Compassion

A Poem

We have 6 or so seconds to intervene with ourselves, in ourselves

when a feeling comes up that seemingly demands our action — negative behaviors, bad thoughts, things that might hurt us or another,

we have 6 seconds to get in there and meet that feeling or that thought with compassion

tell it I see you I hear you I feel you — but no, no, no we don’t talk like this,

we don’t act like this, we don’t hurt others like this —

we have 6 seconds, or something like that, to practice compassion,

quickly, calmly, decidedly and this can change everything in the seconds that follow.

Thanks Alan Asnen

Jenny Justice is a poet mom who longs to bring poetry to life in ways that spark empathy, connection, joy, and feeling. She loves writing love poems, climate change awareness poems, poems for kids, and of course, poems about poetry and poets. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. You can follow her poetry at Justice Poetic.