"Empathy is an active attempt to understand another person's perspective and emotions."
There are a lot of anger and aggressions all around the World these days whether it's in politics, race, religion... people tends to build wall to block out anyone they disagree with. But that never solves anything, we should enable conversation that leads to greater understanding compromise and real progress. Somehow we must come to understand that no one's prospective is the prospective, when we strive to see though the eyes of others especially those we disagree with, we drive out hatred and bring in compassion. This is referred to empathy.
We all live in our own version of reality the reality which is limited by our senses and our own experiences. It is the only reality we ever truly no but it is crucial to our personal development, relationships and to society itself that we make the effort to try and experience other people's perspective as well.
A world without empathy breeds feeling of isolation, depression and resentment which only increase conflict. That's exactly what happening now a days.
So what can we do ?
Well, we can't change the world but we surely change how we see the world. Here are few things to try.
- Just be curious. It might be harder first but try talking people outside your usual circle so you can encounter prospective deferent from your own.
- When you do approach new people try searching for things you have in common rather than only identifying what divides you. "Behind every lebel there is a person."
- Simply try smiling more you will find it to be contagious and it can even make you a more approachable leading to more socialization and feeling of connectedness.
