Photo: Rod Long | Unsplash
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, care is defined as “the process of protecting someone or something and providing what that person or thing needs.” But why do we care? In a piece in the New York Times entitled “We May Be Born with An Urge to Help,” Michael Tomasello, a developmental psychologist, suggests that helping is “a natural inclination, not something imposed by parents or culture.” Similarly, Frans de Waal, a primatologist, says, “We’re preprogrammed to reach out. Empathy is an automated response over which we have limited control.” Some simple ways to cultivate more care and compassion for ourselves and others include: volunteering, asking people ‘How are you’ and meaning it, starting a gratitude journal, integrating random acts of kindness into your everyday life, reaching out to an old friend or acquaintance, and spending more time in nature.
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