Posts Tagged ‘Self Empathy’

Taking Action in the Face of Despair and Helplessness

April 29th, 2010

Miki KashtanThis post from Miki Kashtan, although not specifically about empathy, touched me deeply.  Miki demonstrates how we can empathize with ourselves, open to our pain and grow trust in ourselves and our experience.

Over time, I’ve learned that my ability to be present with empathy for others is related if not dependent upon my ability to empathize with myself. I highly recommend reading this one…

“I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.”
—Dawna Markova

Read more…

A Brief Self-Empathy Exercise

August 2nd, 2009

Mary Mackenzie, Certified Nonviolent Communication(NVC) Trainer, co-founder of the NVC Academy, and author of  ”Peaceful Living: Daily Meditations for Living with Love, Healing and Compassion“, leads a workshop in an exercise in self-empathy in the video below.

This deceptively simple exercise can demonstrate a remarkable difference in how we experience our lives by re-framing our inner dialogue in terms of our universal human needs instead of our judgments. Though the video quality isn’t what we’d like, we trust you’ll find the exercise helpful.

Learning Self-Empathy

July 29th, 2009

Applying empathy to ourselves can be a rich and rewarding experience.  Self-empathy is the act of listening deeply to our own inner experience. The NVC Academy has made a recording of a self-empathy telecourse available to anyone interested for a nominal fee:

Self-Empathy: The Root of Successful Communication
with Mary Mackenzie and Raj Gill, CNVC Certified Trainers

Self empathy is a simple process that can dramatically defuse a situation and provide space for peaceful resolution. It is also a powerful healing process that reveals necessary insight to heal wounds from the past that continue to negatively impact our interactions with others. The practice of self empathy is a simple process with remarkable results.

  • Understand yourself more deeply
  • Deal with persistent issues
  • Create more compassion in your life
  • Communicate more effectively
  • Resolve conflicts peacefully

Read more about self-empathy…