During my Masters of Social Work (MSW) program I took a field education seminar course for an hour, once a week. During one of our sessions we were asked about our professional touchstones or guideposts. I immediately thought of mine - empathy, compassion, and understanding. They have served me as a filter, both professionally and personally.
I am an empath and have been one for decades. At the start of the global pandemic, I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. I had to contend with a rush of emotions that included anxiety, stress, confusion, fear, and more. There was so much uncertainty in those early days of COVID-19. Think back to mid-March 2020 and what waves of emotions were coursing through your body. On top of my own emotions, I felt weighed down by the emotions of those around me. This is not a burden to me, I look at it as a gift. I did have to adjust and engage in more of my self-care practices in order to mitigate this.
I describe empathy as a deep knowing or identification with the feelings, thoughts, experiences, or attitudes of another person. Cultivating compassion for me has been about empathizing in connection with a strong desire to do what I can in my circle of influence or locus of control that can contribute to a solution or come alongside the person or community in their time of need. Understanding goes beyond comprehension, it encompasses knowledge of and familiarity with something as a collaborative and community approach to just about anything - conversations to relationships.
Why these three concepts?
For me, they are so deeply connected and are places from which I can continue to grow. They are also universal enough that I can employ them in my private practice as well as in when I am wearing my consultant, educator, researcher, or writer hat. And it doesn’t stop there as I’m also able to cultivate empathy, compassion, and understanding with my personal relationships.
What are your professional (and personal) touchstones? How have they served you?