Last week, I switched gears to read about empathy with the eyes of a researcher. Looking at experimental studies in Social Psychology, I read about the ways that empathy fosters understanding, compassion, and the desire to help others. The primary message in these articles focused on the “in-group,” which refers to people with whom you identify. For example, if I Read more…
So there I was waiting in the subway for my train to arrive. This was only my first day of navigating the NYC subway by myself. As the friend I was visiting instructed me, “Put your train face on and look like you know what you are doing.” So I turned my “Suzy Sunshine” off and my typical smile transformed Read more…
“Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship between equals. Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others. Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.”– Pema Chödrön I came across this quote quite a while ago and I recently found it again in Read more…
“If honorable actions are the cobblestones, mistakes are the mortar.” We judge others way too much. All too often this judgment is based on someone’s behavior. I think this is because someone’s behavior is the most observable characteristic. Batman once said, “It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.” The problem with this is, how many Read more…
The existentialists believe that the moment you set out to find meaning in life, you’re already on the wrong path and will never find it. I’ve believed that developing creativity and problem solving is the same way: creativity and solutions are found tangentially. In other words, it’s by doing other things, not focusing on the end goal that you find Read more…
