Compassion: The new normal

There is much out there about COVID 19 and lots of great material around self care and helping the community. Apart the factual articles and data (and some mis-information), there is also some good advise on different aspects of managing oneself.

We have to acknowledge that there are still many unknowns and uncertainties. We can as best conjecture what is to come. At a broader level, this is the base for humility, that we do not know many-many answers, including how the world will unfold.

I believe that this base of humility can lead to our becoming more compassionate. This is the time to connect with humanity at large, and with our inner selves. And the higher the uncertainty, the greater the need for being compassionate.

First, deal with negative emotions and the stress cycle : Stress will naturally bring out negative emotions of fear, mistrust, lack of surety and many others in a similar vein. Negative emotions can be spiral, just escalating stress. It can isolate us further from others as well as from our own real self. It would be important to acknowledge these emotions and try dealing with them through positive thoughts and actions. Keeping a routine to manage body, mind, spirit and the emotional self healthy on a daily basis helps. Here is one source of basic information and tips. https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/stress-tips.html. Our best acts of compassion can come if we are balanced in mind, body and spirit.

Compassion as a way of life: Somewhere over time, in our hectic, activity and material-led life, we have become a little less empathetic, a little disconnected and a little low on listening to others' anguish and pain. There are some who are generally better at it as part of their personality and nature, others not so.

Every single one of us can move to being more compassionate in general. What empathy could do is to ease the route to more and deeper heartfelt conversations. And that may well be the route to a more caring world. Be it corporate organisations, governments or for that matter, in any other setting, this may be the only way to reduce and hopefully take away the stress and negative emotions at an individual and collective level.

There is a case for compassion in all our interactive spheres. As I talked about empathy to one of my clients, someone asked--"but what can I do practically?".

Compassion and Empathy can also just remain esoteric words. What do they mean in practice. Here's a ready reckoner for starters--feel free to add actions suitable to one's context. Let's start small, in action, not just intent.

• I know of someone who gives two hours of their time every day morning councelling elderly people who cannot sleep because of anxiety.
• Another one who teaches kids of single mothers in their community for a few hours with due precautions, just relieving mothers of their burden a bit.
• And another who just calls old friends --two every evening.
• And one who takes online classes for all her colleagues on design skills which she is an expert at.

Many may think that being empathetic and compassionate means less focus on 'business' and economic gains. I would like to strongly advocate that these go hand in hand. A more empathetic organisation, for example, may well be able to carry people along much better on the path of effectiveness and performance.

When do we feel touched? A small gesture, a small word here and there, a listening ear. That is all it takes most of the time. It's time to get back to these much needed habits, and each of us can certainly do it in our own ways. The new world we all want for ourselves and for our children will need these much more. And what better wake-up call than this pandemic. Would we not like to live in a more compassionate world?

** Bimal Rath is a Leadership and Talent development consultant and author. He helps individuals in exploring and discovering their potential and shifting gears. He works for Think Talent, consulting with companies in shaping their talent strategy for the new world of work. Visit thinktalent.co to get a glimpse of his organisation's work.