Current Focus:  How Compassion Works: a Step-By-Step Guide to Cultivating Well-Being, Love and Wisdom by John Makrasky and Paul Condon

At the heart of How Compassion Works is the discovery that love and compassion are not qualities we must create, but deep capacities already present within us. Everything that truly matters—our mental and physical well-being, our relationships, our ability to benefit others, and the deepening of our spiritual life—depends on the power of love and compassion that is operative in us.

The progressive series of meditations we are exploring helps us reconnect with the source of the qualities of care, warmth, and safety that can heal and replenish us from within. From this foundation, we can extend love and compassion to others in a way that is sustainable and unconditional—not draining or self-sacrificing, but renewing and life-giving. Love and compassion expand our sense of self beyond narrow preoccupations, freeing us to be more present, more attuned, and more deeply aligned with our true purpose in life.

The topics and meditations are grounded in universal human experience and can be integrated with any religious or spiritual tradition or with a more secular or scientific approach.