Books published recently have made the case either for or against empathy. A former colleague and friend, Jamil Zaki, published “The War for Kindness“, subtitled “Building Empathy in a Fractured World.” Paul Bloom, a researcher at Yale University, published “Against Empathy“. They even engaged one another on occasion. This question still remains for me: when… Continue reading How to do Empathy?
Category: Growth
Colonialism of the Mind
This post is going to be more personal. The thoughts I want to express come with a strong emotional flavor. And the taste is still somewhat bitter. I find it difficult to separate the two aspects, my thoughts and the feelings I have about them. I really would love if I could say these things… Continue reading Colonialism of the Mind
Wanting, Liking, and Loving
The other day, I was on a weekly call with three other people I am taking an online course with. Going through this experience together, I sense that we have become really good friends. I expressed to them my anxiety about everything that could go wrong with the apartment my husband and I are about… Continue reading Wanting, Liking, and Loving
Playing With Fire
Have you heard about—and maybe believe—the “lab leak hypothesis” related to COVID? The idea is this: people tasked with doing basic research on respiratory viruses might have been partly responsible for the outbreak. Why partly? Their work would have included “gain of function research”, which seeks to investigate more aggressive versions of the virus, artificially… Continue reading Playing With Fire
Inner and Outer Goals
Some months ago I joined a mens group currently organized by Jacob Kishere. Every other Sunday morning we take part in Zoom calls with men from around the world. The following line of thought struck me as important during today’s call in two ways. First, it demonstrates why I sometimes find it difficult to follow… Continue reading Inner and Outer Goals
Free-Energy in NVC
This post is a follow-up to my previous post, “Words as Windows or Walls“. I feel intuitively drawn to more deeply explore the connection between Nonviolent Communication—NVC for the remainder of this post, which is a process I learned about, together with some of the concepts described by it—and one particular way of describing (human)… Continue reading Free-Energy in NVC
Going Off-Script
Last night, I took part in a group conversation as part of an online course I am taking. Over the past two weeks, participants focused on three aspects of the same general process to which humans are subjected. The outcome of this process are behavioral templates that solve fundamental problems—such as how to fit into… Continue reading Going Off-Script
A Coach as People Gardener
I have had many conversations with a lot of different individuals throughout my life. And I have come to realize the great potential that lies in this format—both as the person providing some exploratory space as well as being the one who is given the space to explore. Over the past few months, my desire… Continue reading A Coach as People Gardener