What we’re about
How to take part in an Empathy Circle:
https://empathymatters.org/now/how-to/
Would you like to speak and feel fully heard? Would you like to connect to yourself and others more deeply? Do you want to work on developing your empathy skills?
It's requested that everyone avoid potentially dangerous distractions such as walking, driving, or cooking during circle. First timers are asked to turn their videos on, and arrive in time for introductions so we can learn a little bit about you :)
Right now we are asking members to limit themselves to one empathy circle per week, unless you are filling in for a no-show, so that everyone gets a chance to participate. If the link is posted in the comments five minutes after the start time, come on in! We'll take people until the circle is full.
We look forward to seeing you :)
“Empathy Circles are a hands on, walking the talk, empathy practice.”
https://empathymatters.org/now/empathy-circles-a-blended-empathy-practice/
Empathy is the opiate of the soul
Mind-Will-Emotions = The Soul
“Empathy for ourselves and others — the emotion connecting us to the world — is a tremendous healing agent. Compassion “turns on” our immune system and improves health dramatically. All positive emotions, studies show, release brain chemicals called endorphins that dull pain and produce pleasure.
In a 2003 lecture, Pert explained that we are all biologically programmed for happiness:
“In fact, my research over the last 30 years has led me to this conclusion: we’re actually ‘hardwired’ for bliss. By hardwired I mean that we have major endorphin pathways that lead from the back of the brain to the frontal cortex, where we have the most opiate receptors — the cellular binding sites for endorphins. Endorphins are naturally occurring opiates that dull pain and produce euphoria when they bind with opiate receptors. Thus they literally alter our mood on the cellular level … That’s just how we’re designed.”
“Although our brains are built for positive emotions, one major obstacle gets in our way. Pert explained that our brain’s functions are hindered by “the thought that we are separate from each other and from the rest of creation.”
In other words, if we lack empathy, if we lack this connection to others and the world by separating ourselves emotionally, indeed from creation itself, we interfere with the hardwiring of our brains. Developing empathy for others and self-empathy, and teaching others to do the same, will dramatically improve not only emotional health but physical health as well.
In short, as a therapist, you are equipped to heal spirit, soul, and body.”
How Empathy Can Change Your Life and Career | PLNU
https://www.pointloma.edu/resources/counseling-psychology/how-empathy-can-change-your-life-career