From some reading I did today: The way empathy is used in Nonviolent Communication is to just be present for another person. Emapthy is not trying to fix the person or situation. We can let someone know we understand him or her by demonstrating empathy. Marshall uses the phrase, whats alive in you. Empathy is the complement to honesty. Demonstrating empathy is acknowledging what the other person is observing, feeling, needing and requesting. Because of how powerful empathy is at creating connection sometimes empathy is given priority over honesty. I find honesty is just as important as empathy. Without the honesty the other party may not understand what is going on for us. When we are communicating in NVC we are either speaking honesty or demonstrating empathy. Sympathy is often confused with empathy. Sympathetic vibration is commonly illustrated with two tuning forks set to the same frequency. Striking one will induce sympathetic vibrations in the other. With people sympathy is feeling the same emotion as another person. So if I was sad and you started interacting with me and became sad also that is sympathy. With empathy you might feel a slight emotional drop, however it is not to the same emotional state as the speaker. Instead the empathizer stays centered and connected to self. If you get sucked in to the negative emotions of the speaker you benefit neither the speaker or yourself. compassionateinteractions/empathy.php
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 23:13:15 +0000
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