Empathy

Can you believe its all ready February 2013?
I can't.
I also can't believe how long it has been since I put fingers to keyboard and wrote a blog post.
Generally this means that I haven't been doing the best job in taking care of myself (oops). So as it's a new year (or the second month of a new year) I have recommitted to self-care.  <3

A while back I started to describe strengths and I still think that's a good place to go.  The first strength that the Strength's Finder Assessment (see previous blog post) identified for me was that of Empathy.

What is empathy?  Well Strengths Finder 2.0 (by Tom Rath) defines it like this:

You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person's perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person's predicament - this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings - to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

I have to say that this is one of the strengths that both the assessment and I agreed upon. And I LOVE the description. I cannot enumerate the number of times that people have told me that they wish they could phrase things the way I do, or that I can take the confused mess of words they say and turn it into something they can truly connect with. It is one of the things that I love most about myself. It is also something that at different points in my life I figured that everyone could do and have had to then remind myself that it is a strength and something special about me. With a strength like this I guess it make sense that I was drawn to social work.

When I went off to college I thought I wanted to major in psychology, but my Dad talked me into looking into social work as well. Then I got to college and during my first advisor session I was told that it would be almost impossible to major in both psychology and social work.  Well, that sort of sealed the deal for me. I knew I wanted to do both, and do it in four years. So I did. But over that four years I realized that I was far more a social worker than a psychologist. I gravitated toward seeing the person as a whole which includes their environment, culture, relationships, history, etc. I know now that this connection with my field has a lot to do with my strengths, one of those being empathy. 

Do you think empathy is one of your strenghs? What strengths help you with your job/calling/profession? How did you find your calling?