A Prerequisite To Empathy Is Simply Paying

All The Classical Meditation Traditions, In One Way Or Another, Stress Nonattachment To The Self As A Goal Of Practice. Oddly, This Dimension Is Largely Ignored In Scientific Research, Which Tends To Focus On Health And Other Such Benefits. I Suppose The Difference Has To Do With The Contrast In Views Of The Self From The Spiritual And Scientific Perspectives. Scientists Value The Self; Spiritual Traditions Have Another Perspective.

There Are Some Surprising Payoffs With Only A Few Minutes' Practice, Like Eliminating The Loss Of Concentration That Multitasking Usually Brings. Short Daily Mindfulness Practice In Beginners Also Improves Memory, To The Point That A Group Of Students Who Volunteered For A Study Got Significantly Better Scores On Their Graduate School Entrance Exams.

What Seems To Set Apart Those At The Very Top Of Competitive Pursuits From Others Of Roughly Equal Ability Is The Degree To Which, Beginning Early In Life, They Can Pursue An Arduous Practice Routine For Years And Years.

Self-absorption In All Its Forms Kills Empathy, Let Alone Compassion. When We Focus On Ourselves, Our World Contracts As Our Problems And Preoccupations Loom Large. But When We Focus On Others, Our World Expands. Our Own Problems Drift To The Periphery Of The Mind And So Seem Smaller, And We Increase Our Capacity For Connection - Or Compassionate Action.

Gifted Leadership Occurs When Heart And Head--feeling And Thought--meet. These Are The Two Winds That Allow A Leader To Soar.