There seems to be much violence in our world today that comes from intolerance, from people who are unable or unwilling to seek compromise with the other side. I feel this reaction is the result of the inability to feel compassion and empathy for others. Although most of us have little control over this arena in world events, we can influence the compassion experienced and communicated in our day-to-day life.

    Friends, it takes a lot of strength to be compassionate, especially when you are up against harshness, cruelty, anger and fear. Some mistake the act of being compassionate as a sign of weakness. Others may feel that compassion means giving up everything for someone else, or simply helping people out in times of need such as a natural disaster. While giving to others and extending a helping hand in dire situations are indeed examples of being compassionate, there are other ways.

    Acting with compassion can also mean being patient and responding in a nonaggressive way, even when you are being provoked. For example, friend, has someone ever struck out at you for no apparent reason, leaving you hurt, angry and confused by such behavior? Most likely, your initial reaction was to strike back, but if you were able to distance yourself from the experience and not take it personally, you may have had a different reaction.

    What if the difficult behavior you experienced actually had nothing to do with you? You may just have happened to cross paths with someone who was in a bad mood for reasons unknown to you. Taking such mitigating factors into consideration could make all the difference in the quality of your communication.

    This type of communication is called nonviolent communication, and it's about emphasizing compassion rather than negative feelings such as fear, guilt, shame, blame, coercion, threat, or justification for punishment. When we focus on clarifying what we observe, feel, need, and want, rather than on diagnosing and judging, we can discover our own compassion. We end up practicing a kind of deep listening to ourselves as well as others. If we are able to look at other people and ourselves with this wider heart, we can begin to change the quality of our communications. This action will affect others as well as ourselves in a positive way.

    What I am suggesting, friends, is no easy task, but perhaps it can give you some perspective and hope for dealing with the anger and aggression in a world that feels out of control. Once we find peace within ourselves, we will find it around us.

    似乎在我們的世界發生許多的暴力事件，因為不能容忍，不能或不愿尋求與對方妥協的人。我覺得這種反作用是無法感受同情和對他人憐憫的結果。盡管我們大多數人難以控制世界事件的角斗場，但我們可以影響我們在日常生活中經歷和溝通的同情。

    朋友們，這需要更多的力量是富有同情心 ,特別是當你對付嚴酷，殘暴，憤怒和恐懼。有些人錯誤的把富有同情心的行為看成是一種軟弱的標志。另外一些人可能覺得同情心意味著為某些人放棄所有，或者簡單的在人們需要時簡單的幫助他們，如自然災害。雖然給與別人和在可怕的情況時伸出救助之手確實是富有同情心的例子，但還有其他的方法。

    同情的表現也可意味著耐心的，甚至當你被挑釁的時候，你以一種不被侵犯的方式回應。比如，朋友，有沒有人一直無緣由的冒犯你，讓你受傷，生氣并為這些行為困惑？最有可能的是，你最初的反應是回擊，但是如果你能把自己從這些經歷中遠離開來并不把它攬在自己身上，你可能就會有不同的反應。

    如果你遇到困難的行為而實際上與你無關呢？你也許剛好和某個你不知道什么原因使他心情不好的人交叉穿過道路。考慮到可以讓所有不同的在你的溝通質量差的緩解因素。

    這種類型的交流被稱為非暴力頭痛，它更多的是強調同情心，而非消極情緒，比如恐懼，內疚，羞愧，責備，脅迫，威脅，或者懲辯。當我們側重于澄清我們的觀察，感受，需求和希望，而不是診斷和判斷，我們就會發現自己的同情心。最終我們奉行一種深聽自己和他人。如果我們用這顆寬廣的心曲看待人們和自己，我們就開始改變了我們的交流質量。這種反應將會以以后總積極的方式影響他人和我們自己。

    朋友們，我的建議就是，沒有容易的任務，但是很可能它會給你一些處理世界上超出我們控制范圍的憤怒和侵犯的期望和希望。一旦我們發現自己內心的和平，我們就會發現它就在我們身邊。