Empathy: A Necessary Gift to Strengthen Life and Entrepreneurship -Reflections

Did you know that there are tests in psychology and family medicine to measure empathy?

Studies carried out by universities such as the University of Michigan, in students, have concluded that empathy has decreased by 40% in the period from 2000 to 2010.

Could this be one of the serious problems of modernity? Do we tend to put ourselves in the place of the other?

The truth is that we look at others and end up judging them; however, one of the depths in which we content creators get into has to do with our values and conceptions of life; and empathy is being a topic that is very much discussed on various platforms; because it is even part of the sale.

I hope that in CoinPayU we can do the same, and understand why this ability, this gift, this ideal or simply this human value is diminishing.

Do we judge more than we understand the other?

Empathy, which is the ability to put yourself in the other person's place, both emotionally and cognitively, is very confusing at the moment.

It is simply putting yourself in the other person's shoes and knowing what the other person is feeling, thinking or, simply, what they are going through and living.

Although it is true that we will never get to feel the same as the person who is experiencing a certain challenge or a certain joy, nevertheless, we can get closer as we try to be comprehensive and understand what they are experiencing, how they are feeling and what they are learning about it.

But that's not all, if we put ourselves in the other person's shoes we learn why they act in a certain way; and this is the most important principle of forgiveness.

Understanding how the other person works is helping us to understand why they hurt us, and by doing this, we free ourselves from resentment and selfish feelings towards the other person.

Thus, both detaching from negative situations and becoming aware of what is going on, ends up being forgiveness with its benefits of inner peace and tranquility.

In real life we can all have honest or concerted disagreements with other people.

We do not all think alike; and divisions do not have to turn into antipathy, but into empathy, when we understand why they have that position and why we have it.

We try to judge the other, but we do not judge ourselves

When another human being takes a certain position with which we do not agree, something within us activates a kind of capacity to point out, to advise, to compete, and even to commiserate; but, above all, we correct.

No one understands what happens to the other without taking into account his historicity, why he has made this determination or this outlook on life; what events in his history have marked him sufficiently for him to understand things in this way.

The problem is that those of us who strive for empathy tend to do this; and we forget that there is a very important circumstance, and that is, to understand ourselves first.

Because we too are burdened with a history that makes us see things in a certain way.

The easiest way is sympathy

In an article I was reading recently, it is stated that, to put ourselves in the other person's place is to do it from our subjectivity; and that is not empathy.

We do not make any effort to try to understand what the other person feels, but we put ourselves in the place of the situation and judge through our own values.

Here there are two possibilities or paths, as explained in the Área Humana article by Dr. Julia Vidal; health psychologist and director of the Centro de psicología en Madrid; specialist in anxiety and stress and expert in emotions and health.

Sympathy, which is the affinity we can have with the other person because of proximity, family, similar tastes or because we have experienced the same thing; that is, having sympathy is a sign of having conditions of support for another human being.

And the other way is, not to feel sympathy; because in our opinion it is a strange entity and does not have neither the same tastes nor the same perspectives of life; that is to say, it is of little interest to us.

This is where empathy comes in

Empathy, then, involves listening, observing and accepting, expressing understanding, but, above all, respect.

It is not necessary that we share the same perspective of life or the same actions that the other may have, but to understand the positions of others.

Because empathy tends to go beyond that, it tends to be an effort we make to understand, to listen and to control ourselves and not to put our own opinions.

To be sympathetic is not to be empathetic.

Empathy goes beyond what unites me to the other person and takes into account the fact that we are all human beings, twinned with the same DNA and that we come from the same branch of existence.

A hot and necessary topic.

Why is it important to have this; the ability to understand the other?

First, because we are on platforms where we issue reflections, knowledge and share ideas and ideals of life; and because we have to be cautious about what we are going to comment and the content we are going to address.

Second, because treating a person in a certain way implies that this is the way you want to treat them and, therefore, there is a connection.

Third, because we are selling an idea, a service or a product; and we need to connect with the customer in a true way, to know who is the person to whom our message is addressed.

Why do we need to connect?

Because we are social beings and empathy brings us closer together.

Nothing destroys a human being more than isolation and the empowerment of negative feelings such as lack of belonging and loneliness.

Remember, nothing can kill the connection with human beings more than selfishness, excessive criticism, simplification of the meaning of the situations that others live; because we cannot understand in its totality the dimension of the matter that another lives.

And, likewise, excessive judgment and lack of emotional connection.

The next time you write an article, try to sell an idea, take your personal brand to another level; try to understand that there are many people who read you.

That putting information on the net makes you the target of constructive or destructive criticism; and you must accept this.

Because the decision of others to take things in a certain way does not depend on you, but the understanding of the fact does.