Empathy is the capacity to think and feel oneself into the inner life of another person.
Interpretation
Empathy involves understanding and sharing the feelings of others.
This quote by Heinz Kohut emphasizes the importance of empathy in human relationships. It suggests that true understanding arises when one can not only comprehend but also emotionally connect with the experiences and feelings of another person, allowing for deeper connections and more compassionate interactions.
In practice
This quote can be used in a presentation on emotional intelligence.
If there is one lesson that I have learned during my life as an analyst, it is the lesson that what my patients tell me is likely to be true - that many times when I believed that I was right and my patients were wrong, it turned out, though often only after a prolonged search, that my rightness was superficial whereas their rightness was profound.
I'm not as angry as I used to be. But I can get in touch with that anger pretty quickly if I feel my space is being invaded or somebody is not treating me with the respect that I think I want.
So the opposite of addiction is not sobriety. It is human connection.
He was one of those quite rare adults who communicate with small children fairly well and who love them all impartially--not in a sugary way but in a businesslike fashion that may sometimes entail a hug, in the same way that closing a big business deal may call for a handshake.
Have you any other objection than your belief of my indifference?" - Elizabeth Bennet
Male dominance in society always means that out of public sight, in the private, ahistorical world of men with women, men are sexually dominating women.
I am certain that I speak on behalf of my entire nation when I say: Today, we are all Americans. In grief, as in defiance.
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