that we are called to take some greater action, we never know until we get there.