Designs of the Heart

Developing compassion for others builds our perspective more than anything else. It is the recognition that other people’s problems, their pain and frustrations are as real as our own. Compassion develops our sense of gratitude by taking our attention off from all the little things that most of us have learned to take too seriously. It involves the willingness to put our self in someone else’s shoes and imagine what it is like to be in someone else’s predicament.

For many of us, our lives are filled with responsibilities and at the same time we ought to learn the art of relaxing. We hustle someone along because we do not find him working at the same pace as us but a little patience will help us to realize that he/she is slow because of his/her inability to grasp things quickly. Once we were asked to feed the students’ data into the computer. A colleague of mine approached me for help and as we got into the job, I found myself getting annoyed at a very small issue. The person, I was helping, was taking a long time to read out the data. My impatience was evident in the tone in which I was communicating with her. Finally, my younger colleague realized my annoyance and said that she could not read the names fast in English as she was used to the vernacular language. I hung my head in shame for not realizing it. We easily get frustrated by over-reacting and losing sight of the real problem. It is indeed enjoyable when we learn to share the joy of someone else’s glory. Instead of belittling the incapability in others, give them time to double up their energies and then haul them over to your pace.