“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (Quote by Harper Lee)

Introduction

When you view a situation from someone else’s point of view and actually feel what he or she feels, we call it empathy. You may not completely agree with his or her perspective, but you understand how it shapes his or her judgment and act accordingly. It allows you to build connectivity and nurture better relationships with the people around you and is increasingly being valued as an important trait for professionals. Sympathy, on the other hand, is all about understanding what a person is going through on a mental level.

​Significance

​Empathy makes for one of the most crucial leadership qualities. As an empathetic leader, you’re able to understand the other person’s strengths and weaknesses, and are hence able to groom, nurture and take advantage of your ‘human resources’ in the most optimum manner. At the same time, when you make an effort to get to know what your employees/subordinates are going through on a mental and an emotional level, it sends out a crystal clear message that you care. This in turn helps build trust within your team, thereby instilling synergy in the group. 

Empathy also makes it easier for you to gauge other people’s state of mind. When someone behaves rudely with you, and the empathetic you realizes that they’ve been going through a lot lately and probably have a low threshold for stress or worry, you tend to not take things personally and are able to detach from the situation if need be. This eliminates any unnecessary altercation, gives you the upper hand as someone who’s in control of his or her emotions, and creates harmonious relationships. Not to mention, it helps you keep your peace and calm.

​Cultivation

​Developing empathy will require a somewhat cognitive approach wherein you’ll have to intentionally force yourself to give the other person the benefit of doubt and simultaneously try to assess the situation from his or her perspective. Initially, it will take some time to get used to thinking this way, but once you get accustomed, it will all come so naturally. With a little practice, you’ll be able to see through the seemingly mean and difficult behaviors that people often display, especially our friends and family.

Whenever you come across someone who seems to be in a lot of pain, be it physical, mental, or emotional, you’re going to have to move beyond the feelings of sympathy and actually feel the person’s affliction. You’re going to have to imagine yourself going through the exact same suffering as that person. Then and only then will you be able to truly relate to what he or she is facing. One effective way would be to think of a time when you had encountered a similar situation. It need not be as severe, but close enough. You can then try to hypothetically increase the gravity of your own past experience by imagining a worst-case scenario and how it would have affected you.

Another good practice would be to study the basic concepts of psychology. It will help you gain an in-depth insight as to why people do the things they do, how past trauma affects our present thought processes and acquired instincts. Read about attachment styles, child psychology, social psychology, etc. In the longer run, it’ll help you frame a mature and empathetic outlook towards everyone around you. It will aid you in becoming a better parent, sibling, and friend in general.

​Resources

​Coming soon!

​End Note

​Being an empathetic person allows you to look at complicated situations in an objective manner. It helps you handle challenging day-to-day confrontations with your associates as well as your loved ones in a much more wholesome way. It strengthens our bond as fellow human beings, and karmically speaking, makes us entitled to be understood and cared for when we ourselves would be experiencing unfavorable times and misfortune. So the next time you see an acquaintance going through a tough time, instead of criticizing or judging him or her for the way he or she has been acting out, try empathizing instead.

​PS. If you wish to become an accomplished human being, equipped with the right values and ethics, you should work on cultivating empathy as a virtue. It is one of the nine most important virtues of all times for promoting self development and growth.