7 Reasons Why Compassion Is Good For You

Have Compassion And Feel Good

Ever given a stray animal food, helped your elderly neighbour with her shopping or given practical help to a friend? If so, you have already practiced compassion. But keep going with your compassionate behaviour because being compassionate has major benefits for your wellbeing, as well as the people you help.

Compassion is linked to empathy and sympathy. But compassion takes caring one step further. While you can feel empathy and sympathy for a person, you only become compassionate if you translate those feelings into practical help. So take notice of those in need around you, and offer your help. Both of you will benefit!

You'll Experience The Feel-good Factor

Showing compassion makes you feel good! The knowledge that you are doing good and the gratitude you received from the recipient of your compassion all boosts your sense of wellbeing. Try it! The feeling you get from helping somebody with no reward for yourself releases feel-good hormones into your body. It's a similar feeling to when you eat chocolate (assuming you enjoy chocolate!) or to when you spend time with a pet you love. Recent research even shows that helping others makes you feel happier than spending money on yourself. So what are you waiting for? Be compassionate and feel fantastic!

2) You'll Become More Attractive To Others

As if feeling good wasn't enough of an incentive to be compassionate, research indicates it will also make you more attractive to potential partners and to potential friends. Kindness and compassion rated exceptionally highly in surveys of what people looked for in a potential love interest. It makes sense. If you're looking for a partner and you see somebody being compassionate, that person is going to appear much more attractive than the person who looks the other way instead of helping out. So if you are looking for love, or to widen your social circle, show people you are caring and compassionate with your actions.

3) You'll Say Goodbye To Anxiety

If you focus on helping other people, your own low-level blues will fade away during the time you are practicing your compassion. Remember a moment when you became totally involved in helping a friend out. Your own concerns were not troubling you, then, were they? It's because compassion re-focuses your concentration. You experience anxiety when you focus on yourself. But you experience relief from anxiety when you focus on others - when you're compassionate. Also, when you finish your compassionate activity, you are less likely to slip back into an anxious frame of mind because you will feel energised and uplifted from the compassionate social activity.

4) It's Contagious (in a good way!)

Compassion spreads and grows. If you behave compassionately to somebody, then it's likely that person will go on to behave compassionately to somebody else. It creates a chain reaction of good deeds. Compassion takes on a life of its own as it grows and spreads to multiple people. So your act of compassion will benefit many people. And may even come back around to you in the form of compassion from a stranger just when you need it most.

5) It's Your Natural State!

It's natural to be compassionate. At your core as a human being, you are hardwired to be kind, compassionate and altruistic. Many spiritual traditions teach this philosophy, especially Buddhism. However you can easily get diverted from your natural state of compassion. In a consumer-driven society, where 'me-first' is encouraged, it's easy to lose sight of your altruism. Rediscover your natural spiritual state by being compassionate - and feel fabulous!

6) It's Good For The Planet

Being compassionate means showing care for everything around you. From animals to people, to the planet and everything in the natural world. Little acts of compassion include recycling your waste instead of dumping it in landfill, adopting a pet from an animal shelter rather than from a money-making breeder. Buy or consume only what you need, no more. By bringing compassion into your every day life, you can feel good and save the planet, too!

7) You'll Become More Spiritually Aware

Once you've begun regularly practicing compassion, there's no going back - because you won't want to! Compassion makes you more in tune with your spiritual side because compassion is a spiritual act. You'll find your spiritual awareness grows and expands the more you are compassionate.