Compassion is the feeling we have to remove suffering, not only for ourselves but for everyone.  It is an important aspect of our Journey because it can be very difficult to relate to, there are cases where we show ourselves Compassion and not others, there are also cases where we show others Compassion and not ourselves.  It is easy for us to either not identify at all with Compassion or to misunderstand its full scope. 

Compassion is a big subject and we can spend a lifetime studying it, like many aspects on the Journey, we may even choose to become a Bodhichitta who has didcated their life to Compassion.  After a lifetime of such practice we may reach Enlightenment and decided to come back because our Compassion is so strong that we want to dedicate further lifetimes to Compassion as a Bodhisattva.

We must also not forget that there is the opposite of Compassion, which also comes in various forms but one that we should all know well is Criticism, we can be experts and criticising ourselves and others, and this can lead to a very heavy trail of destruction.  It is all too easy to become Attached to the emotions that we feel for ourselves and towards others, and this may lead to holding us back on our Journey or even to the point of becoming paralyzed due to the heavy weight.  It is important to be aware of what we and other do, where we might have taken the lesser step(s) and how might we be more aware next time such that we can take the next best step(s).