My doctor and I were recently talking about stress in my life. He suggested, “When you’re in those situations, consider compassion.”
Consider compassion. There is so much that’s right about that.
He did not say, “You ought to try to be more compassionate,” as if I don’t already have enough stress in my life without “trying” to do one more thing.
He did not tell me what, specifically, compassion would mean. That would have added more “ought” to my already heaping plate.
He did not worry that I would do it wrong unless closely supervised.
He just put something out there for me to consider and trusted the idea itself to be sufficiently persuasive. I love it.
“What can I do if I don’t feel compassionate?” I asked.
“You can observe how you do feel, acknowledge it, and choose compassion instead if you wish.”
I’ve been experimenting with that, and in most cases it really is that simple. So, I thought I’d pass this along for you to consider.
By the way, with better diet, more exercise and more compassion my blood pressure is waaaay down. I don’t dare say how much because I’m afraid it’s a fluke. If it’s still low at my next visit (end of January), then I’ll blog more about it.
Path of the Beagle 
Great advice!