An empathetic person can identify with what someone else is experiencing. They may have had the same experience before. This isn’t necessary to practice empathy. You might just be very good at putting yourself in another person’s mindset.
Someone tells you they lost their job. They’re going through so many different negative emotions. They’re concerned about their mortgage payment and other financial issues.
A person that loses a dream job could start wondering what happened. It took them a long time to get the job they always wanted. They might have been great employees. Then something occurred that was out of their control. Perhaps the company went bankrupt.
This individual could start questioning his own role in the failure of the company. A ton of different negative emotions might be experienced. The empathetic person can fully embrace the emotions the other person is going through even if they’ve never lost a job before.
You might want to help your friends and family members by displaying more empathy. You care about them and want to help them when they’re in need. If that’s the case, simply put into practice the following three-step technique for showing empathy.
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