Compassion requires empathy - starting from within. Empathy requires discernment. Example? I feel your pain caused by anger or fear. What I feel I have the choice to release as well. To help you navigate your pain or fear (providing you want help), I need to release the pain I feel - from you - to help you. To unconditionally love you means I also must accept that you want pain. You may want fear. When you're ready to release your pain, your fear, you practice compassion - with yourself.

As a mindful practitioner, we say that anger and fear is not bad. We are to embrace all types of emotions and give them a sit like a visitor in our house. What makes it bad is when we get stuck or hold on to that fear and anger and operate from it that it ends up compiling into a mountain of anger or fear that later on, we no longer know why we are angry or fearful. That is when the practice of letting go is applied in combination with the RAIN technique and breathing exercises.