Had a conversation this weekend with someone comparing 2 different cultural view points: - it’s our duty to be compassionate and take care of people less fortunate than us. people who lack empathy for the suffering in the world are bad people - it’s a dog eat dog world out there, so just take care of you and your family. people who try to save the world are stupid My personal framework for how to think about the “right” amount of focus on myself vs. others is to visualize concentric circles starting with me as an individual in the center, my close family as the next one, and then expanding to friends, colleagues, my local community, and continuing out until the last circle contains all of humanity. The most energy has to be spent in the first circle, by self improvement and self love. With a stronger foundation for self, I am a better spouse, mother, friend, community member, employee etc. The more compassion I develop for myself, the easier it is to have compassion for everyone else, the more energy I have for helping others. If you can’t tell, a lot of my thinking, especially about my own mental health and how to live a good life, has been influenced by the writings of the dalai lama and buddhist philosophy.