Importance of Empathy

The coexistence in community allows us to develop different emotions and moods, as well as behaviors that involve us all and that cause us to act differently when faced with certain situations. One of those attitudes is empathy, perhaps instinctive, but the world we live in today with its hectic pace covers us more.

An attitude that has to do with an instinct

As the human being is a gregarious being, that is to say, it is accustomed by nature to live with other peers, life as a whole is part of the essence that defines us and therefore it is very difficult or almost impossible to live completely isolated and far from all civilization.

In this coexistence different behaviors arise that are also inherent to the human quality and that can be from the most sensible and supportive or selfish and evil. Among them we find empathy, that quality that makes a person feel or be moved by the suffering of another. Understood as a perhaps abstract form of solidarity, empathy is what allows us to feel that another person is not well and therefore, when feeling that suffering in our body and soul, act to help that person to get ahead or at least comfort her

The development of emotional intelligence

In order to better understand why empathy occurs in a person, it is interesting to point out that it has to do with the ability to develop certain levels of emotional intelligence, what makes us sensitive and permeable to suffering both our own and others.

While there are people who are educated and raised without the slightest interest in developing emotional but perhaps cognitive intelligence, there are also people who, due to the way in which they have been raised or even lived experiences, have a high sensitivity towards what happens to others and therefore show greater empathy in situations of pain or suffering.

Why is it necessary to be empathetic with our peers?

We all know that the societies in which we live lead us to be quite individualistic beings, more concerned with our own good than with the community good.

However, it is important that empathy becomes a common and normal attitude among us because the well-being of a community will depend on it. This is because being supportive, listening to the other, accompanying them in their suffering or helping them is what makes us human and enriches us as human beings.

Photos: Fotolia. Andrey Popov – YakobchukOlena