Let us be at peace with our bodies and our minds.
Let us return to ourselves and become wholly ourselves.
Let us be aware of the source of being,
common to us all and to all living things.
Evoking the presence of the Great Compassion,
let us fill our hearts with our own compassion—
towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
Let us pray that we ourselves cease to be
the cause of suffering to each other.
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life,
and of the suffering that are going on around us,
let us practice the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth. ― Thích Nhất Hạnh

This sub has been restricted for quite some time with only automoderator as a mod making it impossible for anyone to be approved to post.

I have now taken over the sub and opened it back up. Some of the rules have changed and I have added post flair (please use them to organize posts) but if there are any other changes you feel would improve the sub, please let me know.

Im working to be more compassionate. I feel lots of compassion for animals and plants, but less so for much of human kind. How do you practice compassion when you dislike another person or disagree with their decisions?

There is too much hate in the world right now! So much evil too. Be compassionate, learn to love each other. Accept everyone because we are all fundamentally the same beings, all coming from the same universal source.

Many people are suffering and we must do whatever we can to help them. The least you can do is to at least be compassionate and kind.

I know it's probably useless but I'm trying to give my love to this world

I'm in a bit of a strange and stupid quandary and some people may think I'm stupid for even feeling that this is a problem...

But, anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big softy... And, those closest to me have probably heard me say, countless times, that my favorite animals on Earth are dogs and rats...

I have an RV in my possession that I am about to sell. The previous owners were hippies and somehow that led to them essentially being overrun by rats that came from the Bayer science building that they were parked next to.

Anyway, after spending 36 hours solid scooping and raking and shoveling and vacuuming rat droppings and other detritus, some rats abandoned ship. But I would estimate that there is still somewhere between 40 and 60 rats still currently inhabiting the walls and the subfloor in the RV.

Even though I am quite literally traumatized any and every time I see any animal dead by the side of the road, because I can't believe how horrible our species is for destroying the habitat of wild animals, I am also well aware of the fact that one of the most vital aspects of survival is not allowing other living creatures to hinder or lower the quality of your life or living space.

I know that when the RV is towed out of here, there will be some rats that jump from it. And, I try to not think about what the next owner of the RV will do to handle the rat problem.

However, there is one specific aspect of the rat problem that I can't seem to lump together with the general rat infestation.

And, I know that they're going to be people who think that I'm ridiculous or crazy or silly or stupid for being concerned with this. And, if that's your opinion, then you need not comment on this post. That way, I won't have to hold it against you.

There is literally only four spaces in the entire RV that have not been destroyed by rats. Three of them literally have not been touched at all...

However, the fourth one is a bathroom cabinet that has only had pieces of material imported into it by a mother rat who has a litter of babies that she is taking care of in it.

When I first discovered them a few days ago, most of them were pink and only one of them was gray. When I looked at them last night, I saw that they are now all gray and a little bit bigger and were snuggled up sleeping together. None of their eyes are open yet.

I know that they are wild rats. Although, you can tell by the way that many of the rats living in that RV regard human beings that some of them are far from afraid of people... I'm not trying to figure out a way that they can be kept by someone as pets. Although, if someone has a way to do that, I am certainly not averse to that idea!

It just hurts me to think about the possibility of them either starving if their mother gets killed or of them being killed before they even have a chance to really live.

I'm not saying that I have any ideas for what to do about them or with them (with or without their mother).

But, I feel like I absolutely need to do something. Maybe because I love animals maybe because I have had kids of my own maybe because I'm just a softy or maybe because I'm aware that living things are living things and there are some aspects and stages of life (like infancy) that shouldn't be violated.

I wouldn't even be mad if absolutely nobody responded to this post because absolutely everybody to some degree might think I'm a total crackpot for even being concerned about this.

It's just who and how I am. I don't try to put myself in other people's shoes, I just naturally go there.

So, if anyone has any idea for how I could prevent their infancy from turning into a slow and suffering, traumatic death, please let me know.

Do you think people who are nasty or prickly are actually deeply insecure or might have issues going on in their lives? I often find that if I don't like someone, many other people don't, either, because of how the person behaves. And then I feel bad for that person because I think they must know on some level that's how most people feel about them and maybe that impacts them.

Do you think it's often out of insecurity? or are some people just nasty and don't care about hurting people? Or am I just projecting?

I am wondering if I tend to have misplaced empathy towards people but if they should be taking responsibility for their own actions/ lives and I think way too deeply about it. Or I just makeup excuses for them in my head when that might not even be the case

I grew up as a pretty insecure kid and teen, as I got older I grew more confident and I learned to set boundaries with others and to look out for my needs. Additionally, honesty is very important to me and I always try to communicate clearly with others about how I feel and would like them to do the same to me.

I would like to be more compassionate towards others but I when I do I often feel like I'm not "standing up for myself" and it makes me feel like I've betrayed myself somehow. Is there a way to practice compassion without feeling like you're neglecting your own feelings and principles?

Click here to find your sunny place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a31XgwWgduQ