Empathy. What is it? Who does it impact? What kind of impact does it have?
While there are so many definitions of empathy out there and
everyone may have their own personal definition of what it is, here’s a personal favorite of mine from the inspiring, Brene Brown: “Empathy is a strange and
powerful thing. There is no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding
judgment, emotionally connecting and communicating that incredibly healing the message of ‘you are not alone’.”
This particular definition I feel sums up exactly what
empathy is in a nutshell. It’s something
that is relatively simple but yet immensely powerful. This is something I’ve learned and continue to
learn every single day as a psychology major and especially as a crisis
counselor. Empathy is the art of listening,
being there, and supporting one who needs it and refraining from judgment even
when we may hold contradictory or opposite beliefs/opinions from others.
Empathy impacts everyone and frankly, its impacts actually
have the potential to save a life. This
is something I’ve seen first-hand volunteering as a Crisis Counselor. People text us in times of crisis not
necessarily seeking advice, but just someone to be there and all too often I see
the power of using empathy allow that person on the other end to go from that an incredibly heated moment back down to that cool calm and safe place again
because they felt heard and listened to; they felt someone cared, and thus,
they felt less alone.
It can be so easy and natural to automatically try and give
people advice when they come to you and are struggling because we want to help
and we think that giving advice will do that and yes, of course, we all need advice
sometimes too. However, when someone is
going through a hard time, they often don’t need someone to give advice but rather
just someone to listen and understand. Sometimes
just knowing that someone is there is truly all it takes for someone to know
that they’re not alone.
In addition to practicing empathy in others’ moments of
struggle, empathy is something we should strive to provide to everyone we cross
paths with. Why? Because as I say in all of my presentations; everyone
has a story and we never know what someone’s story is. We never know what people are carrying
around with them from day to day when we cross paths with them. Someone could have just lost someone so close
to them, could have received life-changing and heart-breaking news; you just
never know. However, spreading empathy,
kindness, and compassion can truly make such a positive difference.
Thanks so much for reading. For more inspirational content, be sure to
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