Empathy

In the context of appreciation- sometimes we might not understand, or perhaps we haven’t taken the time to consider, how much of a sacrifice or effort someone has made. Maybe they spent days repainting a room that we don’t necessarily see a purpose in, maybe they canceled an outing with a friend that didn’t even sound that fun to us to begin with, or maybe they were late to an appointment because they helped us with something or wanted to share more time together. Perhaps you are always late so it doesn’t matter but being a punctual person might be a huge priority for them and it was a very stressful consequence to take on. If we don’t try and see things from someone else’s perspective, we can’t truly understand nor recognize the effort or sacrifice they might have made.

Outside the context of appreciation- empathy becomes infinitely more important. We will discuss this later within the themes of communication and conflict resolution, which are impossible to achieve without a strong pilar of, and promise to practice, understanding and empathy.  Try to  incorporate empathy into your homework assignment as well as keep it in mind throughout the program.