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RE: Why do we feel Sympathy & Empathy?
You are right about this subject, it has been an essential part our social evolution yet I fear it’s function in today’s structure of society it’s not evolving quick enough.
I am very empathetic but I often find myself drawn to protect the victim, at least the side I perceive as the victim. It still requires tons of restraint to show the diplomacy required for diffusing situations. It is useful yet also very painful walking around with the worlds sorrows on my mind, simple things can get to me such as watching a mother unintentionally psychologically damage their children.
I think you should continue flushing this idea out 😎 I’d be very interested to read where it leads you!
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This is a problem that I feel many empathic people suffer from. Without constructing a filtering mechanism, it is exceedingly easy to hear about someone's plight and get into their mind set. Whether or not they are actually the victim may well be irrelevant. If a man has been a cheat and a liar his whole life, but all you know about him is the sob story he tells you about how he's been kicked out of his apartment and doesn't have a place to stay, wouldn't you empathize with him? Never mind the fact that he's done a tremendous amount of harm to others?
Empathy is good, and it allows us to present the way a party is perceiving the situation to the opposing party. That restraint is a difficult thing to master, and, in my opinion, requires an active attempt to distance oneself from either party.
very good observation Andrei... I can't say I've not done this myself. In psychology they call this behavior codependency and its really ugly and taxing for those who participate of it, on both sides of the coin really.
Very good point.
Yes mate. Empaths can make great mediators as they’re able to truly “walk as if in another’s shoes” for both parties in a dispute.
They also need to be able to detach from the empathy, otherwise they will get overwhelmed and be unable to make decisions.
As you say, creating a filter.
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