Before writing this blog post, I listened to Joy Lab podcast 101 – compassion and mental health. Cultivating a good heart.
Psychologist Henry Emmons tells the story of sage and a young man. The sage was sitting beside a clear mountain lake. The young man approached and said “please teach me about compassion.” The sage put a packet of bitter herbs in a cup of water and offered it to the young man. Everyone in that country knew about that type of herb. The young man shook his head, refusing to drink. The sage poured the drink into the lake, (this is not an ecologically sound story), scooped some water from the lake and offered it to the young man. The young man understood that now the drink would be palatable because the taste had been diluted.
That is what we are trying to do: create a place of such spaciousness that we can experience and be around suffering without being pulled under by it.
When we encounter suffering, we place our attention on positive qualities like love, kindness, and compassion.
Research from the University of Wisconsin – Madison looked at brain scans of Buddhist monks who had spent years doing lovingkindness (compassion) meditation. In the brain, there are two prefrontal cortices. When the left prefrontal cortex is activated, you feel open, perhaps vulnerable, maybe generous. You feel more able to make connections with people, you feel approachable. When the right prefrontal cortex is activated, you feel almost the opposite: closed down, guarded, protective, and self-absorbed.
Both cortices evolved with important purposes: the left prefrontal cortex helps us feel connected with people, the right prefrontal cortex helps us protect ourselves. These days, our right prefrontal cortex is overstimulated, causing us to feel anxiety and depression.
Researchers in Madison connected the monks to functional MRI machines. They showed them photos of a child born with deformity and asked the monks to look on the child with compassion. Their left prefrontal cortices were activated.
“Regular” people, given the same assignment, were not able to activate their brains in the same way. After learning compassion meditation and practicing it for a few weeks, the second group was able to activate their left prefrontal cortices. Not as predictably and completely as the group of monks, but they showed improvement.
This is good news for us. Often, we get fearful and get into patterns of self-rumination and self-recrimination. By learning and practicing compassion meditation, we can move ourselves into that state of openness, connection, and compassion for others.
Joy lab offers an 11 minute online compassion meditation with which to practice.
In your journal:
- What other images/situations might move you to compassion?
- Write about a time someone showed you compassion.
- How can you show yourself or someone else compassion?