On Empathy


Welcome to the Nomad Show!

In this episode, we will be discussing the concept empathy. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. Its a foreign concept to a lot of people. Certainly, me included for a long time. 

what is empathy? There are a lot of definitions out there, but one that seems most relevant to me is this. Empathy is the ability to walk in someone else’s experience, listening without judgement, communicating support and understanding of the other’s plight. 

It is very different from sympathy- sympathy is feeling compassion, sorrow or pity. empathy is putting yourself in the shoes of others. 

You cannot truly be empathetic to others if you are not empathetic towards yourself. Remember in the previous episode we talked about the soul as the observer self that can detach and watch over your emotions empathically, without judgement and tell you that its ok, wait it out, it will pass? I believe being empathetic is akin to assuming the role of a non judgmental observer.

If one is to be empathetic, one has to be the non judgmental watcher of the other; understanding another person’s thoughts, feelings and emotions from their point of view without preconceptions and judgment. 

What if you don’t agree with their opinion? what if they’re wrong?
You certainly don’t have to agree, and they could certainly be wrong. But remember, empathy is never about the person giving it; and feelings and emotions can never be wrong. They are as real and true as it gets. 

What makes empathy such a difficult skill is that for me to be truly empathetic, not only do I have to put myself in the other persons shoes, but the other person has to feel has to feel heard understood and validated. 

It requires an imaginative leap in what the other person might be going through. I think the first step is understanding the realms and range of emotion that can be felt in certain situations. You cant speak in a language if you don’t know the words. If you don’t know someone could feel “conflicted” or “torn” or “overwhelmed” in certain situations, it’ll be difficult to empathize with their plights in certain situations. 

Self knowledge is an integral step in the knowledge of others, because we are more alike than we are different. 

Let’s sit with that thought for a bit. 

This has been another episode of the Nomad show. I hope you enjoyed it. 

For show notes, visit thenomadshow.com, and on twitter @nomadshowtweets

Comments

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