EMPATHY
I think I know what's on most people's minds this weekend, and of course that's the election in the US. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, every election anywhere in the world is going to create at least two groups of very different people: those who are happy about the results and those who are not. During events and times like this that produce such a divide, I often marvel thinking about the population and how interesting it is that some are feeling overwhelming joy and hope and excitement while others are feeling anger and upset and rebellion brewing. The human psyche is a complex place, so it's no wonder that we struggle to understand each other at times.It's a similar story on the emotional front, I have learned, when it comes to cancer or just facing challenges in general in our lives. We hear all the time to "stay positive", and we see others doing it seemingly effortlessly, even when that emotional state seems so incredibly far away for us. It might spark some resentment or frustration or anger even because we can't understand why they feel so differently than us, or perhaps we can't understand why they should.
I have seen this story play out over and over in my own life when I come up against someone who doesn't believe in the integrative treatment route I took. I have sensed anger there, as if my choosing a different path somehow took something away from their choice, negated it in some way. And I have seen this same story in the vast spectrum of emotions and attitudes that surround a cancer diagnosis or any challenge really. Some meet the challenge with anger and fight, others with curiosity and quiet determination, and still others with any combination of both positive and negative emotions. And despite the wide range of emotions we may personally experience, we find it difficult to understand when someone else feels something entirely different. Like I said, the human psyche is a complicated place.
But that's the most important part, HUMAN psyche; we are all human, and that should preclude anything else. I saw a meme recently that said, "Empathy is more rebellious than a middle finger", and I have to agree. We have become so used to pushing back that it's the norm to refuse to try and understand where others are coming from, why they are feeling the way that they are, this way that is so different than how we are. It's so much easier to say there is something wrong with them or that they are incorrect or that they would feel differently if they could only see things for how they really are or that, or that, or that, instead of figuring out how they got there in the first place. Excuses are easier than empathy.
But it's empathy that is going to give us the most. It's empathy that will allow us to understand a different perspective, and it's that understanding that may just help us to make a change, in ourselves, in our social circle, in the world around us. There may be something in understanding another that allows you to understand yourself more and meet that challenge more effectively. It's not about everyone agreeing, it's about everyone understanding and recognizing that we're all in this together, and that it's going to take all of us, all of our perspectives and ideas and emotions, to get through this crazy thing called life.
So, spread empathy instead of middle fingers.
Happy Healing
