Part of 66 day challenge

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Picture credit - ​galeriakoganamaro
Day 38 - Empathy
17 May 2020
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Prabodh Sirur
sirurp@gmail.com
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My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two TED talks on Empathy. The first talk is about
invisible superheroes. The second talk is about what the speaker learned
about compassion in the face of death and dying
Talk 1 - ​Trash cart Superheroes
Speaker - Mundano, Graffiti artist and Activist
Summary -
Mundano is a Brazilian street artist and activist whose work makes people
stop and think about the issues swirling around them everyday. His initiative
is an example of ​empathy in action​ to build pride in garbage collectors.
Our world has many superheroes. Most of them are invisible. For example,
the ​Catadores​, workers who collect recyclable materials for a living.
Catadores from Brazil collect 90 percent of all the waste that's actually
recycled. There are over 20 million Catadores worldwide.
In 2007, Mundano began using his graffiti skills to paint "carroças," the
wooden and metal carts used by the trash collectors, to make these
superheroes ‘visible’.
He started a collaborative movement called ​Pimp My Carroça​, a large
crowdfunded event to help Catadores. Catadores are assisted by well-being
professionals from healthcare. They also receive safety shirts, gloves,
raincoats and eyeglasses to see in high-definition the city, while their
carroças are renovated by his incredible volunteers.
Carroças is an amazing mobile art exhibition.
In two years, over 170 catadores, 800 volunteers and 200 street artists and
more than 1,000 donors have been involved in the Pimp My Carroça
movement, whose actions have even been used in teaching recycling at a
local school.
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I am sure his act of empathy inspires you to use your talent to provide
visibility to all the ​invisible superheroes​.
Talk 2 -​ ​Compassion and the true meaning of empathy
Speaker - Joan Halifax
Summary -
Buddhist roshi (Spiritual Leader) Joan Halifax has been working, for the past
40 years, with people at the last stage of life. Every year, Joan takes clinicians
into the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to run clinics in these very
remote regions where there's no medical care whatsoever.
Joan’s insights on compassion - Compassion is the capacity to ​see clearly
into the nature of suffering; It is ​a realisation​ that I'm not separate from this
suffering; it is ​an aspiration​ to transform suffering and at the same time it is
about ​not getting attached​ to the outcome.
Pity, moral outrage and fear are Compassion’s ​enemies​. Many of us think
that compassion drains us, but it is something that truly enlivens us.
Compassion ​enhances our immune system​.
Women have manifested for thousands of years the strength arising from
compassion. They have infused societies with kindness all along. Women
should lead the world in spreading the power of compassion.
What is Empathy?
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
This is a nice quote that explains the difference between Empathy and Sympathy -
“Empathy is walking a mile in somebody else's moccasins. Sympathy is being sorry
their feet hurt.” ― Rebecca O'Donnell
This is what Webster Dictionary says -
Sympathy​ - an affinity, ​association​, or relationship between persons or things
wherein ​whatever affects one similarly affects the other
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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
Compassion​ - ​sympathetic consciousness​ of others' distress ​together with a
desire to alleviate it
My learning so far on this topic
Day 8 post​ - 5 People Who Changed the World By Taking Compassion to the
Extreme
Day 18 post​ - How brands are using empathy to enhance marketing
Day 28 post​ - Types of unempathetic people
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to ​become a go-to person​ by mastering the art and science of ​Empathy​.
Follow the ​LAST model​ to build your personal brand as a Guru of ​Empathy​.
Learn​ - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of
Empathy
Apply​ -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with
respect to ​Empathy
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used
for sharing/ training others
Share​ - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social
media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
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Train​ - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over
time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge​ to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my
astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s
challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To
use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new
possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge​ (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills
learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF​ defines Life skills as - ​psychosocial abilities​ for adaptive and positive
behaviour that enable individuals ​to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life​. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories
of skills
- cognitive skills​ for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills​ for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills​ for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The ​World Health Organisation​ identified these basic areas of life skills that are
relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
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4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated
academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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