In this article, we provide links to all related information, from definitions to practical applications.
Overview
Empathy is the ability to feel and understand from another's perspective. However, when tangled with misunderstandings and defenses, it can become distorted. Such empathy can lead to long-term decline in organizations.
My deeper self-awareness has reshaped my empathetic capacity. By deeply sensing both heart and body, I can practice genuine empathy, enhancing understanding of my feelings and those of others.
Embracing emotions like fear and anger leads to better understanding and digestion of feelings. This impacts relationships and leadership, allowing true coexistence and understanding with others under the umbrella of genuine empathy.
What is Empathy?
GPT-4's response: Empathy refers to the ability to understand and share the feelings and emotions of another person. It involves connecting with others on an emotional level, rather than just a cognitive one. This capacity allows individuals to see the world from another person's perspective and helps foster deeper human connections.
Treating 'empathy' superficially, or merely formally, without distinguishing it from 'sympathy' and 'countertransference,' invites self-preservation, selfish motives, psychological defenses, and other aspects that I feel I cannot adequately express.
If we objectively observe the process of empathy, it may appear that emotional contagion is occurring mutually. For me, the value in this process lies in the sensation of 'realization,' facilitated by the systems inherent to me. This awareness leads to mental growth, fostering an understanding of different values, and ultimately shaping an inclusive perspective.
To understand, we divide.
- Making daily efforts towards self-awareness and insight to minimize one's projections and cognitive distortions,
- Maintaining boundaries between oneself and others, and
- Recognizing and accepting the emotions and thoughts of others with care to distinguish them from one's own.
In deep empathy, we make an effort to 'divide' the boundaries between self and others, all the while being mindful of projection and emotional contagion. Simultaneously, as if sharing the same, we 'divide' both joy and sorrow. In doing so, we come to comprehend others as extensions of our own experiences, sharing not only our emotions but also uncovering concealed aspects of ourselves. It's in realizing ourselves that we come to understand others. This duality unfolds simultaneously.
For a deeper dive into 'What is Empathy?', [read more here].
Points to Note Regarding the Term "Empathy":
- Profound Empathy vs. Distorted Empathy: Profound empathy refers to the attitude of understanding and respecting another person's emotions and state. In contrast, distorted empathy involves interpreting someone else's feelings through one's own filter and aligning them to one's own convenience. This is influenced by cognitive distortions, projections, and repressions, among other psychological aspects.
- The Paradox of Empathy: In modern society and business environments where "empathy" is emphasized without clear understanding, misunderstandings and ambiguities can ironically foster doubt and self-preservation, creating situations where genuine empathy is desperately needed.
- The Danger of Words: Generic terms like "empathy" can lead to various interpretations and misunderstandings. This underscores the need for guidance and clear definitions when practicing empathy in its true sense.
- The Necessity of Profound Empathy: Behind the issues caused by distorted empathy lies the fact that people either don't understand the practice of Profound empathy or have misconceptions about it. By promoting the significance and methods of Profound empathy, it's possible to mitigate or resolve these problems.
Cultivating Empathy:
Development of Metacognition: Tactile Perception and its Role in Fostering Mutual Understanding
Meditation is an effective way to enhance metacognition, excelling in two facets: introspection and the recognition of visceral tactile sensations. Through the sensation of our organs, I can discern emotions and states, possibly just subtle discomforts. By paying attention to these visceral sensations, I can utilize them as extensions of the mind and heart. This experience serves as a database, enabling us to understand our true emotions and feelings more deeply. Moreover, our empathy towards others' feelings and emotions deepens. By leveraging this approach, I can naturally shift our perspective from distorted empathy to genuine empathy.I haven't done anything special. I simply scan my body, tuning into sensations like the feeling of my shirt touching my back, the flow of air brushing the surface of my face, and focusing my attention on the lower abdomen with each breath, almost as if I can sense the wind flowing inside with every inhalation. It's just about feeling, and it's something I can do anytime.
Reference:【Introspection - Wikipedia】 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introspection
Practicing Deep Empathy:
If we were to rephrase the idea of deep empathy, it would be a simultaneous process where one harbors an active desire to understand (an act of volition) while simultaneously experiencing emotional contagion (an unconscious mirroring of another's emotions). Achieving this balance necessitates the concurrent practices of self-other differentiation and self-other integration. I believe that boundary recognition plays a pivotal role in mediating this delicate equilibrium, and this, in turn, is undergirded by the power of recognition and acceptance.
Related Articles:【Practicing Empathy: Emotional Contagion and Boundaries】
Related Articles:【Process of Deep Empathy: The Acceptance Angle】
The Effects of Cultivating Empathy:
It's not that I no longer feel fear or anger. On the contrary, I actively embrace them, especially the subtle nuances. In the past, anxiety turned into a sense of duty, sadness morphed into anger, and disgust appeared as indifference. Now, when I feel an obligation, I converse with the witch who watches over guilt. When anger surfaces, I reach out to the grieving girl. When I become indifferent, I console what might be called my "shadow", another fragile side of me.
Whether it's the space between individuals or events within my personal inner world, regardless, I envelop everything occurring within this space, time, human species, adaptation, and balance. I do so with compassionate prayer, breathing it in deeply like a big breath, understanding, and digesting it all. I neither ignore nor isolate but rather coexist.
Cognition: The dreams I see at night are of my own creation, unrelated to my will. Yet, as I began to find a part of myself in them and started to perceive sensations like wind passing through the inside of my skull or beside my organs, the frequency and accuracy of my self-awareness became incomparable to before.
Acceptance: The accumulation of these experiences provides clues to the nature of my current sensations. I've come to accept them, without assigning value or meaning, simply acknowledging that such things are occurring. In relationships with others, I'm not just looking at facial expressions or the content of words, but I'm also receiving through physical sensations.
Psychological Safety: This acceptance has reduced the desire to control the world, the damage from betrayals that come with expectations, and decreased both my tendencies to attack and to fear. I neither ignore nor isolate but rather coexist. I no longer feel compelled to become the "ideal me" or the distant "me I aspire to be." Of course, it's perfectly fine if I still wish to become that version of myself.
Inclusive Leadership: I've always had a fondness for individuality, and I used to get a surge of joy whenever I encountered someone unconventional. Amplifying that, much like the imaginary axis of complex numbers, I've started to find meaning in intangible presences that sensors can't detect, the undefined values and significances between people, and events occurring in the deep, unnoticed realms of the heart and soul.
