“During my visit to Bangalore, India, for a 10-day course on Nonviolent Communication (NVC), I encountered a concise yet profound definition of empathy that I would like to share”

True empathy

When you sit with a friend in pain,

when their world no longer makes sense;

when confusion rages and

no rest is to be found.

Just for a moment,

will you resist the temptation

to make things better,

to reassure them,

to provide answers,

even to heal them?

Will you offer your stillness, your listening,

your presence, and the warmth

of your immediacy?

Will you hold them in your heart,

with the same tenderness

of a mother holding her little one?

Will you embrace them where they are,

without needing them to change or transform

according to your own needs and schedule?

Will you stay close,

holding your own impatience

and discomfort near?

Will you look into their eyes

and see yourself?

Will you stay in the inferno of healing

with them, trusting in disintegration,

knowing that you are only witnessing

the falling away of an old dream?

Sometimes in doing nothing

everything is undone,

and love is revealed to be

the only true medicine.

Author: Unknown.