Today’s Challenge: Listen with Empathy
Empathy matters…….your ability or inability to connect in a meaningful way with another human being is one of the greatest measures of leadership in life. Admittedly it is difficult to appreciate and understand another person’s reality when yours is good, you have all the food that you need, you have a soft place to fall, and you have the security of a home you can go home to……..yet walking in another’s shoes helps us to have gratitude for what we are blessed with and it helps us to appreciate that not everyone is blessed with such bounty.
You need to be thankful for what you and your family enjoy, show gratitude for the goodness in your life and find some meaningful way to share it with others, give to a cause so that others might enjoy the fullness of life. When we can feel truly grateful for the precious gifts of life and nature, like the air that we breathe, we have reached one of the deepest possible levels of gratitude. When we want to help others achieve their best life….we begin a magical journey that reminds us of our early child hood lessons of sharing and caring. Our highest power is love, and it is the one thing each of us has an unlimited amount of……so today ask yourself….how much love do I have to give? Remember, you can do small things in a great way.
Stephen R. Covey said “If all the air were suddenly sucked out of the room you’re in right now, what would happen to you? You wouldn’t care about anything except getting air. Survival would be your only motivation. But now that you have air, it doesn’t motivate you. This is one of the greatest insights in the field of human motivation. Satisfied needs do not motivate. It’s only the unsatisfied need that motivates. Next to physical survival, the greatest need of a human being is psychological survival – to be understood, to be affirmed, to be validated, to be appreciated. When you listen with empathy to another person, you give that person psychological air. Empathy is not agreeing with someone; it is fully, deeply understanding that person, emotionally as well as intellectually.”
By Lisa Scott Executive Life Coach