I love this Brené Brown video on empathy.
I love how she talks about empathy being a choice. A vulnerable choice.
We always choose whether or not to be empathetic.
And we often choose not to be empathetic. I suspect it's our fear of vulnerability that prevents us from choosing empathy.
We've made that choice so many times that our fear of vulnerability has established itself in the lead role of the movie of our life.
And empathy has been relegated to a permanent bit part role player.
Instead of assuming an inherent, intrinsic, natural empathetic disposition and world view, we have treated empathy like a water faucet – turning it on only in certain situations, and only with certain people, and only in times of uncertainty or despair or unfavorable circumstances.
We are quick to turn it off, mindful of conserving our precious resource, not wanting to waste it on undeserving recipients and in unnecessary situations.
But empathy doesn't (or shouldn't) work like that.
Empathy is a state of mind.
A state of mind rooted in non-judgment, self-awareness, and a desire to connect with ourselves and other people.
Thankfully, during these times of uncertainty, I've witnessed a lot of empathy.
I just hope it continues when we're all a bit more settled.