Compassion rollercoaster

As I sit here reflecting on my day, I must admit my level of compassion is best described as a rollercoaster. I believe compassion takes a little practice just as all things do in life. Today, I was flooded with the widest range of emotions, not sure if it was spending six hours working on the final details of my research project or saying goodbye to my cohort. I cried three times today, felt mad, snapped at a friend, relaxed, stressed, was more negative than usual, and felt overwhelmed with love and kindness. On a normal day, I think I exhibit more positive feelings and today I was mindful to the fact that I was out of whack. I think it is amazing how stress can alter my mood, deadlines add pressure, and now I am sad that I couldn’t celebrate the success of a years work. I got derailed, thrown off the tracks so to speak.

So what can be learned about my day of compassion you ask? Well, it isn’t always about me. I’ve seen my friend’s around me exhibit one or a few of these emotions today, and I am humbled. If I’ve learned one thing, it is this; I must take the time to show compassion to others. We all have different emotions and circumstances in any given day, and how we respond to these situations matters. It feels good sending love or showing love to others; the benefits are far more pleasing than the raging rollercoaster of negative emotions I described earlier.

My revelation for the day is this, I am not perfect, I do fail at times, stress can throw my day off tracks if I let it, and the most important thing is how I handle it. I am going to work harder at showing more compassion to others and get outside of myself.