Compassion overload

You must take care of yourself in order to be useful to others

The world feels heavy right now. The weight of innocent people being brutally killed is too much for my heart to hold. I don’t know what to do with it and feel helpless. Outrage is understandable and warranted.

So what do I personally do with the outrage? Obviously, we have no control over upsetting events in the Middle East. But I can make a difference in the world around me this week. Here are three ideas for you to consider:

1. Limit your news consumption. Nothing will change by you knowing every detail. The risk of knowing more is that you’ll carry more anger around in your body and that will feel terrible. I personally try to limit my news to around 10 minutes/day.

2. Listen to others with curiosity instead of judgment. Sure, it’s certainly easier to talk to those with whom you agree. It’s harder to listen to differing viewpoints. Yet we give others dignity when we hear them out. You just might build a bridge to understanding each other better.

3. Forgive someone. I met a friend last week who shared with me how he recently went around asking specific people to forgive him for things he’d done or said in the past. This was easily the most impactful conversation I’ve had in a long time. Is there a person in your life that hurt you? What would it be like to release yourself from the prison of unforgiveness?

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Choose to love others this week. It doesn’t erase what’s going on in our larger world, but it can change the world around you. Make it an impactful week.