May 19, 2009

The Journey to Empathy

British mediator Martin Golder explains the difference between empathy and sympathy in an article at Mediate.com. He says that empathy can be learned in five stages:
The first stage is to think of yourself in a kind and loving way, this is then extended to a person that you like in the second stage. The third stage is to think of a neutral person and the fourth and perhaps most difficult stage is to project loving kindness (peace and good will) to an enemy or difficult person. The final stage is to expand the projection of good will to all.

(Mediate.com.)
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1 comment:

  1. martin golder6/08/2009 8:48 PM

    Actually it is loving kindness or metta bhavana that is learned by this technique. The practice of metta bhavana definitely helps the process of learning empathy but active listening is probably the central way to learn empathy.

    And although I am British by birth, I am a Canadian mediator.

    But thanks for noticing the article 'Journey to Empathy' . I think it is very important.

    cheers

    martin golder

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