Alphabet of the Heart

Compassion: Open your heart and be compassionate to yourself and others.

Dignity: Recognize the dignity of every human being.

Equanimity: While acknowledging the ups and downs, try to find an even keel.

Forgiveness: Give forgiveness to those who have failed you or made you angry.

Gratitude: Keep in the front of your mind gratitude for all that you have.

Humility: Remember that you are no better and no worse than others you encounter.

Integrity: Value honesty and integrity and use it to guide your actions.

Justice: Acknowledge your obligations to those who are most vulnerable.

Kindness: Kindness does not require suffering, only the recognition of another’s humanity.

Love: And finally Love which contains and binds all. Let your heart be open to love yourself and give love freely to others. 

— James Doty
Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart,  2016

James Doty, MD, is a clinical professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University and the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the Senior Editor of  the Oxford Handbook of Compassion Science (2017).  In 2019 he created an audiobook called Lessons from the Magic Shop: A Heart-Centered Program to Manifest a Life of Compassion, Purpose, and Transformation.