Empathy has been a focus of business of late. Have you ever shopped for dog food online and an article about dogs pops up?
Empathy and sympathy are different. Sympathy has a component of action because you want to alleviate someone’s sorrow. Empathy is being able to experience someone else’s feeling or experience. It’s a precursor to good citizenship or justice.
Empathy begins in childhood. One baby hears another cry and begins crying, mirroring the behavior. Higher levels of empathy involve an imaginative element, stepping into another person’s shoes to understand their suffering.
There’s great value in self-empathy. Be kind to yourself. How would you treat someone who is facing your issues? Recognize your feelings and allow yourself to experience them.
Listen as Cris Beam joins Dr. Pamela Peeke to share more about empathy.
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Empathy & Feeling Another's Pain
Featuring:
She is an assistant professor at William Paterson University and lives in New York City.
Cris Beam, Author
Cris Beam is the author of several award-winning books, including To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care and Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers.She is an assistant professor at William Paterson University and lives in New York City.