Our individual circles of compassion are rather small.

We care, perhaps, for (most of) our family, and our friends
Not so much for others outside of that circle
And not at all for those we call our enemies.

Perhaps,
If we worked to cultivate wider circles of compassion
(…and how far is possible here?)
Much of the suffering could be avoided. 

Image by Kohji Asakawa from Pixabay

If, like most of us,
You are naturally inclined towards negativity
Consider giving a gratitude practice a try.

Why?
Gratitude offsets your natural, human bias towards negativity
To pessimism.
It offsets your natural tendency to take stuff for granted
To be an ungrateful ingrate.
Or to be ‘spoiled’.

Gratitude can help to keep your personal nonsense in check,
Pushing you, perhaps,
More towards a realistic perspective.

After all
It is surely impossible
To be ‘too grateful’,

And what a time it is to be alive.

Image by JacLou DL from Pixabay

You could think of belief in a positive afterlife as the ultimate form of delayed gratification.
Which is not a bet I would personally take.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay