Empathy Learning to Listen and Understand Others: Daniel Coleman

Empathy is an important part of the human experience. When we empathize we connect with others, feel what they are feeling, understand others, love and feel loved. People want to be heard and understood, even if their viewpoints differ from those of another person. There was a time when families engaged each other in dialogue. Thoughts, ideas, and beliefs were shared face to face, without being concerned that judgment was being passed. We live in a world today that has access to information in the single click of a computer mouse. Hidden in anonymity behind a computer monitor we can lose the ability to effectively communicate with other human beings. Sometimes that anonymity makes us bolder in our conversations and less concerned about the opinions, feelings, and views of other people. Does the opinion of someone else really matter? Do we really care what other people think? Is the way in which we view another person skewed when we fail to exercise empathy? These are some of the questions we must ask when determining if we are an effective empath. Willingness to listen and understand the thoughts of another person enriches our life and makes us a better person and contributor to the progression of the human family. Learning to empathize is the key to understanding and becoming an active listener. Without empathy as a part of our communication skill set our thinking will be short sided and narrow.

Experts say that our brains are wired to connect. Author Daniel Coleman in the book entitled Social Intelligence The New Science of Human Relationships writes, "Neuroscience has discovered that our brains very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person"(Col...

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... can communicate with each other from across opposite sides of the planet with the click of a mouse. What has not changed since the beginning of time is the need to be heard and understood. We as human beings are empathizers by design. All the infrastructure is in place, but the skills to be a good listener and process the information into understanding takes practice. The time for caring what others think is now. Every voice needs to be heard and validated as a part of our human family. We cannot look upon another person and because of the way they talk or dress or most importantly think cast their feelings and thoughts aside. This is our time on this planet to make a difference in the lives of every person we meet and invite into the circles of our lives. Empathy is the key that unlocks to door to understanding and closes the door of hatred and short sided think