How Would You Feel?

An expert said that empathy can be learned by almost everyone.

12:30 30 June 2015

While empathy is crucial to people lives, in today’s world, it’s easier to ignore the feelings of others. However, Roman Krznaric, said that this personality trait can be learned or developed by almost everyone.    

 

Perhaps, there’s no better way to explain the importance of empathy than what is written in Harper Lee's classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird: "You never really understand another person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

 

According to neuroscience research, the majority of human beings (with the exception of those with psychopathic tendencies) have built-in capacity for stepping into the shoes of others and understanding their feelings and perspective. However, some people don’t tap into their full emphatic potential in everyday life. 

 

People these days can easily ignore the hardships of others as they are caught up with technology; instead of emphatizing with people who struggling with their lives or thinking about people who have been affected by calamities, it’s easier to just open their mobile phone and check the results of a football game or log in to social media sites. 

 

However, the good news is, almost everyone can learn to be more emphatic. This can be achieved through “radical listening.” "What is essential,' wrote Marshall Rosenberg, psychologist and founder of Non-Violent Communication, "is our ability to be present to what's really going on within - to the unique feelings and needs a person is experiencing at that very moment."

 

Listening to patient’s feelings and needs gives them a sense of being understood.