In our last few +1s, we’ve been chatting about the fact that there are no perfect human beings nor any ALWAYS (!) motivated human beings.
Tragically…
You and I won’t be the first perfect human being and/or ALWAYS motivated human being.
Darn it. 😉
Now that we’ve accepted that reality, we can re-commit to doing our best.
As you may recall, we had fun with the Wet Dish Rag Theory of Motivation, connected it to ACT, then brought Marsha Linehan back to the party to share some of her favorite Rilke Wisdom.
Today I want to go back to a little line I mentioned in a P.S. to one of the +1s we did on her memoir Building a Life Worth Living.
In the context of sharing her Heroic journey from mental health institution patient to world-renowned creator of the therapy that now helps countless people struggling with the same challenges she faced as a young woman, Marsha shared some REALLY powerful wisdom.
She tells us: “When someone is in distress, the best compassion you can give is to be effective in helping them.”
That’s one of my ALL-TIME favorite pieces of wisdom.
I repeat: “When someone is in distress, the best compassion you can give is to be effective in helping them.”
It makes me think of our distinction between compassion and encouragement. (Check out this +1 and page #299 in Areté!)
BOTH are incredibly important virtues, but I think encouragement doesn’t get enough attention.
The quick recap…
The word compassion LITERALLY means “to suffer with.”
The word encouragement LITERALLY means “to inject with courage.”
To frame it up with Marsha’s wisdom…
We could say that the best way to have compassion is to be very good at giving effective encouragement.
From my vantage point, one of THE most powerful things we can do (and one of THE key ways we will change the world together!), is to get really, REALLY, REALLY (!) good at practicing our philosophies such that we more consistently live with more wisdom, discipline, love, and courage such that we can get really, REALLY, REALLY (!) good at helping others do the same.
Remember…
“When someone is in distress, the best compassion you can give is to be effective in helping them.”
Here’s to moving from Theory to Practice to Mastery so we can change the world, one person at a time, starting with YOU and ME and the next person who needs our encouragement…
TODAY.
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