Developing Empathy For Others

Do you ever struggle to appreciate your coworkers, neighbors, or family members?  Do you look at them in complete exasperation, wondering how they can hold such outdated or such extreme views?  Do you get frustrated because they support the wrong political agenda, or post the most insane ideologies and thoughts online?

Do any of these situations sound familiar?

• Your coworker who you thought was intelligent posts something online that you find to be totally inappropriate.
• Your aunt keeps making statements that demonstrate how out of touch with reality she is.
• Your old high school buddy seems to be growing more and more extreme in their views, to the point that you want have considered cutting off contact with them.
• Everywhere you look, people are taking views and positions that are difficult for you to comprehend.  How can so many people be so misinformed!  

It can be incredibly frustrating to not understand why our friends, family, and associates view the world the way they do.  It creates unnecessary anxiety and erodes the trust that glues relationships together.  We can quickly move from liking someone to thinking they are dangerous in a very short period of time.  While they in turn do the same to us.  ie, view us with increasing suspicion, doubt, and bewilderment.

What?  Did you think you were the only one confused by their ignorance?  
Hate to break it to you, but very often, they are also confused by your behavior!

I know, I know, you are right and they are wrong!  We believe you!!  But, nevertheless, it is still good to work to understand things from the other person’s point of view!

What this course WILL do:

• Help you to build your own framework of understanding and empathy for others.
• Provide you with things to consider as you build this framework.
• Help you to find peace of mind and compassion for those with whom you associate.

What this course WILL NOT do:

• Tell you what your framework should be.  We can’t!  It is too personal.  Our role is only to provide you with things to consider, as you work towards creating your own framework.
• Help you learn to milk a goat!  While milking a goat is an important life skill, it is unfortunately totally outside the scope of this course… (just saying!)

Before we start, let’s get some boring technical stuff out of the way.  This is to satisfy the instructional designers… They want us to tell you what it is that you are going to be learning.  You know how instructional designers can be…

Performance Objective:
After completing an online program, students will be able to recite from memory, a self-generated framework of empathy and understanding for others.

Alright!  Now that we got the boring part over with, and without any further ado, buckle up and get ready to find some peace of mind!