{"id":2551,"date":"2011-08-31T06:57:41","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T06:57:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetofsuccess.com\/blog\/?p=2551"},"modified":"2020-02-11T16:27:05","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T16:27:05","slug":"developing-empathy-walk-a-mile-in-someone%e2%80%99s-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.planetofsuccess.com\/blog\/developing-empathy-walk-a-mile-in-someone%e2%80%99s-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing Empathy: Walk a mile in someone\u2019s shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2026 before you criticize this person. The following article has a lot to share about compassion, forgiveness<\/a>, empathy, and the ability to think yourself into another person\u2019s shoes. It will also show you what you can do to develop compassion<\/a> and to cultivate empathy. The origin of the famous proverb \u201cbefore you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes\u201d was quite difficult to find, as there are many who simply rephrased and added their own \u201cspin\u201d to this commonly known quote. Many of those modern quotations added the sentence \u201c\u2026 that way, you are a mile away from them and have their shoes,\u201d which adds humor to the quote, but it (unfortunately) has nothing in common with the original thoughts behind the fantastic proverb.<\/span><\/p>\n

The earliest traces of the enlightening proverb date back to the Cherokee tribe of Native Americans, who warned: \u201cDon\u2019t judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes\u201d. Nelle Harper Lee, an American authoress, was seemingly inspired by the saying of the Amerindians in her book \u201cTo Kill a Mockingbird,\u201d where she wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou never really know a man until you understand things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.\u201d<\/em>
\nHarper Lee<\/strong>, To Kill a Mockingbird. J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1960<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and thereby brought the saying to a wider public and increased its popularity distinctly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Developing
You never really know the reasons behind a person’s actions until you have made similar experiences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Definition \u2013 What is empathy all about?<\/span><\/h5>\n

Being able to empathize means to be capable of identifying and understanding another person\u2019s feelings, without experiencing them for yourself at that particular moment. It is the ability to literally experience the world from another person\u2019s perspective; to walk in their shoes, to view life from their living conditions and to feel what it feels like to be that person.<\/span><\/p>\n

The noun em\u2022pa\u2022thy<\/span><\/strong> refers to<\/em><\/p>\n