May: Understanding Empathy

Empathy is having the ability to understand someone else’s feelings or experiences and see life from their point of view. Being empathetic is a skill many of us have exercised in our life— whether someone we know has gone through a traumatic experience or we’ve witnessed countless attacks on racialized communities over the past year. Hopefully, you’ve been able to recognize these moments and hold compassion and space for those going through them. The spirit of empathy helps us to comprehend the strong emotions one might be facing or have faced. Having the ability to understand the challenges of another person is an important skill to have. It can help us learn and grow into the best version of ourselves. 

For May’s monthly intention, we’re breaking down what empathy is and unpacking how you can apply it in your everyday life. Every Sunday, we’ll be sharing info on what it means to be empathetic.

WEEK 1: DEFINING EMPATHY

WEEK 2: BECOME A BETTER LISTENER

WEEK 3: LEARN FROM OTHERS’ EXPERIENCES

WEEK 4: TAKE ACTION AND AMPLIFY VOICES

WEEK 5: BE VULNERABLE

You’ve made it through another monthly intention with us! Take five minutes to reflect on this month. If you didn’t, don’t panic—having and gaining empathy doesn’t happen in a month. These intentions are designed to help you challenge your thinking and take small steps to shift your mindset. We’ll see you next month!

Prompts:

1. Were you able to move through each of the stages towards empathy this month? If not, which stage(s) are you spending more time on?    

2. What do you find is the most difficult part of empathy? 

3. Feeling empathy isn’t a process that you have to (or will) experience alone. How are you going to apply empathy in your future conversations?