“Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another.” – Alfred Adler
Empathy is an interpretive capacity and skill. It enables you to see a situation from the perspective and point of view of another person. It involves putting yourself in their place and then “seeing, hearing, and feeling about” the situation as you think they are “seeing, hearing, and feeling.”
Empathy helps you relate and adapt to other people by understanding them in terms of their perceptions and needs. They may and often do see things differently than you, and through empathy you can become aware of the way they see things. This awareness will serve you well in communicating more effectively with them.
For example, if you understand others in terms of their distinct needs and expectations, you can build on your shared agreements, and work together cooperatively. Also, you can avoid conflicts by acknowledging and respecting one another’s different ways of looking at things, knowing that people may hold different viewpoints than yours.
Getting Personal
Empathy can and does function at different levels of intensity. Give an example from your own life where empathy functions on a relatively superficial level, and an example where it functions on a relatively intense level.
“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own.” (Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co.)
“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.” (Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. president)
All about empathy – what, why, and how:
**** Top of post image by Possessed Photography, from unsplash.com
