This is the Key to Gaining Empathy

Believe me, I wish there were an easier way

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Empathy is quite certainly enjoying it’s day in the sun.

It’s the trending trait, with everyone rallying around and talking about how important it is. You can find online quizzes, articles, books and more around this current hot topic.

All for good reason, of course. Empathy is what connects us to each other. It helps us feel seen and relate to the experiences of others.

Empathy is, quite simply, the ability to understand the feelings of another. It goes a step further than sympathy, which is merely caring for, and feeling sorrow for, another’s pain.

Even if you haven’t been through the exact situation someone is sharing with you, you can, quite likely relate to the emotion the other is feeling. That, in short, is empathy.

The Empathy Express

My dad died in January. With that, of course, comes an abundance of emotions, some expected, others not so much.

One emotion I wasn’t necessarily expecting to experience was empathy.

Before my dad died, I was able to imagine what a friend who lost a parent was going through. I could extrapolate and guess and maybe not even be far off. I could, if I was lucky…