When we set out to develop compassion, we adopt the basic idea that, if we learn to concentrate our attention, thoughts and behaviours on compassion, imagine ourselves as compassionate and think about how to be compassionate for others, we’ll be stimulating particular systems in our brain. Indeed, there’s now a lot of evidence that this is so (see Chapter 8). It turns out that, if you get those compassion systems in your brain working, they will create feelings of peacefulness, calmness and connectedness, not to mention insight into the nature of the self and one’s role in the flow of life.
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