1.
Cultivate curiosity about strangers;
Curiosity expands our empathy when we talk to
people outside our usual social circle, encountering lives and worldviews very
different from our own.
2.
Challenge prejudies and discover commonalities;
We all have assumptions about others and use
collective labels—e.g., “Muslim fundamentalist,” “welfare mom”—that prevent us
from appeciating their individuality. HEPs challenge their own preconceptions
and prejudices by searching for what they share with people rather than what
divides them.
3.
Try another person’s life;
HEPs expand their empathy by gaining direct
experience of other people’s lives, putting into practice the Native American
proverb, “Walk a mile in another man’s moccasins before you criticize him.”
4.
Listen hard – and open up;
But listening is never enough. The second trait
is to make ourselves vulnerable. Removing our masks and revealing our feelings
to someone is vital for creating a strong empathic bond. Empathy is a two-way
street that, at its best, is built upon mutual understanding—an exchange of our
most important beliefs and experiences.
5.
Inspire mass action and social change;
We typically assume empathy happens at the
level of individuals, but HEPs understand that empathy can also be a mass
phenomenon that brings about fundamental social change.
6.
Develop an ambitious imagination
We also need to empathize with people whose
beliefs we don’t share or who may be “enemies” in some way. Empathizing with adversaries is
also a route to social tolerance. That was Gandhi’s thinking during the
conflicts between Muslims and Hindus leading up to Indian independence in 1947,
when he declared, “I am a Muslim! And a Hindu, and a Christian and a Jew.”
Roman
Krznaric (2012) Six habits of Highly Emphathic People. (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
