Compassion Means Saying 'Yes' to Our Deeper Selves

Not too long ago, a story made the rounds on the internet, from news sites to emails to Facebook posts, about a famous musician who decided to play in a busy public area of a major city and see what happened. Sadly, the musician, a world-class talent who typically filled auditoriums and sold out shows, only attracted fleeting glances from the bustling pedestrians who walked by him that day. His experience reflects a good deal about our collective conscience when it concerns people outside our tightly scheduled lives. A musician playing on a street corner or busy walkway isn't a threatening proposition. Maybe everyone passing by that day truly had too much on their agendas to stop, listen, and offer a dollar. But the story is telling on this level: we've become immune to the outside world, even when it offers us beautiful music.

Compassion Suffers from Our Jaded View of the World

Daily, we are wrapped in discouraging news from across the globe that bombards us from every angle. Some of us manage to close off the rat-a-tat-tat of negativity. Who among us knows someone, maybe yourself, who doesn't read a newspaper or watch a news show of any kind? We blame the media and say they focus too much on the negative and never report the positive. This may be true, but we inoculate ourselves from caring by placing a bubble around our lives. We become closed off to the suffering of others; we rationalize we can't do anything to change the circumstance; we turn off the music, both good and bad.

This is an insular way of living. True, life is difficult. Our trials will be many, and we argue that our personal stock of coping energy is depleted by dealing with the immediate, personal matters that affect us directly. When news of disasters or political upheavals seep through our barriers, we are good at pushing them back to the other side. "Let someone else help," we think, "because my life is all I can handle." Perhaps we need to think again.

Compassion: Part of What Makes Us Human

Over the course of human history, which can be viewed as minuscule or expansive, compassion has been a driving force of change. Human suffering has a way of motivating individuals and the masses. One person's compassionate acts can affect hundreds-abolitionist Sojourner Truth escaped slavery and worked the remainder of her life to ease the lives of black Americans. Acts of compassion also arise from nations-all but one European country has abolished the death penalty. Compassion is an agent of change.

The truth of the matter is that turning off our compassion entirely is impossible and deadening to our core consciousness. Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), the physician and Nobel Peace Prize winner, said: "Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace."

Inspiration for Acts of Compassion Can Be Surprising

Take Maddie. Maddie was a beloved family pet of the founders of PeopleSoft, the business-to-business software company. For ten years, Maddie delighted her owners with love, companionship and laughter. In her memory, Dave and Cheryl Duffield decided to begin a foundation to decrease the numbers of pets euthanized in the United States. The mission of their foundation, Maddie's Fund is to "revolutionize the status and well-being of companion animals." Their efforts to support no-kill shelters and promote spay and neuter programs have contributed to a decrease in euthanasia in the United States. All this came to be, because of a Miniature Schnauzer.

Reconnecting with Our Compassion: A Few Steps

There's no formula for finding our compassion once we recognize it has never left us in the first place. If your ability to care for others seems dormant, start small. You may have no desire to advocate for the homeless or volunteer at a non-profit organization. That's okay. But there are issues and people that you care about, and they are all around you when you are ready to see them. Ask yourself a couple of questions:

What do I care about in life?Who are affected by the things I care about most?Are there needs to be filled, small or large, that could benefit from my time, talent or money?If so, how do I undertake a compassionate act that best suits my resources, abilities and comfort level?

Make a commitment to write down the answers and review them. Keep revisiting them until they feel right. When they do, take the next step and act. In the end, the lives of a few or many could benefit, and your life will also reap the rewards of connecting with your humanity.

I invite you to visit http://www.fiveglobalvalues.com/ and download a sneak peak of my upcoming book "Adventures of the Tornado Kid" and follow the compelling story of two young kids born into two families with very different values. Two kids... and a devastating tornado.

No Means Next

The word "No" seems to be apart of becoming successful. Over the many years of attempting to get speaking engagements, speaking with publishers concerning a book deal, and asking for help, I've encountered the word no countless times. I've come to the conclusion that hearing "no" is on the road to success. So how do you overcome rejection or hearing the word no?

We all are painfully aware that we are going to hear the word no, whether it be from asking someone out on a date, asking to borrower mom or dads car, requesting for a pay increase at work or assistance from a someone. So since we are aware that being told no will happen, one way we can face that challenge with a positive attitude, is to go for no to get to the yes.

This brings me to a book called Go For No by Richard Fenton. The idea behind going for no is simple. Let's take the example of a salesmen. In dealing with sales, like selling insurance or selling copy machines, these individuals are aware they will be told no several times before they get to a yes. Let's say the ratio of no's to yes' is 20 to 1. They hear no 20 times before they get a yes. So in going for no, your objective is to get the 20 no's out of the way so you can get to a yes.

When you look at it from that standpoint, now you've decided to look at being told "no" from a different perspective, from a perspective that empowers you as oppose to defeating you. And as you encounter the word "no," you get better at dealing with that so called rejection. This will also provide you with the experience on how to rebut hearing the word no. Not only are you becoming comfortable with giving a response to the word no, you are turning more no's into more yes's.

Instead of hearing no 20 times and then getting a yes, you hear no 15 times, which means more profits along with a sense of accomplishment. A boost in confidence and more money has always had a positive effect on me. Remember, they are not saying no to you personally, they are just saying no to your offering or your proposal. So you shouldn't take it personally.

This brings about a formula, mentioned in the book, "Go for No." It has a success formula that goes like this; me -> no -> success. You will hear the word no on your road to success countless times. So when you are told no, that doesn't mean turn around or stop your journey. Think about it like this, no means next. If you ask someone for help and they say no, ask someone else. No means next. You have to be committed and not quit even when you have been told no multiple times.

Another way you can look at dealing with rejection or hearing the word no is to take the kid approach. Think back when you were a child or think about your own children. When a child is told no, they continue to ask until they get what they want. Children are constantly teaching us never to give up even when they are told no over and over again.

This brings me to another story. Jack Canfield, author of Chicken Soup for the Soul used the SWSWSWSW principle. This stands for, some will, some won't, so what, some one's waiting! Jack Canfield stated he was told no 144 times while looking for a publisher for his book Chicken Soup for the Soul. He was rejected by 144 publishers and the 145th publisher said yes to his book which catapulted him to multi-millionaire status.

That book alone sold 8 million plus copies and was the beginning of an 80 book series of best selling books that have been translated into 39 languages. Wouldn't you be inclined to believe someone who believed in his book so strongly that he went on until it was published. Now imagine if he had given up after hearing the word no 20 times.

Your attitude toward rejection or hearing no is the key to everything! Who said rejection has to be embarrassing or debilitating. You can decide whether hearing the word no or being rejected will inspire you and cause you to move closer to your goal or cause you to give up and paralyze your efforts.

Rejection does not have to stop you in your tracks. It can be used as a motivating tool to help you accomplish all that you desire if you choose to look at it that way.

Keith is a Personal Development & Online Marketing Coach. He empowers and inspires people to discover their passions, fulfill their dreams, and achieve their life's purpose. To learn more, please visit: http://LifePassion.net/Learn-More

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