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 of our parent’s …
Tag: Empathy
The Importance 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 …
Understanding 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 …
Aspects 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, be curious about our triggers, and understand our …
How We Learn Empathy
If we grew up with unsafe and unattuned caregivers, it is a NORMAL adaptation to be reticent to ‘stand in someone else’s shoes’ and allow yourself to feel empathy. Imagine having a mother who is an alcoholic. Most of the …
Considering the Perspective of Others
When we take on the perspective of someone else, a whole network of brain regions becomes activated. The dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, the temporoparietal junction and the precuneus. These areas are responsible for memory, attention, social cognition, integration and …
Where Does Shame Hide?
It is easy to read posts about shame and think, “Oh, I don’t feel any shame. That’s not in my life”. If that is the case, you are an incredibly rare individual. For most people, shame is part of life. …
The Antidote to Shame
Shame is a painful emotion that is created because of a sense of failure to meet a certain standard. Shame says that we are flawed and unworthy of connection. In response to shame, people will isolate themselves or numb their …
The Five Components of Compassion
Compassion is an orientation towards suffering. It is how we meet the suffering of others and our suffering. Recognising suffering Understanding the human experience of suffering as universal Emotionally connecting with the other person’s suffering Being able to tolerate uncomfortable …
Compassion is a Function of the Heart
One way to assist compassionate thinking is to imagine what you would want for yourself if you were in someone else’s shoes. Or to imagine what someone else might have gone through and how it might have left them feeling. …