Compassionate.

Compassion is really profound and it involves being able to imagine oneself in another person's situation, feeling their plight while having a strong desire to alleviate their suffering. Compassion goes beyond kindness, concern, pity or care. It is a deep seated love with a follow up action for the person going through one challenge or the other that you come across.

Amongst the attributes of compassion, one that strikes me is that it is non-judgemental. Irrespective of the person's actions or decisions that led them to that problem, all you want to do is alleviate it and not condemn the person. Compassion goes pari-pasu with agape love.

Compassion can have several benefits when practiced or received such as " Improving relationships, increased empathy, better mental health and a high release of the feel good hornone....serotonin*, which helps the body a great deal.

Compassion is a gift both to be given out and to be received. I have shown compassion many times and also received acts birthed from compassion a lot and for that, I am truly grateful. I will be sharing one that really stood out for me and made me appreciate compassion.

Personal experience

About five years ago, I needed to relocate to a new apartment from the one I was staying and it was very urgent. The landlord was on my case and I wanted to be rid of his stress. The issue lied on the fact that I had no money saved up for this move as it wasn't on the plan but the greedy landlord wanted to extort his tenants by demanding a 200% increment on rent or we evacuate.

I managed to stall him for two months with the claim of searching for another apartment which I wasn't doing. By the third month, this landlord befan toake threat calls to me and so it was clear that I needed to leave especially for safety. I spoke to a few people about my dilemma but nothing was forthcoming. I was almost losing hope and preparing myself to be on the streets if I could not get an apartment soon.

One day while I was walking and looking so sad, an acquaintance met me on the road and stopped me to ask why I was gloomy. I quickly summarized my predicament to her, thinking that it would end without a solution but this lady took me to meet a man who a
was a landlord and she vouched for me.

Long story short, I got a new apartment without paying a single dime until after six months. In my country, that is a rare find and it has to be on the basis of a deep relationship before you can receive such an offer but this acquaintance helped me out at that crucial time.

She was not a friend, just someone I usually see within the neighbourhood. She could have walked away but she didn't. She was compassionate enough to help me get a new apartment without any form payment till I was able to make up the money. That is the apartment I am currently living in and she's now a good friend of mine. I appreciate her efforts and how compassion moved her to help me even when we were practically strangers.

Thank you all for reading... Shalom

This is my entry to the #januaryinleo initiative for day 3.

Images used are mine.