C.J. Braden • 2 Minute Read
How to Cultivate More Compassion
You can never have too much compassion. It’s a concept that must be exercised daily, like our bodies. When a person begins to get on your nerves or when a life situation begins to make your blood feel like it will boil over, it’s time to take a moment to ask yourself if you are being compassionate enough. Compassion, as defined by Psychology Today, is “willingly turning towards pain with courage, acceptance, and care”.
My Sh** Level Illustration by Carolyn J. Braden
Compassion can go two ways and let me explain how via one of my life stories that is filed under the “Hurricane Ian” files portion of my life. At the seven month mark following Hurricane Ian, another big storm brought lots of wind and rain to our home. It happened within one day of the 7 month anniversary. During this storm, our roof leaked a bit, because our roof, damaged by Hurricane Ian, was recently unwrapped by our insurance company.
Have compassion towards anyone experiencing pain
The wrap was the fix we implemented in October 2022 to mediate it post storm (Hurricane Ian happened on September 28th, 2022), and was one of the best options for our roof style. It was unwrapped recently for insurance representatives to do an analysis, despite having photo evidence of extensive shingle/caps damage (photos were taken before they could get to our house but it needed a fix quickly) and having visible water damage evidence inside our house.
Human touch is powerful during a compassionate conversation
The patches they put back on after looking at it (instead of just going ahead and starting the new roof process, which they could see it needed), leaked and blew upwards, flapping in the wind. So many on our side are just shaking their heads at this silly money and time wasting situation. 🤦♀️😂
It’s not terrible, but it got on drywall in our attic space, and wet drywall in SWFL is not good because it can mold. We took the right measures and contacted our lawyer team and roof representatives ASAP. While it will get taken care of, it still is frustrating.
Have compassion towards all humans
We are not the only ones in this situation and it called for us to do a little self care (we like to DIY, talk to people, hang out at our house, and watch nature) and exercise compassion for ourselves. We do meditations, take deep breaths, and I like to journal too. These are among the few ways you can give yourself compassion.
I am doing my best motivational quote
You can have compassion for others by listening, speaking with kindness, apologizing when you’ve made a mistake and forgiving others’ mistakes, encouraging others, by being happy for someone else’s success and more.
But, when someone you have been giving a lot of compassion to still isn’t getting it (maybe months and years go by with no change), give a little more if you can, then it’s time to give yourself the compassion. It’s always a good idea to be gentle on yourself when you are doing your very best. We are doing the best we can and we know that whatever you are going through, you are doing your best too.
See how we added more colorful and joyful surroundings to our porch to give compassion to the animals and butterflies of Sanibel Island, as they’ve been through a lot post Hurricane Ian via our video below or via our YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
We like to hang out on the porch and talk when needed
Our Sanibel Island home’s porch swings are still so much fun and we love them for hanging out and talking, which we love to do to heal. Because of how we decided to hang them, we call them our “gentle talking swings”. We talk on a daily basis and it is always helpful. Get our same wood porch swings by clicking here.
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C.J. (Carolyn) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.