The Pearls of Life:
101 Simple Ways to Health and Happiness
Try to Understand Others
“Knowing others is wisdom.”
- Lao Tzu
Empathy is the
ability to understand others’ emotions and motives. In other words, it’s
the ability to put oneself in others’ shoes.
Most of us want to be understood and appreciated. Empathy affords
that opportunity.
Empathy is
different from sympathy. Sympathy only recognizes others’ emotions,
without attempting to understand their emotions. Sympathy risks making
the person receiving it feel smaller than he or she possibly already
does.
When you feel
sorry for someone, you confirm that that person is indeed in a sorry
state. But when you understand why someone is in the state that he or
she is in, you affirm that person.
While the
person who is understood is validated, the person who is empathetic in
turn enjoys the rewards of the strengthened bond between both parties.
The empathetic person also reaps the benefits of being a giver.
Trying to
understand others therefore not only makes us better people, but it also
helps make our lives happier and more meaningful.
- Try to
understand what happened to the other person to cause him or her to be
in the present state.
- Try to understand what made the other person do the things he or she has done.