BREATHE IN LOVE AND BREATHE OUT COMPASSION
Mark Lang

The news is full of stories of heartache and human misery. Stories are reported almost daily of earthquakes, tornados, floods, hurricanes, wars, and more. You can hardly read a headline or watch the television without having tales of tragedies thrown in your face. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless. But do not become complacent and jaded.

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When you hear of the pain of others, you may find yourself wondering what you can do to help them. Although you may not be able to go to them to render aid physically, there is an act of empathy you can do to send them positive energy.

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Try breathing in love from the universe and breathing out compassion for those who suffer. You may think, “What good will that do?” Well, for one thing, it teaches you to be a more compassionate person. Every time you breathe compassion to someone, you are expanding your capacity for empathy. It also gives you a greater sense of emotional stability because you do not feel so helpless when you hear about human misery. The positive energy you breathe out to people could spiritually benefit them on a metaphysical level. Perhaps their distress will slightly decrease when they receive enough positive energy—in whatever form.

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You can view this empathy breathing exercise as a form of prayer if you like. It does not matter what you call it. The important thing is to focus on loving other people and doing something about it. Talking about love is not the same as doing something loving. Breathing may seem passive, but it is not. Breathing is action and breathing empathy to those in need is one way to practice love.

Say, for instance, you hear on the national news that a young person in another state died in a car accident. Now the surviving family and friends are in a lot of emotional pain. Instead of just turning away and doing something else to take your mind off the sad news, you can take that opportunity to breathe compassion to the people who are in mourning.

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Furthermore, what if your coworker is dumping all her emotional baggage on you? You know that you cannot solve her problems for her. However, you can be empathetic and listen to her concerns. As you do, breathe in her pain. Let your love for humanity convert that pain into positive energy. Then, as you are still listening to her, breathe out compassion.

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Maybe it is an international situation where people are starving or have some horrible disease. If there is a relief fund set up, you could donate some money to help them. On the other hand, you can also breathe spiritual relief to them with your loving thoughts. It only takes a minute of your time, and it can make the difference between being compassionate or complacent.

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By the way, this exercise in sympathy can also work to reduce and control the anger you feel toward others. Imagine that your child comes home from school with an unsatisfactory grade. Your desire for your son or daughter to get a much higher grade could very easily lead to feelings of anger.

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Acting on this anger could result in a verbal confrontation with your child. You might yell, “You should know better than this. I expect more from you. What is wrong with you? I didn’t raise you to be an idiot!” These hurtful words will not strengthen the bond you have with your child. It will only drive a wedge between the two of you.

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What if instead of displaying anger, you took a few moments first to gather your thoughts before you spoke. (Okay, let’s call it a “timeout.” We can work with that overused catchword, can’t we?) If you use the empathy breathing technique, you could put yourself in the other person’s shoes and better understand the situation.

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It is entirely possible that in spite of your child’s best efforts, the grade still fell short of parental expectations. Or a more likely explanation might be the schoolwork or exam was not a proper vehicle by which to accurately measure your child’s learned knowledge. (This’s usually the case.)

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Understanding leads to compassion. Once you know a little bit more about the reason for the low grade, you can bring yourself to an emotional state of peace. It is at this point you can take that slow deep breath and exhale compassion to your child. That type of empathy leads to a stronger parent-child relationship.

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Something to meditate on today. When you get home tonight and watch the news, be sensitive to the suffering of others. As you learn about their struggles, image being in their situation. Feel for them. As you do this, breathe in love and exhale compassion. The more you do this, the more compassionate you will become. And the world sure could use more compassionate people right now.

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