opinion

Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding. 

- Bill Bullard

note to self

Our ignorance is their power so take every opportunity to make the connection with those around you, listen and learn.
Connections create community. Community helps understanding.
Understanding fuels empathy.
Empathy facilitates change.

friday cartoon

The Power of Empathy from Gobblynne on Vimeo.

Brené Brown

Brené Brown's TED Talks are my favorite.

She studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love...and writes  (and talks) about it in a poignant, funny way.  She shares a deep, resonant insight from her research so you should share these talks with everyone you know (if you did it the first time round then do it again!).

“I think of empathy as a set of cumulative effects, ideally—that it can be a force shaping your habits, shaping where you put your attention and then—if you’re hard on yourself, in good ways—pushing you to translate that attention into action, on whatever scale. That’s interesting—like, what good is “awareness” on its own? Is it good on its own?” 

 

— The Rumpus Book Club Chat With Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exam. 

Nice read!

"Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike. "

--Maya Angelou