Here are a few general tips that can help you do just that …

“Call to Callousness” #01: WATCHING TV (especially the news)

Every time you watch a report about a disaster and do not immediately get up and do something to assuage that suffering, you actually contribute to its negative emotional impact on your own community. Your chosen apathy radiates outward and is felt by everyone with whom you come into contact later that day. And every time you watch a news story and choose to shield yourself from having the courage to FEEL the pain of those suffering on your TV screen, you actually intensify the suffering those people are already experiencing.

Everyone knows how painful it feels to be ignored or rejected or otherwise betrayed by a close friend or family member, and – at the very least in our supra-conscious level of awareness – everyone is also aware of the fact that we are all members of the same Earth-wide Family. Your chosen numbness races through the quantum continuum and is immediately sensed by those “victims”. They know that you have seen their suffering – and they know that you have chosen not to Care.

“Solution for Solace” #01: TURN OFF YOUR TV!

It is NOT important to “be informed” about non-local crises & catastrophes – especially if you are not going to emotionally open up to them or actively do anything to help resolve them. So shut down your “boob tube”, go out into your community, find someone who needs a smile or a hug or a helping hand, and give them the same.

“Call to Callousness” #02: ENJOYING OTHERS’ DOWNFALLS

Your enemies are NOT here to be rejected or ridiculed or insulted or ignored. Rather, they are in your life so that you might exhibit the courage necessary to “bring them back into the fold” – so that you might persist in showing them Compassion and Kindness – so that you might treat them as your Friends.

Yes, you have been taught that you need to set up “healthy boundaries” between yourself and all the dysfunctional people in your life. The problem is – when you do so, you become increasingly cold & callous; you give them exactly the rejection that caused their dysfunction in the first place … And in doing so, you yourself become dysfunctional.

Yes, you have been taught that it is good to “punish criminals” and give them “what they deserve”. The problem is – when you do so, you become increasingly cold and callous; you give them the very condemnation that inspired their violence in the first place … And in doing so, you yourself become an emotional “criminal”.

And yes, you have been taught that hypocrites, liars and cheats (a.k.a. most politicians and quite a few evangelical preachers) should be exposed and appropriately humiliated. The problem is – when you do so, you become increasingly cold & callous; you exude & entrench in them the very shame that inspired their hypocrisy in the first place … And in doing so, you veer away from your own Caring Self; you yourself become a hypocrite.

“Solution for Solace” #02: FORGIVE, FORGIVE, FORGIVE

When tempted to move away in disgust & disdain from your life’s “energy leeches”, move forward with Kindness instead.

When tempted to condemn those who have harmed you or others, reach out with Forgiveness instead.

When tempted to ridicule the fallen, open up to them with Compassion instead.

Note that you are not supporting or affirming their “bad deeds” when you do so … You are merely being true to your own True Self, while reminding them of their own.

“Call to Callousness” #03: DEAD DISCUSSIONS

Instead of deeply Caring for the people we see being treated unfairly, or instead of immersing ourselves courageously into our community’s tasks at hand, we are tempted by our ego-minds to coldly consider the same.

We deliberate what could be done …
We debate what should be done …
We denounce those who would do differently …
We discuss potential means of compromise.

And all the while those in pain continue to suffer; without our empathy and without our assistance.

“Solution for Solace” #03: SERVE SELFLESSLY

That’s right, my Friends … the ultimate solution is always a very simple one.

You do not need to deliberate over the “best plan of action” … Simply ACT!

You do not need to debate the merits of caring for the downtrodden … Simply CARE!

You do not need to discuss the pro’s and con’s of a certain method of service … Simply SERVE!

After all, we are not responsible for “saving the world”. Indeed, we are not even responsible for saving a single other person while we are here.

Instead, we have all been given the honor and the privilege of being able to choose to reach out to others with closed mouths and open hearts … We have been given the blessed opportunity to make a difference simply by choosing to Care, and then by choosing to act accordingly.

In conclusion, there is no such thing as a “small act of Kindness”. Every selfless deed done with empathy for another is powerful and every one of them effectuates Great Peace within the hearts of its recipient(s).

No matter how tiny the service might seem, if it is done with a sincere sense of Caring, it will bring Light into the other’s shadow …

… and be the dawning of their next new day.

“You can’t stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” ~ Winnie the Pooh (A. A. Milne)

“It’s the most breathtakingly ironic things about living: the fact that we are all essentially isolated – separate from each other; singular beings in an ocean of eternity. And yet what we seek – and what is always there to find – is that which ultimately save us: our ability to reach out and become ONE with others.” ~ inspired by Wally Lamb

“We can all be angels to one another. We can all choose to obey the still small stirring within; the small voice that whispers softly and says, ‘Go … Reach out … Be an answer to someone’s plea … Be the hand that pulls them up from the darkness … You have a part to play … Have faith … and Go.’” ~ inspired by Joan W. Anderson