Compassion

I am reading a book at the moment I am really enjoying.  It is not unusual for me to enjoy books, but I have never read a book I found to be so full of good stuff on every page.
This one talks about how so often our compassion levels are low for a couple of reasons.  Maybe the environment I am in does not lend itself to compassion.  I am run down at home and work.  Or maybe my pace of life is too busy.  I just do not have time for such things.  The author talks about being in crisis mode all the time.  The last reason the author sites is maybe I have expressed compassion above and beyond the call of duty.  I give out to the point of burn out.  There is a phrase for it today.  Compassion fatigue.  I love others to the point where loving myself suffers.
Something said previously altered my outlook and behaviour.  I am so result oriented.  I equate success with certain outcomes - when the compassion itself should be the outcome.
The author was saying that excursions with the outlook he was talking about become an adventure.  What is by nature a mediocre activity becomes a potential adventure.  Stepping out the front door to go shopping can become life changing.
I did this and the result blew me away.  Instead of just a shopping trip I was on the look out for the chance to give out.  I was standing in line in the pharmacy.   I saw an elderly lady who was incredibly unsteady on her feet.  She apologized to a bloke because she ran into him.  When it came time to pay, she was having trouble finding her card and thought she may have left it somewhere.
I offered to go look in shops where she had been and to pay her bill if need be.  She found her card and paid.  The attendant told me she had been seeing a bit of that of late.  Then I asked her if she wanted a trolley to cling onto to make her way to the car.  She declined but thanked me.
End of story.  It did not end with an outcome I may have once sought, but showing compassion is an outcome in itself.  I think we both would have felt good about it.  I am very big on dignity.  I am not there to embarrass, but to help if it is wanted.
I learned a valuable lesson through that.  Giving is not just about achieving my outcome but about achieving theirs.  If both happen great.  If they don’t, great to.  Caring is a highly sought after commodity.