There was an interesting article recently
in the New York Times
saying that generosity and kindness may be innate:
www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/science/01human.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
Innate or not they can certainly be cultivated. We are always practicing something, and in today's rushed world it can often be impatience and fighting to get our own way. It is good to practice kindness and patience at times during the day because it strengthens our patterns of behaving in those ways.
It seems that reflecting on compassion may also help. Research at the University of Wisconsin used advanced brain imaging to show that meditation may increase the human capacity for empathy.
In the study, researchers compared brain activity in meditation experts with that of subjects just learning the technique (16 in each group). They measured brain activity, during meditation and at rest, in response to sounds—a woman in distress, a baby laughing, and a busy restaurant—designed to evoke a negative, positive, or neutral emotional response.
The researchers found that both the novice and the expert meditators showed an increased empathy reaction when in a meditative state. However, the expert meditators showed a much greater reaction, especially to the negative sound, which may indicate a greater capacity for empathy as a result of doing meditation.
