Empathy: the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

Continuing on the theme: the science of happiness… this week I am working on empathy.

Once upon a time the United States had a president known for a peculiar facial display. In an act of controlled emotion, he would bite his lower lip and tell his audience: “I feel your pain”. Whether the display was sincere is not the issue here, how we are affected by another’s predicament is.

Empathy is 2^nd nature to us. According to new research, empathy is a habit we can cultivate to improve the quality of our own lives. Empathy doesn’t just make you good, it is good for you too.

Empathizing with adversaries is a route to social tolerance. That was Mahatma Gandhi’s thinking during the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus leading upto India’s independence in 1947, when he declared: “I am a Muslim, a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew”.

“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care”. President Roosevelt

Yoga humour:

What did the yogi tell the door-to-door sales person who came to his home selling vacuum cleaners? “too many attachments”.