What is human relating? What does it mean to relate to another person from a place of shared humanity?

In this third compassion  video we enter the relational space where the recipient of compassion—a person in suffering and a person responding to suffering—meet in vulnerability and shared humanity.

In compassion, human relating is a genuine desire to engage a person in suffering as a fellow human being. It is a fundamental initial step in establishing a compassionate connection.

Here you will meet Bashir, a keep to the facts surgeon, who discovers that compassion flourishes not only when he engages patients and families as fellow human beings but when he himself is willing to share his own humanity. Human relating means, a genuine desire to engage a person in suffering as a fellow human being. Not to simply interact with them as a patient, as an outsider, or as a client but through a human connection-as insiders, as family, as community.

In doing so, we learn that while compassion is not ultimately about us, it can’t happen without us. It requires a willingness on our part, to humble ourselves, to put aside our titles and our egos, our agendas, our assumptions and to meet people on a human level—it’s human to human caring.

- Free Open Access to the original Pediatric Compassion Model research article, can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.5737

- Illustrations and videography courtesy of Luca Li Digital Design www.lucayangli.com

- Funding for this study was provided by C17 Research Council in partnership with Childhood Cancer Canada

- Visit the Compassion Research Lab at www.drshanesinclair.com

- To learn or obtain the Sinclair Compassion Questionnaire (SCQ) visit www.compassionmeasure.com

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