Dr. Ekman describes the steps towards feeling empathy and acting compassionately, as well as the different forms of compassion.
The first step toward being empathetic and acting compassionately is to recognize how someone is feeling and, in particular, when they are suffering. This is often the simplest and easiest step of the process. For the most part, people are pretty skilled at recognizing how others are feeling when others clearly express emotional information through their words, facial expressions, and other nonverbal communication. However, it can be harder when someone masks or conceals their emotions. Emotional information may still be leaked, however, in the form of a micro expression. It can also be harder for some people to recognize the emotions of others, particularly if they are on the autism spectrum. Dr. Ekman’s online micro expression training tools are geared towards teaching you to quickly and accurately detect the macro, micro and subtle expressions of others in real time.
Knowing how someone feels is the first step towards acting compassionately as we can not relieve the suffering of others if we don’t know they are suffering in the first place. On the other hand, recognizing the emotions and suffering of others does not guarantee we will respond compassionately, as it is possible to know how someone is feeling but not be concerned or interested in their wellbeing.
The next step after recognizing emotion is experiencing emotional resonance. I distinguish two types of emotional resonance: identical resonance and reactive resonance.
With some exceptions, most people usually resonate with others on some level. Most people love to be in the company of highly emotional resonant people, as it can help them feel seen and heard. On the other hand, highly resonant and empathetic people need to be careful about preventing burnout by maintaining healthy boundaries and finding ways to care for themselves and stay resourced.
Feeling emotional resonance is an important part of maintaining relationships with the people we love and for growing the roots to all forms of compassion.
I distinguish different types of compassion based on who our compassion is aimed at and how we act in response.
What is the relationship between stress and emotion? In some ways, stress and emotions are…
What to do when your child lies What are we to do when we…
The three part process of emotional triggers How are emotions triggered? When an emotion is…
Eve Ekman brings you a brief talk on empathetic joy, gratitude, and genuine happiness.…
Understanding our appraisal process Eve Ekman brings you a brief talk on emotions and stress.…
The benefits of counting your blessings When it comes to cultivating gratitude, many of us…
This website uses cookies.