Provocations to be more empathic

Piecing together moments of truth.

The word derives from Greek empatheia (from em- ‘in’+ pathos ‘feeling’)

Image by 愚木混株 Cdd20

Key Ideas

• A moment of empathy
• How to define empathy?
• Children’s books on empathy
• An alternative view to challenge your thinking.
• Empathy is an aggregate of personal stories and emotions.
• The perspective from Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence.

Empathy: An Aggregate of Personal Truths

“our capacity for empathy is as much the result of our experience and practice as it is of our genetic makeup.” ~ Alisa Del Tufo

I typically share a simple question:

Is empathy a skill?

A closed question, so a simple one right?

Maybe this question breaks those rules. It is simple in structure and yet beguilingly complex to ponder.

Del Tufo answers it pretty well in my opinion. Our ability to empathise with others can be practised, the skill can be refined through the use of various tools and thinking frameworks to help us.