Empathy – walking in another’s shoes
Empathy takes things a little deeper – it is the ability to experience for yourself some of the pain that the other person may be experiencing. It is an acknowledgement of our shared experience as humans and recognition that we all feel grief and loss and pain and fear. We do not need to have experienced exactly the same events as the person who is suffering but we do need to have the ability to really imagine how they must be feeling in their situation. Empathy is a vicarious experience – if our friend is feeling afraid, we too will experience a feeling of fear in our bodies; if they are sad, we too will feel sorrow. Feeling empathy is allowing ourselves to become tuned into another person’s emotional experience. It takes courage to do this but if we have ever experienced real empathy from another when we have been hurting, we will know what a gift it can be.
Compassion – love in action
If empathy is the ability to really experience some of the feelings of pain that another person is feeling, then compassion is to translate that feeling into action. We understand that our friend is feeling worried and stressed with their aging relative in hospital, so we cook the family some dinners and take their children for an afternoon. True compassion reaches out to all people, no matter whether they are our friends or not, and even to all living creatures. It is the ability and willingness to stand alongside someone and to put their needs as well as our own needs in similar position.
Living a compassionate life can be learned – it is not just something that some ‘extra-good’ people are born with. Applying new habits of empathy and compassion takes persistence and practice but it is achievable through the right methods.
Many of the worlds’ wisest people have stated that giving to others in life is the source of the greatest contentment and life satisfaction, so there are many personal benefits to be gained as well.
To bring the power of compassion into our lives there are a few things we can do.
Firstly, we need to begin to discern the difference and develop our ability to walk in other people’s shoes. Learning to meditate can greatly help develop qualities of empathy and compassion.
Meditation helps us to access our own inner wise being who is present in our subconscious always, and will allow us to move from living a life for ourselves to living a life for others. Bringing to our meditation an image of a person who is having difficulties can give us a transformative experience of real empathy by allowing our subconscious to help us.
Meditation can help us becoming a person of true compassion, and lead to our lives feeling deeply fulfilled in a way we could never have imagined.
The Researches on Compassion
1.
Functional Neural Plasticity and Associated Changes in Positive Affect After Compassion Training
2.
Compassion Training Alters Altruism and Neural Responses to Suffering
