Apr 15, 2009: Build Health Through Compassion

A recent article in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology studied “the effect of compassion meditation on inflammatory, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress.” More simply, practicing compassion helps keep you healthy. Compassion seems to help especially with heart disease, depression, and diabetes.

How can you practice compassion? Here are a few ideas.

First, focus compassion on yourself. Make time to do something you love. Go for a walk in the woods, cuddle your dog, invite a friend for dinner—do what nourishes you. When you feel calm and content within yourself, you’ll find it easier to practice compassion with others.

A second simple builder of compassion is something many of us do already. Take time to express gratitude. Wake up and say thank you to be alive and healthy for another beautiful day. Give thanks before eating. End the day with a ritual, perhaps a prayer. Say thank you to the clerk, to the boy who opens a door for you, to everyone who could use a little boost. It’s impossible to feel down and grateful at the same time. Expressing your gratitude reminds you how lucky you really are.

Focus more on the ways we are alike, and less on the ways we are different. Sure some are taller, or smarter, or richer, or look different. But underneath, we all want the same things: health and happiness for ourselves and our loved ones. When you are with someone, try to shift your view just a little to see things through their eyes.

Practice kindness. Some people believe that everything you do returns threefold. If you help someone out, three good things will happen to you. Chances are your good things won’t come from the person you helped, but they’ll come. Start by actively looking for a good deed to do today. It can be as simple as smiling at someone who walks by. Soon you’ll notice that you are practicing kindness all day, and it’s coming right back.

Scientists aren’t sure why practicing compassion helps with heart disease, depression, and diabetes. Further studies are under way at Emory University. But in the meantime, they’ve already begun compassion-building exercises with patients at Emory Winship Cancer Institute. They are willing to believe the early evidence that compassion builds health, and so can we.