Centered in Compassion

 

Dear Reader,

In an AA meeting last night, the discussion turned to a simple but profound question: How do we find joy in recovery?

That question stayed with me. Earlier in the day, I had coffee with a friend I have known for several years. As I listened to him share about his life today, I felt a deep joy. He is a changed person—calmer, more centered, and with a clearer sense of who he is and where he is headed. The joy I felt was not in my own circumstances, but in witnessing his growth.

I was grateful just to be there. The Tao teaches, “A deviation of a hair’s breadth at the center leads to an error of a hundred miles at the rim.” The same is true in the positive sense: even a small adjustment at the center of the heart can lead to beauty and success far down the road.

In life and in recovery, when our hearts shift even slightly toward compassion, the outcome carries us far into peace and connection. By choosing to right ourselves early—even with the gentlest of efforts—we set our path toward wholeness.

I began with the subject of joy in recovery, and I see now that joy is found in moments of compassion: in witnessing real change, in withholding judgment, in simply being present.

Alexander Pope once prayed: “Teach me to feel another’s woe, to hide the fault I see, that mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.” True compassion begins with humility—the willingness to soften our judgments, to withhold condemnation, and to see another’s pain as real and worthy of care. What greater joy can there be?

President Russell M. Nelson reminds us that “the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” When our focus rests on love, mercy, and service, joy comes naturally, even in life’s storms. Compassion is not only about seeing another’s pain—it is about choosing joy in lifting burdens together.

Today, may we pause long enough to see with new eyes—eyes centered in compassion—so that even the smallest adjustment of the heart may open a wide path of healing and joy.