Pain Can Blind Us
I think it’s easy to attack without considering the consequences of our actions. It is easy to say something is bad simply because it fails to meet our paradigm of thought. Empathy is hard because it expects us to explore our thoughts and feelings; to develop an understanding of our ideology and find ways to bridge our world with others. It wants us to consider the thoughts and feelings of people; and to imagine what it is like to be them, so we can treat them fairly based on their circumstance.
What good does any of this do if we don’t know how to apply it to our daily lives? An expert isn’t born, to be proficient in a skill we must practice it. We can sit behind old books learning about body language and tonality, but this equates to nothing if we are unwilling to explore our skills.
What is empathy? According to the Cambridge Dictionary it is “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation.”
How can we practice empathy, or imagine what it would be like to be in someone else’s shoes, when the situation could never conceivably happen to us? Empathy requires imagination, you must have the ability to see something that is hidden. In massage we do this all the time. We target deeper muscles by visualizing these structures with our knowledge of anatomy and physiology.
If you are new to massage or lack the ability to imagine something you have never seen or can’t see, I suggest indulging in a new hobby. Visit your local comic/game store and join a role-playing game, maybe find a local writing group, or experiment with art at a community college. Your mind must have a relationship with your heart if you want to develop your ability to empathize with others.
