Realizing Empathy
Irony is when we judge others as lacking empathy
  • What is empathy?
  • Leadership
  • Teamwork
  • Design
  • | Home

Posts tagged ‘Option’

I find it
to be of significant importance
to distinguish options
from choices.

Options need not provoke emotions.

We may have 5 options to choose from for lunch.
Yet, none of them may move us to make a choice.

We can weigh the pros and cons of the options all we want,
but this may merely fuel our inner conflict,
until we feel moved enough to make a choice.

Choices,
unlike options,
has an emotional component.

Some choices are made begrudgingly.
Yet, the kind I find most fascinating
is the kind that arises the moment we realize our empathy.

That moment when we’ve finally moved
from a state of dissonance,
of not empathizing,
to a state of resonance,
of empathizing.

That moment when what we once could not see
becomes surprisingly self-evident,
and oh so obvious
in hindsight.

That moment we go
“Oh, of course…!”

p.s: My gratitude goes out to Dr. Paul Pangaro for the wonderful conversation that inspired this post.

We change our mind & behavior
When we come to have the freedom of choice
We didn’t previously perceive to have had.

Jean valjean stole,
Because he felt like he didn’t have a choice.
Once he did,
He changed.

When we tell others what not to do,
It can threaten what freedom of choice they perceive to have.
This is why our well-intended admonishments are often rejected.

Even when we tell others what to do,
We often stop at presenting options, not choices.
Options that fail to elicit the feeling of freedom.
Thus, this, too, are often rejected.

What master realizers of empathy do, is
Elicit feelings of freedom
In others and ourselves.

When this happens,
With no intention to change,
Change happens
As a byproduct.

Powered by WordPress.com.