The Benefits Of Being Empathetic
Do you think you are empathetic? Have you ever wondered what the benefits of it are? In this article, we will write about nine of the benefits of being empathetic, as experts suggest. Still, the big question is, do you think we are empathetic to getting better ourselves or to making others feel better?
The benefits we are talking about here are related to the quality of interpersonal relationships, self-esteem and the ability to help and understand others. Maybe it will encourage you to practice and become more empathetic!
What is empathy?
The word empathy comes from the Greek empátheia, which means “passion”. components of emotional intelligence
Empathy is your ability to understand another person’s emotional life: your thoughts, feelings, etc. It has always been understood as the ability to put yourself in someone else’s place. This means that you are better able to understand another person and feel their feelings.
Nine benefits of being empathetic
Empathy is also associated with actively listening, showing emotional support and understanding. In psychology, it is considered to be one of the basic skills that psychologists must possess. They need to be able to understand and thus help their clients. But what other benefits are there in being empathetic?
It helps you work on your abilities to accept
Fernando Catalan, psychologist and president of the Deontological Commission of Psychology of the Valencian Community, argues that the first benefit of being empathetic is that it lets you work on your abilities to accept. In other words, it helps you better understand and accept people, making it easier to build relationships.
Being empathetic helps you be more persuasive
Catalan considers this to be another benefit of being empathetic, although it could be described as a somewhat “selfish” benefit. According to Catalan, “If you understand the other person, you can convince or at least try to convince them of something.”
As he says, even though persuasion is the most self-serving part of empathy, it does not prevent it from being a fundamental part of it.
Being empathetic increases your self-esteem
Psychologist, Carmen Solivares, believes that empathizing with your self-esteem also strengthens. She explains that ” Those who show empathy are more collaborative and more successful in their reference groups, which increases their self-esteem.”
Improves your relationship with others
Psychologist and psychotherapist Laura Cano believes this is one of the benefits of being empathetic. When you understand others, it is easier for you to build a trusting relationship with them. We all tend to pull in the direction of the people we feel most comfortable with.
Helps you help others
Empathy, along with other tools in the field of emotional intelligence, helps you help others with their problems or disorder. When you are empathetic, you begin to actively listen and connect with others. This way you get better and feel less alone.
Helps you create closer relationships
When you put yourself in the place of others, you more easily create a connection to that person. And this helps you create a closer relationship. In other words , you are not only with this person, but you are trying to understand them on a deeper level. This therefore promotes close and not superficial relationships.
It helps you to be empathetic if you have to convey bad news
No one likes to come up with bad news. In fact, this has been linked to a phenomenon called the MUM effect . The MUM effect occurs when you need to convey bad news, but is reluctant to do so. This allows you to distort the message in a way.
This is because you are afraid of being associated with the bad news yourself, and furthermore that the recipient may subconsciously see you as a “bad” person. Fortunately, learning to communicate bad news is another benefit of being empathetic. Empathy can help you do it in a “better” way, at least in a more tactful way.
Helps you become even more empathetic
Another benefit is that when you are empathetic, you develop your ability to be even more so. Because even though empathy is an intrinsic quality, you can still develop and improve it. Thus, when you are empathetic, you will develop this special ability.
Helps you get to know people better
As you have seen, empathy helps us to bond with others. This in turn allows you to get to know others better as they open up to you and will be more likely to show their inner selves. In addition, it enriches you as a person to get to know people and connect with them.
Neurology and empathy
Have you heard of mirror neurons? They are the neurons that are responsible for empathy. Giacomo Rizzolatti, an Italian neurobiologist, discovered them in 1996 while experimenting with macaques.
Rizzolatti observed how these neurons were activated when the monkeys saw certain expressions and movements of other monkeys. Some time later, these neurons were also found in humans, in the lower frontal cerebral cortex of the brain. This special area is our language center.
