What makes a good “Empathy Story”…
Pinpoint a time empathy made a difference in an important conversation or relationship. Remind yourself of what happened and how you felt before empathy did its magic. Then recount all the details you can “reverse engineer” so the story comes alive.Here are some questions that may help:
- Did you have to remind yourself to shift from judgment or strategy into empathy?
- Were your empathy skills “clunky” or smooth in the heat of the moment?
- What did you say to yourself in your mind before you spoke out loud?
- Did your feelings seem to shift as a result the empathy you gave? Did the other person’s?
- Did empathy turn a train wreck of an interaction into something positive?
- Was a closer connection obvious as your story concludes?
- What shape would the story have likely taken if you’d stayed stuck in judgement or blame?
- What are some of the precise words you used that were helpful in this interaction?
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