Although I've indulged in this harmless fantasy more than a few times, the one thing I seem to come back to most predictably is empathy. Imagine if every one of the over eight billion people alive today had even just a little more empathy. How could the world not be a better place if all of us more routinely took the time to walk in the shoes of those we encounter?
Reviewing my bumpy journey, my lowest retrospective moments are often connected to instances when some base instinct - judgment, spite, envy - displaced my empathy. Often, I re-play those instances in my memory until I'm the person I wished I'd been. I want to believe that this strategy - i.e., re-inventing moments when empathy was not my automatic response - has helped me be more mindful in parallel situations when they later occurred.
What are some of your strategies for continuing to expand your empathy? Who in your life most embodies this noble instinct? And what's another thing in short supply that you think could make the world a better place?
I enjoy this post. Personally I practice an exercise where I endeavor to wish everyone I meet happiness, health, and good fortune in my head secretly upon seeing them. This usually puts me in a more open, empathetic state in general.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous; Thanks for the comment and for sharing the technique that helps keep you in an empathic space. Wouldn't it be cool if someone read your comment and picked up on it? Spread the wealth.
DeleteI agree with Anonymous. Metta Yoga - a practice of loving kindness is all about this. Unfortunately I am very pessimistic about our current state of affairs in this country and others. Hate, anger, aggression are rampant and social media amplifies them. I am glad I am "old fashioned" and don't get my information from social media, but what about all of these younger generations?
ReplyDeleteInes; Thanks for the comment and educating me to Metta Yoga. And you already know we're aligned in our perception of the insidious effects of social media, especially as a way to get accurate information.
DeleteHey Pat. This post, while asking a few questions that definitely make one think, also has provided some positivity that, although it may appear obvious and almost a rhetorical question, there are others that share this type of thinking and will, whenever possible, do whatever they (we) can to try to make the world, or at least our part of it, a better place. Whew - Just realized that was a very long sentence. But it does capture what came to my mind after reason your post.
ReplyDeleteBe well,
Bob
Bob; Thanks for the comment, long sentence aside.
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