How Far Can Our Empathy Go?

I read this quote today and I had three thoughts almost simultaneously: “Now, with regard to the people who have done things we call “terrorism,” I’m confident they have been expressing their pain in many different ways for thirty years or more. Instead of our empathically receiving it when they expressed it in much gentler ways — they were trying to tell us how hurt they felt that some of their most sacred needs were not being respected by the way we were trying to meet our economic and military needs — they got progressively more agitated. Finally, they got so agitated that it took horrible form.” – Marshall B. Rosenberg 1: Wow, I wonder if we could really experience empathy and compassion to the extent that we might transform our condemnation of “terrorism” to a place where we take action based on compassion and understanding that what Marshall Rosenberg is suggesting could be one possible explanation. 2: Wow, how often is this the case in parenting as well? We are horrified by something “unacceptable” that our child has done and respond out of that feeling. But what if instead we respond with curiosity: What if we paused and asked ourselves the question: what has gone before this behavior? If we then had calm awareness and compassion for what has lead to this point, we might experience the anger, fear and sadness about their behavior slip away like water down the plughole. And then instead we might be able to tune in and hea...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Family Habits Happiness Mindfulness Parenting Compassion Curiosity Empathy Loving Kindness Marshall Rosenberg Personal Growth regret Rejection Shame Source Type: blogs