<p>What is compassion?&nbsp;</p><p>Something alive perhaps that can only be understood in practice.&nbsp; So often confused with pity or the self-sacrificing impulse to take on another&rsquo;s burden to make things better to fix.&nbsp; It takes strength and delicacy and it doesn&rsquo;t mean giving away your life savings.</p><p>Self compassion is sometimes the place between pushing through and giving up the moment we can recognize our true needs not our desires even if they&rsquo;re for further suffering.&nbsp; Sometimes the moment we find self compassion is the moment we stop and walk away.&nbsp;</p><p>I had found forgiveness in Switzerland and now I was heading to friends in Rome before taking the leap to South East Asia to Sri Lanka to a new understanding of compassion and self compassion.</p>