Yesterday I wrote about empathy and how surprised I was that it didn’t come naturally to me.
Empathy is a higher level of consciousness. It’s something we have to continuously and deliberately work at in every difficult situation with every person.
Every persons story is different, and everyone has a different way of expressing themselves in a way that relates to their values.
Just for today let’s take a moment and study the details to see what someone else values.
Let’s look at what they are wearing, what they are doing, what they are saying, and see if we can determine their set of values about that particular thing.
The kinds of questions you can ask while studying people are….
Why do they wear a tie? Why don’t they? What do they value about appearances?
Why are they drinking Starbucks instead of Tim’s? What are their values driving that choice? (Hint: it’s not the taste).
Why do they choose those particular words? Or why aren’t they choosing their words more carefully? What do they value in regards to communication or relationships?
I’ve learned this exercise helps you to see the person behind the cultural mask.
Just for today let’s see the person and their humanity instead of our judgements and perceptions.