I have learned the importance of seeing and loving other people, however I am much better at practicing self-indulgence. Everything I choose to do and to have for myself will one day die with me. Only what I choose to do for other people will be what truly lives on after me. I believe one of the biggest difference makers in all of our relationships is the level of empathy we carry with us from person to person. Empathy is the ability to feel what others feel.
Too often I live according to my own feelings and in blatant disregard to the feelings of those in front of me. To be empathetic is to choose to feel. To feel is to be open. This is hard...unless you are into vulnerability.
Practicing empathy makes me approachable and allows my presence in other people's lives to be worthwhile. It is the moment in a conversation when I truly feel what another feels that I realize once again life is not about me. All of my preceding self-indulgent efforts collide with what really matters......other people.
How empathetic are you? Find out:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/table/0,,937442,00.html
(assessment discovered in Daniel Pink's outstanding book "A Whole New Mind")
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