{"id":3343,"date":"2020-01-29T11:17:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T17:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholeperson.com\/blog\/?p=3343"},"modified":"2020-01-29T11:17:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-29T17:17:35","slug":"compassion-in-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholeperson.com\/blog\/compassion-in-action","title":{"rendered":"Compassion in Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Compassion<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

At the first sign of stress, my sister Gail would not hesitate to light up. The cigarette dangling from her mouth started as an occasional social habit in college. With the advent of her \ufb01rst job as a graphic artist, however, it soon became an adult version of a baby\u2019s paci\ufb01er. Like most people who smoke, Gail tried passionately to quit, but her e\ufb00orts met with little success. More than once I would hear her quote Mark Twain, \u201cQuitting smoking is easy, I\u2019ve done it hundreds of times.\u201d Eventually, social pressures at work forced her to take her adaptive coping technique outdoors, yet the habit continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Gail explained to me, \u201cCigarette smoking is horribly addictive. The craving for a smoke, actually it\u2019s the nicotine, is beyond approach. I have had other addictions, which we won\u2019t go into, but this has got to be one of the hardest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Gail was pregnant with her \ufb01rst child, Ashley, she kept the consumption of cigarettes to a strict minimum. \u201cI would catch \ufb02ack from some people\u2014the non-smokers who haven\u2019t a clue. My friends who smoke were more compassionate.\u201d With the second pregnancy she did even better; yet old habits die hard. Within a month of delivery of her son Ian, Gail went back to a pack a day.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am very careful not to light up around my children. I know the dangers of second-hand smoke. I don\u2019t smoke in the house or the car. And you wouldn\u2019t believe the nagging I get from my kids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day her four-year-old son, Ian, asked his mom if he could invite a friend to stay over night. As parents do, Gail called the mother of the child to make the arrangements. The answer was a polite but de\ufb01nitive No!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gail hung up the phone and called Ian over.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen honey,\u201d she said. \u201cCurtis can not come over to spend the night. In fact, he cannot come over at all. His mom explained to me that he has only one lung and she is very careful not to expose him to any chance of cigarette smoke or anything else that would pose a threat to his health.\u201d At \ufb01rst Ian had a blank look on his face, till the message was fully understood. Then Niagara Falls started.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tears from Ian\u2019s face continued for three days. He just couldn\u2019t understand why I couldn\u2019t quit. Looking back, I am sure I probably had a few tears too,\u201d Gail explained. \u201cIt was one of those, Dammed if you do, dammed if you don\u2019t, situations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know you can do a lot for your kids to show them you love them. Most of these require large blocks of time, and a lot of it seems to require money. There are sacri\ufb01ces and compromises for sure. And to be honest, sometimes there\u2019s resentment with these decisions. Any honest parent will tell you so. In this case, there was none of that. I had simply broken my son\u2019s heart. Broken hearts are mended with love. I knew there was only one thing to do. I had to quit smoking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoking cessation for Gail was not an overnight sensation. It took several stressful weeks. As any of us can attest, to change habits just for ourselves is hard. Doing it for someone else doesn\u2019t make it any easier. But when our actions are motivated by love\u2014for those we love\u2014then we gain footing to a new level. With a good month behind her of smoke-free lungs, Gail made another phone call to Curtis\u2019 mom. This time she got the green light. Ian was beaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In simplest terms, compassion in action is an act of service. Until love is acted upon, it is merely a theory, a seed set upon inhospitable rocks. Fear is the motivating factor of stress. It undermines much of our behaviors. Compassion in action is a conscious act of love. We do acts of service not to make friends, to win brownie points or earn favors from God. When we engage in acts of service, everyone bene\ufb01ts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion in action is nothing less than an act of unconditional love. When we give in the name of service, we give to ourselves as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brian Luke Seward<\/a>, from Stressed is Desserts Spelled Backward<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the first sign of stress, my sister Gail would not hesitate to light up. The cigarette dangling from her mouth started as an occasional social habit in college. With the advent of her \ufb01rst job as a graphic artist, however, it soon became an adult version of a baby\u2019s paci\ufb01er. Like most people who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Compassion in Action #compassion #actsofservice","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nCompassion in Action - The Wellness Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Compassion in action is nothing less than an act of unconditional love. 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