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Home » compassion » Page 3

Down Syndrome & Inspiration

I learnt about Down Syndrome first hand during my first year of university. I was working with a child with Down Syndrome during my work experience. At first, it was scary and I felt devastated. After getting to know the kid, I learned that he was no different than any other child with intellectual difficulties. To my greatest surprise, he improved quickly and learned a lot. It made me wonder how far we could go. I had my doubts when he did not get things the first time around, but he taught me that as long as I continued to teach him, he would continue to learn.

This experience, coupled with my work on a project about creative thinking (where we tried to teach physics to grade 1 students), taught me that too often we limit kids by our expectations. If we allow them to move forward at their own pace, they will exceed our highest expectations.

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Published: April 25, 2013 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: November 9, 2021In: Parenting Tags: compassion, practical parenting / parents, choice, video, teaching / teachers, beliefs, positive attitude tips, empowerment, positive, change, attitude, motivation, kids / children, family matters, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, early childhood, affirmations, self confidence / self esteem / self worth, skills, law of attraction, creative / creativity, inspiration, story, education / learning, emotional intelligence, persistence, expectation, how to

Compassionate Relationship: Failed Sympathy

In the last chapter on tests in relationships, we talked about the risks of hidden apathy. Today, I will cover the risks of sympathy.

If you remember my example story, I was very, very sad when a contract I had been working on for about 3 years was suddenly stopped 2 month after it started. I was so excited and happy when it started that I was extremely sad when I was told the organization will not continue the project. To manage my feelings, I shared the story with people I have a relationship with. Lucky for me, most of my relationships were very supportive and I made sure not to share with those who were not.

Here are more examples of getting things wrong and failing the relationship test.

This post is part 4 of 4 in the series Compassionate Relationship

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Published: February 5, 2013 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: December 25, 2019In: Relationships / Marriage Tags: focus, positive attitude tips, love, attitude, success, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, emotional intelligence, friends / friendship, language, empowerment, happiness, relationships / marriage, compassion, social, communication, sympathy

Compassionate Relationship: Hidden Apathy

Here is an example of a relationship test at a level one – when one person is experiencing pain from an external source, which has nothing to do with the supporter/listener. Notice how easily things can go wrong and the relationship test can fail.

Last year, I was offered a position working within a team of people doing something that I absolutely loved. I had been working with them for over two years before that in an external capacity. We had been going back and forth for about a year, in discussions about me joining their team to write and implement a very special project. This whole time I was very happy and excited, waiting for the technical things to be sorted out so I could start the project. After two years of talking, it took a year to sign the contract and then I finally started writing the project. I was very hyped. But two month into the project, things changed in the organization. The person managing the project left and the wisest decision for me was to stop the project. I was soooooooooooooooooooooo disappointed. I was very sad and even cried. To manage the overwhelming challenge I was facing, I shared the story with other people, which put our relationships to the test. Lucky for me, most of my relationships were successful. While sharing my challenge with others, we both passed the test of support. But this is not always the case for every challenge. Here are some examples of relationships and how things can go wrong.

This post is part 3 of 4 in the series Compassionate Relationship

Read Compassionate Relationship: Hidden Apathy »

Published: January 31, 2013 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: December 25, 2019In: Relationships / Marriage Tags: relationships / marriage, compassion, social, communication, positive attitude tips, focus, attitude, love, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, success, friends / friendship, emotional intelligence, language, empowerment, happiness

Compassionate Relationship: Empathy, Sympathy and Compassion

Most people have conflicts in their relationships and fail to resolve them because they confuse between empathy, sympathy and compassion. This confusion can be caused by either person in the relationship. It can be a result of ineffective expectations or insufficient support. Regardless the reason, life, the ultimate examiner, would give a “Fail! Big time!” on this test.

Understanding the difference between the three is essential to passing the relationship test. Here is my version of the difference.

Empathy is when you notice and understand the other persons’ situation, experience, perspective or feelings. It does not mean you share their feelings, agree with them or have been asked to share your judgment, thoughts or ideas. It definitely does not mean you need to solve their problem.

The best way to proceed is to say, “I can see that you are very disappointed and upset”, or just be a sounding board and repeat back to them what they said, “So you are sad because he was rude to you. I can understand why”. Often times, people only want empathy. Someone to talk to that will understand their perspective and feelings. Empathy is a way to give support with your presence.

This post is part 2 of 4 in the series Compassionate Relationship

Read Compassionate Relationship: Empathy, Sympathy and Compassion »

Published: January 22, 2013 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: December 25, 2019In: Relationships / Marriage Tags: language, empowerment, empathy, happiness, relationships / marriage, compassion, communication, social, focus, sympathy, love, positive attitude tips, success, attitude, emotional intelligence, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, failure, friends / friendship

Compassionate Relationship: The Relationship Tests

Our lives are full of relationships. Each of them is a test we need to pass in order to have a happy, healthy, successful and fulfilling life. Relationships are such an important element in our lives that we start the process even before we are born. We have 9 months of close, physical contact with our mom and through her, with our dad or her partner. The success of these early relationships will have a huge impact on our long term relationship with our parents – the most important test of our lives.

Life is full of tests because at every stage of our lives, we will have relationships with other people. It can be our families, our friends, colleagues, clients, people that provide us with a service or even people we meet for a short time whose name we may never know.

This post is part 1 of 4 in the series Compassionate Relationship

Read Compassionate Relationship: The Relationship Tests »

Published: January 15, 2013 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: December 25, 2019In: Relationships / Marriage Tags: emotional intelligence, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, language, friends / friendship, empowerment, mother, mom, happiness, relationships / marriage, communication, compassion, focus, social, love, positive attitude tips, success, attitude

Homeless World Cup

If you watch any news broadcast or read any newspaper, it is very easy to get a doom and gloom feeling on a daily basis. In fact, bad news seems to be propagated a lot faster than good news in the workplace, in social circles and on social media sites (many of the most popular articles seem to be horrible). This is why I was so excited to find the Homeless World Cup.

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Published: March 4, 2009 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: November 7, 2024In: Parenting, Beautiful people Tags: television, tv, compassion, focus, kids / children, vision, acceptance / judgment / tolerance, gratitude, practical parenting / parents, inspiration, emotional intelligence, change, society, lifestyle

Ghost Whisperer

Just in case you have never seen Ghost Whisperer, this is a TV series about a young woman who can see and talk to ghosts, and helps them cross over by getting closure. In each episode, Melinda is approached by a ghost and helps it communicate with loved ones, revisit places and events and find peace. Once the ghost has settled its affairs, it sees a beautiful bright light and happily walks towards it. But why wait until after death? Why not learn how to get closure right now?

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Published: October 1, 2008 by Gal Baras
Last modified: March 18, 2021In: Personal Development, Life Coaching, Relationships / Marriage Tags: emotional intelligence, Life Coaching, relaxation, compassion, stress / pressure, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement

Lean on Me

Once upon a time, there was a princess in a far away kingdom. When the princess was born, she cried a lot. Her parents, the king and queen, called all their advisors for help. Some said she was cold, others said she was tired, some said she was hungry and others said she was wet, but one old advisor said, “The princess is in the middle of a fight”.

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Published: September 30, 2008 by Ronit Baras
Last modified: November 9, 2021In: Relationships / Marriage, Kids / Children Tags: personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, practical parenting / parents, love, emotional intelligence, wisdom, relationships / marriage, compassion, video, kids / children, behavior / discipline

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