Empathy

I was wrong recently, and my mistake was that I let frustration and then anger with someone overshadow a simple truth that I hold pretty dear - that we should all have a large degree of empathy for one another.

It's interesting to me in a clinical sense, as I knew something was wrong with the way I was looking at this situation and it was gnawing at me a little more than it should have.  I took that discomfort for a 'lingering' of the feelings of frustration I was having, but I also knew deep down that it shouldn't have lasted that long - it wasn't that big a thing.

So I did what I often do when I need to think clearly about something, I went for a run and thought it through.  That's a great way to run by the way, as you aren't thinking of the pounding of your feet or the pain you're experiencing, instead you can focus on the thing that's bugging you and the lack of distraction (for me) brings clarity.

I looked down at my left wrist and noticed the hand woven cloth bracelet I've been wearing since May 2016.  I bought it at a little village high in the Himalayas in Nepal, and it was memento for me of the time I'd had there around perhaps the most well rounded people I'd ever come across - kind, funny, warm and gracious and living in some of the harshest conditions I've ever seen.  I admired them so much and how they seemed to revel in the joy of life.

And it made me think about how I was feeling, and realized I'd let myself down by not aspiring to a level of graciousness, understanding and empathy with the person.   So, while I still think that the way they acted was incorrect, I also see that I don't know why they did that, and my own pettiness wouldn't have helped them, rather it would have piled onto what seems like what was probably already a bad day for them.

Empathy is easily accessed and costs us nothing.  Yet it's still a rare thing at times.