Empathy

Today's meditation is about writers, through their words, allowing their readers to experience empathy for the characters. Fred White states that "The capacity to empathize with others goes a long way. . . .The more you learn about a person, the more your capacity for empathizing will become." He further states that the author helps the reader begin to "pick up things between the lines" which then helps them intuitively know things about the person, or story that is not actually stated. He states that this ability can be learned but you have to be willing to share experiences which can at times be disturbing and painful. He also attributes this as a possible reason that "artists go off the deep end", they empathize too much. Therefore his guidance is to back away if you find yourself tapping too deeply into someone else's experiences.
This is something that I have to guard against in my professional work. I also have to determine if it is empathy or sympathy. I have to remember two very wise directions I was given early on which was to "remember whose problem it really is", and "never work harder than you client at their recovery".
Today's assignment is definately going to take more time than I have right now, so I am going to wait until I get home from work to work on it. The assignment is to write a series of journal entired that chronicles you efforts to empathize with other's emotional difficulties. In your entries, imagine yourself in that other person's shoes. This exercise will help you craete realistic characters in the future.