The Compassion Book: Lessons from The Compassion Course, First Edition

by Thom Bond

FIRST EDITION, OUT OF PRINT ~ This book was Published for The Compassion Course Online Members, with support from members all over the world. It is for anyone who wants more compassion in their life and in our world. This book contains over 300 pages of concepts, stories, and exercises that provide the "how to" of creating more connection and understanding among us humans. The Compassion Book is a handbook that explains and demonstrates specific ways of thinking, speaking, and acting that help us experience more compassion, understanding, and harmony in our daily lives - for real.

Genres: Self Help

323 pages, Perfect Paperback

Published December 1, 2017

Reviews

[Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good ideas that can be challenging to implement in real life. Structured as a 52 week exercise where you read one chapter a week and then practice that chapter during the week. I did not do the exercises at the end of each chapter, but think they would help.

I'm removing a star because I think the material could be presented in a better organized manner if he were not having to come up with a chapter a week for a year format. That lead to some repetition. I also was not fond of his repeated insistence of using only the words in the appendices for describing needs, etc... instead of just using your own. Though I can see that the appendices can help you "pull out" works for feelings and needs that you might not have thought of initially.

Overall a worthwhile read.

[Aspring · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I started reading and took my time with because each chapter has something to try out and integrate. In fact I found myself going back and re-reading certain chapters to further my understanding. At this point I'm on my third round of reading the entire book. I always find something to learn and adapt into my life. The stories and examples are simple yet profound and help with adapting this work into one's own life. I like to think of the book as a little but deep manual on how to to handle life's challenges with relationships, self-talk, beliefs, parents, friends, etc.

[Yang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a life changer. This book actually helped me rescue my relationship with my father - amazing. Simply put, this is a practical, transformative guide to getting along with the important people in your life, It’s full of super-useful concepts, and stories to demonstrate how the concepts work in real life. It even includes exercises to help integrate the concepts into your own life.

I wish everyone would read this book!

[Erin Garlock · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's like reading a bad recipe website, ezcept instead of inane or irrelevant story before getting to the good stuff, the lead ins are all in the form of "back when I was crappy person before I became magical...". Despite the desireable parts with substance and guidance, I could not finish the book due to the author's pompous stories - even skimming didn't help.

[Jill Katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a year to work my way through this and now I am starting over again with the online international compassion course. Such amazing nuggets in here that may take me a lifetime to learn. I can see this book would not be everyone's "cup of tea" but I loved it.

[Jay Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow.

[Tamara Suttle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the few books that I've read that I would classify as life-altering for me.

I read this book slowly, intentionally, and attempted to reflect on and apply the material covered.

During this past year (2020) amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the political unrest (that culminated January 6, 2021 with the storming of the US Capitol Building), I had plenty of opportunities to practice compassion.

I imagine no matter how you felt and dealt with these issues, you also had plenty of opportunities to do the same.

I can honestly say that even without completing all of the exercises, this author helped me to significantly "up my game" as it relates to compassion.

I still have a very long way to go and it may very well be a lifelong effort from here to get where I would like to be.

However, I have not found another class, text, or counselor - spiritual or otherwise - as effective in helping me move forward in this area as The Compassion Book: Lessons from The Compassion Course.

I cannot say enough good things about the content, the pace, the author, or the book.

If you are serious about growing your edges as they relate to compassion, this would be the place to start.