*Confinement: Solidarity and Compassion*

https://imgur.com/vmleqV3
Anxiety and anguish in the face of an unforeseen and uncertain situation, and fear of contracting the virus or transmitting it to other people, are some of the main reasons for consultations made in health and social assistance services.
The general set of concerns that people express is related to an unforeseen and emergency situation, such as the fear of personal contagion and others, particularly if they live with someone who is a population at risk; the anguish of not knowing what will happen after the pandemic, or whether the isolation will last for a long time; or the loss of social contact in people who live alone.
Some data provided by some social assistance services may reflect. Thus, anxiety (21%), anguish (18%), fear (14%), concern for medical symptoms (12%), concern for relatives or neighbors (10%), exacerbation of a pre-existing psychiatric condition (8%), tension derived from isolation (5%), insomnia (5%), work pressure (5%) and, to a lesser extent, suicidal ideation (2%), are among the main reasons for consultation.
To support these people who suffer from these symptoms due to quarantine, we have seen how social assistance has been created by governments, social institutions, organizations and independent people.
Virtual communication is the most used today to help cope with the emotional impact produced by compulsory social isolation in many countries. They are also carried out by telephone or scheduled visits under special and security conditions (for example: isolated elderly or people with disabilities).
However, the saturation of the service and the prolonged period make it difficult to continue giving support to isolated people to maintain assistance. And there are also other difficulties, such as political, geographical or weather conditions that in some way influence the deterioration of the aid they may receive.
So what would our option be? What everyone advocates is to awaken solidarity between us.
What is the essence of life? Serving others and doing good, that's how the philosopher Aristotle described the value of solidarity, which is related to compassion and generosity. A caring person is willing to give the best of himself and to unite his effort with that of others to achieve common goals that benefit them as a group, but also other people with causes other than their own who for some reason are at a disadvantage. It has to do with the encouragement that inspires us to cooperate and support one or more people in a moment of vulnerability. And most importantly, the help is disinterested, that is, we do not expect to receive a reward or profit in return.
Solidarity is a useful value in all areas: it allows support between the various members of a family. There are also the neighbors of your community, co-workers, for example, who on many occasions play an important role in quarantine time.
The world crisis has turned everything upside down and among many other things has revealed to us how fragile we can become in the face of certain global events. However, we must acknowledge the existence of demonstrations of solidarity in times of crisis. Today you also have the opportunity to be supportive.
Do you learn to be supportive? The answer is yes, we can start with practice. Although to be supportive we must have some empathy or, better be compassionate.
Compassion is understanding the suffering that we perceive, and that awakens in us an impulse to carry out an action aimed at neutralizing or making it disappear. Compassion is more than just empathy, which is the ability to understand the behavior and feelings of others. Empathy consists of a cognitive reaction; it is about intellectually understanding the suffering of the other.
Some specialists propose these steps to develop compassion: practice attention to the suffering of others, develop empathy towards it and finally, compassion is enhanced by carrying out behaviors to alleviate perceived suffering.
Although compassion is attached to our nature, we are not usually taught to strengthen and exercise it. They teach us what is goodness, sharing, what is wrong and what is right within our culture, etc. But few of us have been instructed in what it entails.
However, we can learn to be more compassionate in our day to day, at any time in our lives, without any excuse. Since all people have that internal capacity. We simply have to wake it up and make our mind understand it so that it manifests itself in our actions.
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion "
Dalai Lama
https://imgur.com/FVbCLLI
I can say that our natural capacities as a human being only need us to exploit them. Solidarity, compassion and why not say it, understanding. Practicing and developing them also benefits our health. According to scientific research that has studied compassionate people, for example, it is observed that those who practice it produce in their brain more DHEA 100, which is a hormone involved in counteracting the aging process. In addition, these people show up to 23% less cortisol (the stress hormone).
If we believe that there are people who do not deserve our solidarity or compassion, for reasons of improper or inappropriate behavior. You must understand that these people may need our help and their attitude cries out for some kind of attention or affection. If we can reach them, we are undoubtedly learning to be supportive and compassionate.
Finally, it has been shown that showing compassion for others will help us feel much better about ourselves, by understanding the sorrow of others we value what we have and without a doubt we will feel at peace.