In the first and second Practicing Empathy workshops, we practiced: listening to understand, asking questions, paraphrasing, asking for confirmation, and withholding judgment. 

For this session, we’ve got a couple of pieces left to practice: identifying and naming emotions in others. 

Identifying & naming emotions in others is a key piece of practicing empathy that can make us squirm a bit. In part, this might be due to cultural stigma. We live in a culture that emphasizes being rational, logical or unemotional as signs of strength or competence, and being emotional is sometimes seen as a weakness or a lack of control (can we look at this through a lens of gender socialization too? Absolutely!)

So not only is empathy a skill in itself, but in order to practice it, sometimes we need to push back against cultural or societal stigma. 

In this workshop, we will practice: 

• Identifying and naming emotions in others.

• Bringing all the empathy skills together: listening to understand, paraphrasing, asking for confirmation, withholding judgement, AND identifying and naming emotions in others. 

We will also work through some questions because, like most communication skills, empathy is complex & layered. So for example, we might explore: 

• What are some of the cultural, social, and gender expectations that impact empathy and how/when we practice it? What does pushing back against those expectations look like?

• Can empathy be manipulative? How would we know? How can we ensure we approach empathy in ways that align with our values?

• Is empathy always the right way to react to something? What if I don’t feel like someone deserves my empathy?

• How do I know if I am in the right headspace to provide empathy? What are the signs I can look for in myself?

• What do I do if I mess up when trying to be empathetic?

We’ll dig into as many of these questions as we can — and feel free to bring your own questions about empathy!

Whether you are just starting your practice of empathy or if you are looking to deepen your understanding, this workshop is for you! And don’t worry if you missed the other sessions, this workshop provides a way for you to practice all the skills we've covered. 

Join us on January 16th at 11am MT, and let's practice empathy together one more time!

Not a Pathways Community member yet? No worries, you can express interest in joining the community here.