(14-04-14) Study: 8 weeks of meditation can dramatically increase compassion

by Mike Bundrant

(NaturalNews) You may be just eight weeks away from being much more
compassionate, according to new research by Northeastern University's David
DeSteno. The new study, published in Psychological Science, sheds light on what
is possible.

"We know meditation improves a person's own physical and psychological well-
being," said Condon. "We wanted to know whether it actually increases
compassionate behavior."

Here is a summary of the findings:
?Two forms of meditation were used among meditating participants.

? Compassion was measured by observing the tendency to help someone in obvious
physical pain when others in proximity were not willing to help.

? Only 15% of non-meditating participants were willing to extend themselves to
help the person in pain.

? 50% of meditating participants were willing to help.

? Among the 50%, it did not seem to matter which form of meditation they were
using.

"The truly surprising aspect of this finding is that meditation made people
willing to act virtuous - to help another who was suffering - even in the face
of a norm not to do so," DeSteno said. The fact that others were ignoring the
person in pain creates a 'bystander-effect' that normally tends to reduce
helping.

Meditation as a general discipline has enough positive evidence to back it
that it should be considered a no-brainer for anyone interested in living a
conscious life. Among the benefits of meditation are: stress reduction, reduced
inflammation, increased compassion, more energy, more personal discipline and a
greater overall sense of well-being.

What would happen if you were more compassionate?
A lot of people resist the idea of compassion because they believe they would
be more likely to let people off the hook. A client once told me, "If I were
more compassionate, I'd get run over. People would take advantage of me all day
long."

This fear is not based on compassion, but on a misunderstanding of compassion.
In fact, allowing people to take advantage of you is the opposite of
compassion. If you care about someone, why would you encourage them to mistreat
you?

When this particular client "got it" he confessed that he already felt taken
advantage of daily. When he realized that he wasn't doing anyone, including
himself, any favors by allowing them to use him, he began to develop more
compassion. Interestingly, he also found himself more willing to say "No."
Sometimes no is the respectful thing to say!

Think about it. Which parent is more compassionate - the one who indulges
children by letting them do whatever they want, or the one who says no and
makes the effort to set boundaries?

Whether you need to say yes or no more of the time, it seems that compassion
is the lens through which the best choices are made. It's nice to know that
tools like meditation can make it more accessible.

Source: Naturalnews

News

---

In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.