Your compassion connection can guide your contributions & career decisions

by Suzanne F. Stevens, Conscious-Contribution™ Cultivator, Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), originally posted on YouMeWe.ca

Who or what are you connected to – a particular group of people, animals, the environment? For some reason, unknown to you, that specific group, or issue, pulls at your heartstrings. It is unmotivated by a situation or circumstance, it just is. This is your compassion connection. The question becomes, how can you align with your compassion connection to live your most meaningful life?

by Suzanne F. Stevens, Conscious-Contribution™ Cultivator, Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), YouMeWe.ca

Before we answer the profound question, let’s explore what compassion really is, what type of connections you may have, and focus on how to align to it.

What is compassion?

As shared in the previous weWednesday, Compassion is having a profound concern or care for someone else. However, YouMeWe defines it as interest is not passive, but active. In other words, you just don’t feel for another or a situation, you’re prepared to do something about it.

How does your care translate into a Compassion Connection?

Concern and care can translate into your Compassion Connection. Subconsciously or consciously your heartstrings are pulled at when you hear or experience an incident where this group or issue is in harm’s way or is celebrated in some way.

People are often drawn to a particular group, or issue because they are personally affected by it, a parent is elderly, someone they know has a disease, or their child is being bullied. But, this is not always the case. Sometimes our compassion connection exists just because – we don’t select it, it actually selects us.

What Compassion connection is not

It is important to realize that compassion connection is not a cause, but a group of people. A cause is an organization, plan, or activity that you are willing to support because it provides help or benefit to people who need it, such as civil rights, education, or a disease. A Compassion connection is the particular group of people that you want to focus on within a cause. For example, the cause could be violence, and your compassion connection could be children, women, transgender, or a particular culture or race.

Who is your compassion connection?

You may not know. Possibly because you have never thought of it, or no group or issues has yet pulled at your heartstrings. If you were to reflect on experiences where you have been moved emotionally, perhaps some light would be shed on a particular group or issue.

As an example, women leaders are my compassion connection, and although there could be many reasons for it, I was always drawn to women making a change in the world – possibly several conscious or subconscious incidents lead to that – but no one circumstance can be pointed to have that connection.

Your compassion connection chooses you; you choose your cause.

Your compassion connection chooses you; you choose your cause.

You may find your compassion connection is children with disabilities. However, many causes address their needs. Some causes could focus on music, education, skill development, or social interaction.

Perhaps you are drawn to women empowerment, again, many causes could address this issue: violence against women, women in small business, women leaders, or dress women for success.

To assess your compassion connection, these are some questions we shared in weWednesday – Explore your Why series – Who do you feel connected to?  By reflecting on these questions, you may discover, for the first time, or reinforce why you feel a connection toward a particular group or issue.

• Who or what do you feel the most compassion toward?
• Why does it pull at your heartstrings?
• What do you believe about this group or situation?
• What do you understand about this group or situation?
• Is your connection deep enough that you want to contribute consistently to that group or situation? How do you know?

How can you capitalize on your compassion connection to live your most meaningful life?

Now, back to the original question: How can you capitalize on your compassion connection to live your most meaningful life?

The answer is (drum roll please) –  align your life with your compassion connection. Meaning align your career, volunteer efforts, and charitable giving will fill your heart and mind.

Align all your initiatives to uplift the life of a specific group of people or a situation. You will target your energy, and experience progression in one particular area. Human beings crave to have an impact, and yet we often spray our contributions in multiple directions. We give to the support cancer, women’s health, literacy, children with disabilities…the list is endless. Every time we give to a cause, we are contributing (consciously? The answer is in another blog – check out – Are you conscious of the impact of your contributions ), but do you feel part of the solution? Do you feel you are making an impact? Do you feel connected to the cause?

Marry what you love with what you’re good at, with what the world needs, and what you can get paid for – while consciously contributing to your compassion connection – you will live your most meaningful life.

How to marry your compassion connection, contributions and career

We interviewed Mwamvita Makamba for WisdomExchangeTV.com, an executive at Vodacom Tanzania, who did marry what she loved, what she was good at, the need, and what she got paid for.

Mwamvita’s compassion connection is marginalized women. She chose fistula as her cause– which is an uncontrollable urinary leak, causing many women discomfort and to smell. These women would be forced out of their communities into hiding. They were socially and economically isolated.

Mwamvita, along with the Vodacom Tanzania Foundation, collaborated with rural Ambassadors (teachers, people working in a church or mosques).

Ambassadors would identify women who had been in hiding, then call a toll free Vodacom number. Vodacom sends bus fare to those women via M-Pesa (a money transfer service via cell phone) regardless of where they are in Tanzania. The woman with the disease withdraws the money and the Ambassador will put them on the bus to go to the hospital for thirty-minute treatment. Then Vodacom sends $3 token to the Ambassador as a thank you.

With an estimate of 3,000 developing fistula a year, Vodacom’s goal is to eradicate fistula in Tanzania with the use of their, and other technology – and collaboration with the Tanzania hospitals, and Ambassadors.

Over 2,000 women and counting have received a thirty-minute free surgery and have been able to go back to their communities.

Mwamvita aligned her compassion connection with her company offering and effectively merge what she loved, what the world needed, what she was good at, and what she was paid for – all while transformed marginalized women’s lives.

Consider how you can take your compassion connection and your company’s service or product offer and innovatively & collaboratively bring it to the market where it too can have a positive impact on the community.

Until next time, make your contribution count! #MyContributionCounts #YouMeWeMovement

Consider how to make your contribution count

1. Who or what do you feel the most compassion toward?
2. Why does it pull at your heartstrings?
3. Is your connection deep enough that you want to contribute consistently to that group or situation? How do you know?