How do you become more empathetic?

11 comments

1. Weed?

2. Count your blessings

3. I only know how to become more pathetic.

4. Always ask yourself: “How would I feel if I was in that person’s situation?”
   Sometimes, that question can lead us to thinking things like “that wouldn’t bother me, so I don’t understand why it bothers them.”
   …But that often means we could do better at *really* trying to imagine the situation from their point-of-view *in context with* the experiences that led them to feel that way.
   (For example: something that’s a big deal to somebody who has been through certain types of experiences might not seem like a big deal to someone else who has not been through those same types of experiences.)

5. Having kids helped me

6. It can help to read things written by people who’re different from you

7. Empathy is based on the idea that what you go through is what other people go through for any given situation (intersubjectivity if you wanna google it!)

   you can’t become more empathetic unless you are faking it which means you know what empathy looks like in particular scenarios and you just make pretend.

8. Think about how would your actions affect someone else/what would be the consequences of that.

9. I think you mean sympathetic. To have more empathy you would have to experience or have first hand knowledge of how someone feels. For instance if someone loses a parent I could sympathize with them because I could imagine how hard that is. But I could not empathize with them because I have not lost a parent and can’t truly relate.

10. Try to understand people’s emotions and motivations. No one is the villain of their own story, which means most of the time people are doing the best they can with the tools and coping mechanisms they have. If someone is being an asshole there’s usually an explanation that in their eyes at least that exonerates them, or perhaps they’re blind to their limitations or ignorance.

11. You can’t. Empathy is something you develop growing up. It is virtually impossible to just become, no matter how much you want or try to.