The New York Times published a provocative op ed piece on May 5 by Michael Ventura (author of Applied Empathy) called “The Dark Side of Empathy”. It asserts that there are two kinds of empathy: “affective empathy (the ability to feel what others feel) is distinct from cognitive empathy (the ability to understand what others […]
Often we set goals, and schedules to meet them. I will exercise 3 times a week. I will eat beans twice a week. I will read fiction every day for at least half an hour. I will write in my journal daily. Etc. What if we added empathy goals to our lives? It wouldn’t be […]
An important part of empathy is connection. We make a connection with others, whether directly, or through reading or viewing or other means. What if we connected with more others–not just humans, but other living beings? Animals, certainly. Our home (that is, our planet) would be a much better place if we responded to animals with empathy–our […]
There are lots of ways to gain empathy for others. There’s the media—books, TV, movies, online videos, podcasts. There are the people we meet—co-workers from different cultures, students at the university we are attending, neighbors down the street who maybe put up a menorah in their window in December instead of a Christmas tree. The […]
Is too much empathy bad for your mental health? Recently the New York Times published an opinion piece by Adam Grant about the problem of “empathetic distress: hurting for others while feeling unable to help.” He talks about this in regard to many people being so overwhelmed with empathetic feelings for those in our world […]
To quote probably the most-often quoted opening line in literature: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” In this case, for empathy. Lookin back at 2022, what first comes to mind is the growing movement worldwide for LGBTQ+ people. As Charles Dickens continues on in his opening sentence: “it was […]
There is a line between laughing at someone and laughing with someone. That line is empathy. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but today I would like to share a personal post that I put on Facebook yesterday: When one goes to post on FB, it says “What’s on your mind?” So I am going to […]
As we come to the end of a very difficult year, 2020 stands out as a time when we lost an extraordinary number of souls who should not have departed this Earth this year. We remember and honor those who lost their lives to the global Covid-19 pandemic. We remember and honor those who lost […]
This essay was first published on the original Empathy Symbol website many years ago. It still applies. Remember the old song, “What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love?” Remember John Lennon’s song calling us to “Give Peace a Chance?” They were right: the world needs love and the world needs peace. But we […]
Has the pandemic increased or decreased empathy in our lives and our world? As usual, the answer seems to be, both. At the local level, within our own neighborhoods and communities, we are seeing outpourings of compassion for those we know and live with. Empathy is strengthened by connections, so when we see on our […]