ACT With Compassion

For many of us, there is something uniquely vulnerable in our love for our companion animals. These relationships can teach us about love, pain, values, and compassion in ways that are difficult to get from our relationships with other humans sometimes.

Those of you who have been following this blog may remember Jason’s post about his painful feelings of shame and our dog Dalai. I also wanted to share two pieces I’ve written about Dalai that I think very much apply to this topic of compassion. Three years ago I wrote this piece about the link between pain and values in seeing Dalai age. And then I just recently posted this follow-up to that piece about viewing compassion as palliative care and also a way to honor the pain we feel in seeing a dearly loved one coming to the end of her journey.