Compassion is an emotion that helps us better understand and live with others. However, we must be careful of the pitfalls of compassion. 

Compassion comes from the Latin cum patior which means “to suffer with”.

For Paul Bloom, a researcher and professor at Yale University, compassion is about caring for someone who is in pain, without trying to experience what they are feeling yourself, which defines empathy. Compassion is the emotion we can hold back in the face of the misery of others. It involves a feeling of benevolence with a willingness to help the person who is suffering. 

To be capable of compassion, you have to know how to be empathetic. We imagine what the one who suffers is going through, and that is why we are touched by this suffering.

It is possible to train in compassion, to cultivate it. Neuroscience research has shown that the plasticity of the brain is such that after a certain 3 months training in compassion the gray matter of the socio-emotional brain has increased. 

Compassion is a moral feeling. It helps to better understand others and make them happier. 

Compassion also has physical benefits for those who feel it: studies have shown that people who show compassion have increased levels of endorphins, the hormones of well-being, of happiness. So being compassionate would make you happier! Other studies have found that compassion can produce 100% more DHEA, a hormone that counteracts the effects of aging.

Compassion is essential to living in society, but it can be dangerous as well. Being overly compassionate can make it difficult to think of yourself. In addition, compassion is manipulable and can be used by those who have things to sell or ideas to convey. Excess of compassion is also a pitfall of compassion. It is the prerogative of people who do not care about the feelings of the other. Rather than imagining what is right for them they are interested in what they think is good for themselves. 

Compassion can also make you sick. Thus, people who face the suffering of others on a daily basis, such as healthcare professionals or therapists, for example, may suffer from compassion fatigue. Permanent contact with the suffering of others leads to a kind of burn-out. Those who suffer from it exhibit various symptoms: feeling of helplessness, lack of energy. anger, depression …

Too little compassion is bad. This constitutes a loss of humanity. Too much compassion can also be harmful. We must therefore find a happy medium. 

It is important to care about how other people are feeling. True compassion is about sharing what the other is feeling, not necessarily about taking action. It is just a matter of being open to the feelings that we most often experience spontaneously in the face of the distress of others. We are not necessarily able to respond to this suffering.