Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > English

Empathy

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irina:
Habit 5:
Travel in your armchair
If all of this is sounding a bit strenuous, you can always throw a little “armchair empathy” into the mix. This is about reading books and watching films that catapult our imaginations into other people’s lives that are vastly different from our own. Think of a movie like City of God, which reveals the violent world of two boys growing up in the shantytowns of Rio. Or the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, with its classic line, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” In fact, there has been an avalanche of recent neuroscience and psychology research showing that entering other people’s lives through books and films is one of the best ways of learning to empathise.
 
Habit 6:
Inspire a revolution
Empathy isn’t just something that happens between individuals. It can also flower on a mass scale and start shifting the contours of society itself. Many of those who took part in the Occupy Movement and Arab Spring were motivated by empathy – empathy for those whose lives had been ravaged by the financial crisis, or who had suffered police brutality. An important way to boost your empathy levels is to join with others to take action on empathy-related issues that matter to you – whether it’s child poverty or the fate of future generations whose lives will be affected by our addiction to high-carbon lifestyles. Even taking part in your local choir or playing five-a-side football are ways to engage in communal activities that break down the barriers between people and promote a more empathic world.
Empathy will most likely flower on a collective scale if its seeds are planted in our children. That’s why HEPs support efforts such as Canada’s pioneering Roots of Empathy, which has benefited over half a million school kids. Its unique curriculum centres on an infant, whose development children observe over time in order to learn emotional intelligence – and its results include significant declines in playground bullying and higher levels of academic achievement.
So now you’ve got some ideas for growing your empathy, let me leave you with a question. Who in your life do you need to develop more empathy with – and how might you go about doing it?
From Reader's Digest

drrizona:
More informative, like this topics.

Shampa Iftakhar:
Dear madam

Love reading it.

irina:
 Dear  Shampa
Thank you.  :)
 I often tell my Ss and at the same time I keep in mind that---
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view – until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it", and ”entering other people’s lives through books and films is one of the best ways of learning to empathise."

Tahsina:
This should be talked about more frequently now a days as the absence of empathy is the reason of conflicts around the world. Thanks for bringing the topic up!

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