1037. Empathy, the Mother of Compassion!!!

To understand the perspective of another person it is important to think as that person at least for a moment, this act is Empathy. Empathy should not be confused to Sympathy; sympathy is only a feel, while we are still our self. Empathy calls for getting into other persons shoe, a sympathizer will never get into another person’s shoes. It is easy to sympathies but to walk in other persons shoes and feel what they feel is a little difficult.  

Every individual thinks unique hence we have different experiences, habituation and attitude. It is near to impossible for two people to have the same opinion on all points. If we see the comments posted for a write up we get the proof of this happening every day. A person who does not believe in empathy is the one who stand to judge and criticize others. In this regard he feels that others person’s perspective is not acceptable as it does not agree with his point of view. Such a person is inclined to see only through the glasses he is wearing, and does not bother about what other think. 

Empathy also helps us to understand others and develop our self-awareness. In this society everyone play various roles in life like that of father, spouse, child, employee, employer etc. It is required to know about ourselves by looking at ourselves dispassionately from the perspective point of our counterparts in the roles we are playing. Empathy should develop in us as a great quality. Communication becomes better to a person with empathy as he is not partial to his own views. Empathy teaches us to be self-aware, receptive to the wants of others, liberal on other person’s points of view, and results in building a harmonious relationship with others. To have empathy is concern for others and living with more wisdom.

The most common hindrance to empathy is our failure to marginal our own pain to walk in the steps of others. When we are engrossed in our own pain, it makes us hard to feel the pain of others, or to understand them deeply from heart. There are many ways to develop empathy, one way is to do so by mentally and emotionally using our imagination to step into the other person’s shoes, just as actors gets into the character in a play. Yet another way to develop empathy is to remember the situation we had been in similar circumstances to the situation the other person is now in. If the other person feels egoistic we have to remember when we had been egoistic before and what the consequences were then. Other methods also include meditating and to keep clam and learn to listen about the person’s inner voice, look for kindness, and initiating values such as caring and a sense of responsibility.