8-21-2020

 

Mary’s Minute

“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy, we can all sense a mysterious connection to each other.”

― Meryl Streep

 

I believe that one of the things that makes great teachers great is their ability to empathize with their students.  It really is an amazing ability that one human can “feel” the pain of another.  Brain research proves that empathy is very real.  In an experiment where researchers tracked brain activity of a person whose finger was hurt, and also the brain activity of a person watching the pain, they found the exact same part of the brain was affected.  Brain research also shows that some people are more capable of empathy than others, but also excitedly, that empathy can be enhanced and taught.

The first step to peace, joy, and love is to be able to understand how another person is feeling. 

Two strategies that I recommend for enhancing empathy are listening and literacy.  If we really listen to others, we are more likely to understand their perspective.  Another powerful path to improving empathy is literacy – reading and writing.  Reading other people’s stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, triggers the part of our brain that helps us empathize.  Writing is another powerful tool to generate empathy.

As humans, we have this beautiful ability, to feel pain that others are feeling, so let’s use it to make us better – as individuals and as a society.

                                                                                    Have a great week!

                                                                                                Mary