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Adina Dinu's avatar

Helpful to be reminded that love/harmonious relationships are actually good for our health (and that the opposite is also true). Being more tolerant and positive to others is actually *good for us*, if nothing else.

The subtraction strategy reminds me of Greg McKeown's work, he's doing some great work on essentialism.

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BayPoodle's avatar

This was a really interesting post. I don’t think I totally understand the difference between understanding someone’s feelings and understanding their perspective. To me it seems to understand how someone feels you need to understand their viewpoint. Could you give an example?

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Yael Schonbrun's avatar

Ah, I love this question! Empathy generally means being able to connect to someone's experience, commonly described as "imagining yourself in someone else's shoes." But cognitive empathy is the more intellectual experience of doing that, whereas affective empathy is the more feeling-based experience. So one extreme portrayal of the difference might be "I totally understand how you arrived there" versus "I feel your pain."

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BayPoodle's avatar

Ahh, thoughtful empathy. I think I understand now. Thanks!

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