Unit 12.00: Anger and Empathy: How Strong Is Our Sense of Empathy When We Are Angry -- or Especially When We Are Angry At Someone?

  What is Anger?  "a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility."  Or "a strong feeling of being upset or annoyed because of something wrong or bad : the feeling that makes someone want to hurt other people, to shout, etc. : the feeling of being angry"  (Per Mirriam-Webster Dictionary).

If you had a close friend and they were seemingly
feeling this way (The way that this photo (above)
seems to depict; what would they be feeling like.
    What is Empathy?  "Empathy is the ability to relate to another person.  A willingness and ability to see things through their eyes.  And to try and feel what they are feeling in a given circumstance.

   Empathy is the ability to come alongside someone, and not only see a person’s point of view, but also experience the other person’s pain. You go beyond feeling sorry for that person, since that would be sympathy.  And go deeper, seeking to understand that person’s pain until you are able to feel the hurt, which in turn should move you to a comforting response.

   Empathy: “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this” (According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary).

  What Does Empathy Do?  Empathy soothes. Empathy heals. Empathy fills the gap. In fact, I think empathy is like the “Super Glue” of distant and hurting relationships. It can pull you tightly to your partner and keep you together in all kinds of trouble.

  Empathy May Also Be Viewed As:  “The intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another" (Dictionary.com). (Dictionary.com).   “Understanding what others are feeling because you have experienced it yourself or can put yourself in their shoes.”

   How Do You Develop Empathy?  There are seven ways, among many, to develop empathy.

  Imagine for a moment – Use your imagination in several ways to your advantage.  One way is to imagine yourself in that person’s situation. Really take time to think through how you would feel if you were in that person’s shoes—especially regarding the pain they are experiencing.  Another way is to imagine the person as a child. If you have photos of the person as a child, use them to help you visualize.  Often when we consider the person in the vulnerable stage of childhood, our defenses tend to lower and lessen.  Nurture the Relationship; Set Aside Your Beliefs, Concerns and Personal Agenda; Identify with Their Experiences; Gain Personal Perspective; Heal Past Hurts; or Turn to God (or a higher power)."

  Finally, it seems that if we have a sense of our own Empathy for another person - a person with whom we expressed or shared our anger AT THEM; then it might help us to more fully understand how they might feel when we do that...  when we project our ANGER -- our FURIOUSNESS -- our RAGE -- and our ATTITUDE onto them...   

  How do you feel when someone does that to you?

  Theoretically, the better we understand the impact of our Anger on others; then the better we can start to control our own Anger and how we express it to others -- or in front of others, for that matter.

*** Please Click Here to Complete Your Empathy and Anger Worksheet ***


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