INSPIRATION
ARTICLE
The Six Habits of Highly
Empathic People
by Roman Krznaric
H
How can we expand our empathic potential? We may well
be wired for empathy, but we
still need to think about how
we are going to bring our circuits to life.
I have spent the last dozen years searching for an
answer to this question, exploring the research
on empathy in fields from experimental psychology to social history, from anthropology to literary studies, from politics to brain science. Along
the way I have delved into the lives of pioneering
empathists, many of whom you will meet in these
pages, including an Argentinian revolutionary, a
best-selling American novelist, and Europe’s most
famous undercover journalist. I have also done
fieldwork, speaking to people from every walk of
life about their experiences of empathy, or its absence. Whether they’ve been trauma nurses or investment bankers, police officers or professional
working mothers, people living on the streets of inner-city London or wealthy Guatemalan plantation
owners, almost everyone has a story to tell about
stepping into the shoes of others.
What I have discovered is that highly empathic
people have something in common. They make an
effort to cultivate six habits—a set of attitudes and
daily practices that spark the empathic circuitry
in their brains, enabling them to understand how
other people see the world. The challenge we face,
if we hope to fully realize the Homo empathicus
that lies within each of us, is to develop these six
habits in ourselves as best we can.
THE SIX HABITS OF HIGHLY
EMPATHIC PEOPLE
Habit 1: Switch On Your Empathic Brain
Shifting our mental frameworks to recognize that
empathy is at the core of human nature and that it
can be expanded throughout our lives.
Habit 2: Make the Imaginative Leap
Making a conscious effort to step into other people’s shoes—including those of our “enemies”—to
acknowledge their humanity, indiv iduality, and
perspectives.
Habit 3: Seek Experiential Adventures
Exploring lives and cultures that contrast with our
own through direct immersion, empathic journeying, and social cooperation.
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