Day Eight

DAY EIGHT

Empathy.

Empathy is given to some of us in mass quantities, others of us have none at all. But whether you have it or not, it's really a rather simple principle: the ability to feel what others feel or to identify what they are feeling. Now to distinguish this from sympathy--sympathy is caring about how someone feels once you know how they feel. Thus, it's possible to be empathic and not care, or sympathetic and not know. For today's task: practice empathy. Try to identify how those around you are feeling. Once you see how they feel, let this be your guide in why they are immediately motivated to act in the way that they are. Now, take all of this one step further: try to see how someone very close to you is feeling, possibly about something specific. Identify this; feel it yourself. Now, find something about their actions, with respect to their feelings, that is commendable and let them know that you notice what they are doing and you respect it. It's amazing the power we have to affect others and empathy, combined with sincerity, is one of our most powerful tools. By focusing on others and by identifying their emotions, we learn more about ourselves and about our own emotions. Since love is the strongest, most binding emotion of all, this task will help us to explore and identify other emotions on our journey to understanding love.