Chapter 46

CULTIVATE EMPATHY

Empathy is the ability to understand what others are thinking and/or feeling. It’s “putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.” I’ve always had a natural gift, in regards to the ability to be empathic. Empathy and compassion go hand-in-hand. Understanding what someone is feeling is empathy; taking action to alleviate their suffering is compassion.

                The emotion of empathy is what has caused me to move towards a vegetarian lifestyle. I talk about this in my book Your Truth Will Set You Free. If you’re choosing to cultivate your spiritual awareness, empathy is a requirement. You can’t increase in the areas of spirituality without increasing in the area of empathy.

                As your spiritual awareness grows, you’ll come to the conclusion that “we’re all one.” We’re each a tiny cell in the body of God. What we do for another, we do for ourselves—and vice-versa. I like the Persian proverb that says: “I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man that had no feet.” Empathy is the emotion that causes you to “understand” the condition of the man with no feet, based on your experience without shoes.

                When you decide to cultivate empathy, or “put yourself in their shoes,” you become a more gentle and patient human being. You never really know what another person is going through. When you look at the “bum” on the corner, you might make the following judgment: What a lazy loser. He’s probably addicted to drugs. He did this to himself. I’m not helping him. But you don’t know his story; you don’t know that his name is Mark. You don’t know that he used to be employed as a roofer. You don’t know that he accidentally fell off the roof. You don’t know that his boss didn’t have insurance. You don’t know that he decided to not take his boss to court; he didn’t want to sue him. You don’t know that he’s simply down on his luck, and really wants to find a job. You don’t know that he’s not addicted to drugs or alcohol. You don’t know this because you haven’t cultivated the emotion of empathy. You didn’t take the time to put yourself in Mark’s shoes.

                I know all these things about Mark because I took time to talk to him, during a segment I created for my radio show called “Homeless For The Holidays.” You can listen to the interview on my website www.TheNiceLife.com

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