empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. synonyms: compassion, sympathy, considerateness, tender-heartedness, kindness, sensitivity, insight, fellow feeling, decency, humanitarianism.
To be the passenger. That’s the essence of being empathetic. You choose to ride shotgun with someone when they are in pain and to be awake as you accompany another person on their journey.
Truly being there for the ride with your readiness to be there, to sit with people, and hold the line with them through their entire journey.
Think about how we try to understand someone — we listen. We walk alongside them. We are a passenger.
One main tenet of empathy is acknowledging that we’re not there to influence the outcome of the situation. We’re not there to take the reins or take control of the wheel for everyone around us. To be empathetic is to let people experience things fully, to be there for them.
It’s easier to empathize if we feel safe in our own skin.
Empathy is an extension of one’s self and you can’t extend from a place of emptiness or being disconnected. Empathy won’t really happen if you are not self-aware or rooted to the earth like a big Sequoia tree. Having empathy is doing more than hearing others out — it’s really wanting to understand how someone feels and why. Which in my world equals LOVE.
