04 - Empathy

Full transcript here 👋 Hi. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. This is your life. This is your chance. Listen. The word for today is empathy. Empathy has two layers, sensing people’s emotions and predicting how those emotions make them feel. I don’t find either of those easy or natural, but the good news is that researchers believe that empathy is an ability that can be intentionally increased through practice. Today’s concrete challenge is to identify someone’s emotions while you’re talking to them. You don’t have to announce, “I can tell that you’re upset,” but sometimes even this can be beneficial when you use it in an empathetic way. People often appreciate when you act as a mirror to their emotions through active listening or your body language. Let me know how your emotional identification exercise went at concrete.win/today. Check back tomorrow for a new challenge. Until then. References: EMPATHY: a tool to enhance nonverbal communication between clinicians and their patients How to cultivate empathy - Greater Good Science Center