Compassion means “to suffer with.” It goes further than empathy because it invites you to change the root of suffering. When compassion is approached with gratefulness, it increases your understanding and calls upon you to take action. 

This practice is designed to help you cultivate and deepen your capacity for compassion, grounding it in gratitude.

Step One: Reflect on the Gifts in Your Life

Identify those aspects of your life that you are grateful for and that you cherish. How do these things sustain you and how would your life be different if they were taken?

  • Acknowledge that these are not earned or promised.
  • Understand that you are not more worthy than others because of what you have been given in life.

Step Two: Recognize Our Shared Humanity

When someone shares their struggle, actively imagine yourself in their situation. Instead of saying “I can’t imagine,” try to visualize and feel their experience.

  • Recognize that their pain could be your pain if your circumstances were different. Allow this to foster a deeper connection to them, their perspective, and their situation.
  • Understand that systemic issues affecting others could potentially affect you. This is not their problem but our problem.

Step Three: Take One Action

Ask yourself, “what is one small action I can take today to create a better tomorrow for someone who is suffering?” Now take that action. It is important to remember to take achievable actions. Compassion is a daily commitment, not a final destination.

This practice encourages you to move from empathy to compassion, from feeling with others to actively working to alleviate their suffering. By being grounded in a grateful perspective that recognizes our shared humanity and interconnectedness, you are taking meaningful steps to care for yourself and others.

Photo by Nina Strehl


Joe Primo, Grateful Living
Joe Primo, Grateful Living

Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. A student of our founder since his studies at Yale Divinity School, Joe is committed to advancing our global movement and making the transformational practice of grateful living both accessible to all and integral to communities and places of belonging. His TED talk, “Grief is Good,” reframed the grief paradigm as a responsive resource. He is the author of “What Do We Tell the Children? Talking to Kids About Death and Dying” and numerous articles.

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