The power of compassion

By Margaret Moore, Co Director, Institute of Coaching

Recently I tweeted on a quote from William James: The greatest thing then, in all education, is to make the nervous system our ally, instead of our enemy. Substitute leadership or personal health for education, and this quote is just as powerful.

A potent path to calming the nervous system and improving brain function, including creativity, is to accept and appreciate one’s negative emotions and give them compassion, a little love, rather than push them away or argue with them. Inc.com just published an article on the 7 Traits of True Leaders, which highlighted Brene Brown’s work that shows the power of embracing vulnerability – of not knowing, of struggling.

Both compassion and suffering are deeply wired in our subcortical brains, as illustrated by two premature twins born in Massachusetts in the 1990s. The flourishing one is comforting the suffering one, which saved her life (Google - The Rescuing Hug - for more details). We share both basic needs and capacities – to suffer and to soothe the suffering.

To close with a little poetry: As Rumi advised (sort of), welcome negative emotions as helpful messengers and guides to growth and development.