For years religious folks have known about the health benefits of compassion. Now this idea is gaining acceptance from the medical community as well.
“If we say, [the] practice of compassion is something holy, nobody [will] listen,” said the Dalai Lama in a recent interview. “If [we] say, warm-heartedness… reduce[s] your blood pressure, your anxiety, your too much stress, [and that] your health [will] improve, then people pay attention.”
Someone who’s paying particularly close attention is Dr. James Doty, Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University.
by Eric Nelson
