Compassion is Natural. So Why Is It So Hard for Us?

If we understand compassion to be the natural sense of concern that arises when we encounter someone in need of help, then the main inhibitor of our natural compassionate instinct is fear.

Thupten Jinpa, author of A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Liveswho is perhaps most well-known as the long-time translator for the Dalai Lama, explains in this video interview that social fears and pressure often lead us to repress our compassionate inclinations.

Defin...