Self-awareness is awareness of the self, rather than the external environment. It is a process of assessing how you are aligning to your own internal ideals and values. It is also the ability to know how your actions impact others. …
Teaching Children Empathy Increases their Emotional Intelligence
Cultivating emotional intelligence and empathy in our children has been shown to contribute to more robust relationships, added depth of love, stronger friendships, better communication and collaboration and ability to connect to our common humanity. A powerful practice as a …
The Importance of CONGRUENCE for Children
I cannot overstress the importance of congruence when parenting. Children learn to trust themselves. They learn to trust other people. They learn how to own up to their mistakes. They learn to tell the truth. When parents are INCONGRUENT children …
Some Gentle Reminders
Let me say it again – you are not responsible for someone else’s mental health. To be clear, I am not talking about abuse. If you are verbally, physically, mentally or emotionally abusive, then you ARE responsible. If you are …
Too Much Empathy?
I hear a lot of people in my clinic feel that they are too empathetic. They can feel the other person’s discomfort or pain and just want it to go away. This is the result of a high level of …
An Exercise to Build Empathy
Empathy is a skill we learn in childhood. It comes from having attuned parents who meet our needs. With attuned parents it is safe to feel what they are feeling. We learn that when we express understanding for our parent’s …
How to Cultivate Empathy
It seems many people either feel they have either too much empathy or too little. When we have ‘too much empathy’ it is usually a boundary issue, not an empathy issue. For those people who feel they lack empathy, research …
The Benefits of Practicing Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand how others are feeling and show compassion towards them. It is the ability to imagine what someone else’s life is like, to stand in their shoes and feel what they feel, from their point …
Empathy and the Brain
Empathy is the ability to understand how others are feeling and show compassion towards them. It is the ability to imagine what someone else’s life is like, to stand in their shoes and feel what they feel, from their point …
Four Areas of Emotional Intelligence
Socrates in Plato’s Apology was credited with saying “An unexamined life is not worth living”. This is at the core of self-awareness. Self-awareness calls us to reflect on our words and actions, to be curious about our triggers, to understand …