110. 5 Strategies for Skillful Empathic Communication
Empathy. It’s how we tap into the human experience, leave our world and enter into someone else’s, witness their experience, and show them that they matter to us. By showing empathy, we offer someone the invaluable gift of being seen and heard. On today’s episode host and transformative communication coach, Alejandra, continues the conversation about empathy as discussed in the previous episode, episode 109. She walks us through five benefits of communicating with empathy–which also apply to the one offering it– and presents several scenarios which require empathic communication, from a partner’s success to a friend’s conflict with a co-worker.
It’s important to know what empathy is not. It’s not the same as sympathy, and doesn’t require agreement. It is also, Alejandra emphasizes, not about having a perfect answer, reading a person’s mind or–most crucially– a technique.
Conscious communication means being aware of one's intentions to connect with another person and communicate in ways that reflect our intention. This includes, accompanying the other person in their experience.. After today’s episode of Language Alchemy, you will understand how to communicate with empathy consciously and skillfully.
#witness #conscious communication #empathicresponse #communication
Quotes
• “Every member of our precious human family has the need to…be witnessed.” (3:58 | Alejandra)
• “Offering empathy is a gift for both the person who's giving it and the person who's receiving it, the other person, and ourselves.” (10:00 | Alejandra)
• “It doesn't matter if you guessed exactly what your friend was feeling. What matters is that the expression of empathy shows that you want to understand what this experience was like for your friend.” (12:28 | Alejandra)
• “Empathy has nothing to do with agreement.” (17:58 | Alejandra)
Links
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Podcast Music composed by Gary Lapow: open.spotify.com/artist/1HlMhcNfKIELxYil5mVqD