In this video, Dr. Allison shares a simple formula for delivering a compassionate and comforting response to those we care about most.
05:10 min
CLEAR ALL
You not calling, as a friend, can actually compound the grief and loss they are feeling. Just pick up the phone, even if you get it wrong, just have a conversation and do your best. Your friend with cancer is still the same person they were before.
One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue—known as Chick—was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now they watched as antiwar protesters turned on the troops themselves.
“It’s cancer.” When you hear the two words you dread most from someone you care about, you know at once that your friend’s life has been turned upside down. Whether she’s a good friend, a best friend, or just an acquaintance, you want to be supportive.
Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.
3
We meet no ordinary people in our lives.
1
Friendship . . . is born at the moment when one man says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .’
The creator of the viral hit “Empathy Cards” teams up with a compassion expert to produce a visually stunning and groundbreaking illustrated guide to help you increase your emotional intelligence and learn how to offer comfort and support when someone you know is in pain.
11
No matter what you say to someone whose parent or loved one died, it should be derivative of the same goal: communicating empathy and offering assistance, understanding what a person might need from you, and knowing how to phrase sentiments the right way.
Create new friendships, deliciously celebrate the ones you have, practice new ways to be a better friend . . . with others and yourself.
Simply put: compassion is lovingkindness in action.