 Empathy and Compromise - overrated! :)
I don't think empathy is necessary for connection. In fact, I think empathy is overrated! For Erin, I think it's part of who she is and her personal life purpose, but I don't think empathy is something people need to cultivate. (I don't even know if empathy is one of Erin's values.) You can't feel another person's feelings, only your own, and for goodness' sake you're already identifying enough with your own thoughts and feelings to go muddying yourself up by identifying with others!
I think a far more effective way of being in the desire for compassion, connection, and relatedness is Presence. Just Being There. Free of judgement, free of needing to be right or to look good, generating freedom and love. Hearing what the person has to say the way she wants you to hear it. (How do you know? You say what you heard and ask her if that's the way she wanted you to hear it.)
But that's just me. Maybe empathy is part of your personal life purpose, too. |