Do you actively practice empathy?

Do you allow yourself to be open enough to see and feel the viewpoint of other?

Being empathetic doesn’t mean that you have to agree with the other person, it just means that you’ve taken the time to understand why they behave the way they do.

Empathy doesn’t come easy and has to be practiced because as humans we are all driven by our egos and are prone to focus only on what’s important to us.

Research is showing that there has actually been a decline in empathy due to the rise of digital communication. Text messages and emails that contain short bursts of information neglect to take into account all the other complexities that are so important to human communication.

In order to be empathetic you have to look for cues in the other person and this can rarely be done via digital communication. You have to pay attention to them physically and mentally to really understand because communication is so much more than just words sent over screens.

If you want to increase your level of empathy, then do as Stephen Covey said “Seek to first to understand, then to be understood.” You might be surprised at how open people are to listen to you once you are open to them.