Although there are certainly people who victimize others intentionally, attributing this abusive and predatory tendency merely to a lack of empathy displays an incomplete understanding of empathy, emotions, the nature of conflict, a sociologically grounded approach to crime and social control methods, and the many ways in which empathy development

No, when we lose our empathy and shut people out, it’s usually because we sense an emotion (or an emotional

framing empathy as a mystical skill made it into something special and unobtainable—and that isn’t something I ever felt comfortable about.

tone) that makes us uncomfortable.

A huge part of the art of empathy is to learn to behave empathically toward yourself and to honor your empathic nature,

these full-bodied, sensual interactions with nonhuman entities can be vital healing activities.

You also use your verbal empathic skills when you speak and when you decipher spoken and written language, because you actually cannot make sense of verbal or written communication if you can’t decipher subtext, context, nonverbal cues, and the multiple meanings behind words. Empathic skills make you verbally and nonverbally sensitive to and aware

If your experience of empathy is primarily contagion, such that you act as an emotional sponge and become overwhelmed by the emotions of others, you’ll probably be unable to provide much support to them.

empathy as a process that is accessible and malleable