Empathy.
Empathy, according to Brené Brown, is the ability to crawl into the skin of another person and experience the world from their perspective. Note that this is a metaphor. What this means is to take the time and gain the feelings, thoughts, and reactions of another person in a specific situation. This by no means literally, but the attempt to do is the beginnings of empathy.
So, why is empathy important? Empathy allows individuals to connect with others. To foster a relationship that is past a superficial one. Empathy is at the root of healthy relationships of the human experience.
Empathy, for student in our schools is an essential skill to teach for them to succeed. Research suggest that students who are more emotionally intelligent are more likely to get promotions, job offers, business success, and have higher levels of happiness. Beginning to teach empathy is emotional coaching. Helping students label their emotions is a great first step. Not only that but introducing them to emotional vocabulary. The issue students are having is they know basic emotions such as: anger, sadness, happiness, joy, depression, and anxiety. Obviously, this is not all they know, but from my experience it is what the vast majority can identify within themselves.
I have found that the best way to share the perspective piece of empathy is by taking an object and asking them to explain what they see. Say I have a coffee cup. They see the mug with the handle to the left. Maybe they see a symbol or a design. But, on my side of the cup I see a blank side. I have a different understanding of the mug. At this point I begin to turn the object and stress the importance of see something from all angles. It is when we can the perspective of other can we understand how they are approaching the world.
Empathy is integral to the human experience. It is connection. It is safety. It is acceptance. It is relationships.
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