Marshal Rosenberg said that “empathy is a respectful understanding of what others are experiencing.” I think there is a lot more to it than that — it’s about being in their shoes and, more importantly, sharing their tears and their pain and walking in their footsteps during their darkest hour.
It’s only the person who wears the shoes, that knows where it pinches. I think we tend to pay lip service to being empathetic, rather than practicing it. The art of empathy is keeping the other person’s circumstances front and center. I can assure you, that’s it’s a lot easier said than done.
About Hemant Rustogi