Empathy can be hard to offer to people sometimes.
This is particularly true if they’re strangers or if we feel that they’re at fault, or have inconvenienced us in some way. Empathy can be s easier to have for those we are close to or can relate to.
Empathy is a valuable resource that can have a limit.
To some degree, that’s fine. We can’t care deeply about everyone on Earth or pretend to know their struggles and successes, our minds only have so much room for all of the complexities we are faced with. That said, sometimes, it can be a good idea to help ourselves understand how empathy functions, why it’s needed more than ever, and how we can train it like a muscle to make ourselves better and more integrated people.
That’s a good amount of work we’ve cut out for ourselves there, so lets also define one other important consideration – having empathy helps us heal ourselves and treat ourselves with more kindness. That might not seem logical at first, and so in this post, we’ll discuss how and why you can expect this to happen, and how to curate empathy for others even when it’s tough to:
Put Yourself In Their Shoes
Putting yourself in the shoes of other people isn’t always easy, but it can be tremendously instructive, through and through. This effort may involve taking some time to imagine what another person is going through, how they might have become that way, or if a certain issue you’ve noticed might have had extraneous factors. For instance, if a colleague at work is somewhat short with you, a little out of character, instead of losing respect for that person we can just see they’re having a bad day. Then, when you have a bad day, you can feel a little less guilty about not being your most sociable self. Little efforts like this make a difference.
Empathy Helps You Understand No One Is Perfect
Empathy truly helps you understand that no one is perfect, and it would be very boring if anyone was. We often understand this intellectually, but when it comes to seeing someone’s flaws in practice, it’s rare that the courtesy extends. It’s a good idea to cut a little bit of a slack because this allows you to do the same with yourself. Just having that breathing room can help you feel sincerely helpful, instead of insincerely forced to be artificially and perhaps even condescendingly pleasant. The more we can admit this to ourselves, the less we can hold each other to task when it’s really not needed.
No One Is A Robot
Absolutely no one is a robot, and of course, that’s a good thing. It’s hard to keep that in mind, sometimes. For this reason, it can be helpful to see a therapist to help talk through your issues. A therapist, or a life coach, can also help with putting helpful strategies in place to help overcome certain problems you may be struggling with. Knowing no one is a robot can inspire you to seek out this potential, instead of denigrating yourself for requiring and desiring it.
With this advice, we hope you can curate empathy, not only to help others but to help yourself, too.
16 thoughts on “Empathy Can Help Us Heal”
I Loved this article, I was satisfied in all the explanation, and now I deeply understand why we need those.
Thank you for this wonderful article must shared and very informative.
Thank you for your kind words.
I loved this. A simple act of kindness can mean so much. Empathy is really what we need
Sadly, many fail to recognize what a simple act of kindness can do.
This was extremely helpful to read and I will be saving this and sharing it.
Thank you for sharing. Most of all I’m happy that you found it useful.
I absolutely love this post and I feel like the world would be a better place if we put ourselves in other people’s shoes and considered their feelings. I hope that more people read this and learn how to curate empathy!
Thank you so much. If we put ourselves in a position to see things from a different perspective than the world would certainly be a better place.
This is so simply and beautifully explained! Thank you:)
Thank you for your amazing feedback.
I so agree with it… Sometimes having empathy, understand where they are coming from and just forgiveness can help us so much with letting go of the anger we feel and finally heal. Thank you so much for sharing!
Letting go of the anger is the part that is truly truly key.
Such great points. I am not a physician, but I work with people who often require more sympathy than I can muster. This is a good reminder that it is important to dig deep.
Sometimes it is super hard for all parties concerned.
Love this article. Empathy is our parenting magic. Yes it can be hard but just trying to understand can bring about a positive relationship that wasn’t there before.
It can be hard but it is also very satisfying.