Receiving Empathy

A Model For Sustainable Teaching

Love Wolf

Evolution of Empathy

• Dacher Keltner, U of C Berkeley
• “The Science of Human Goodness: Cultivating Compassion and Hope”
• Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley�
• Humans have evolved to be empathic
• Prosocial Nervous System
• Distress calls in babies within 50 milliseconds
• Baby faces
• Kindness towards elderly
• Harm to fellow group member
• Pain regulation; reducing psychic distress associated with painful stimulus

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• Darwin – Survival of the Kindest

Evolution of Empathy

• Vagus Nerve as part of a caregiving system (porges, 2001)�
• Unique to mammals
• Slows heart rate
• Interconnected with oxytocin networks
• Regulates digestion, immune system
• The mind body nexus in the human nervous system
• Activated by vocalization
• Connected to digestive system
• Activates muscles to enable head movement

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Compassionate Breath

• Compassionate Mindset�
• Begin by breathing deeply for six breaths
• May I be filled with lovingkindness.
• May I be safe from inner and outer dangers
• May I be well in body and mind
• May I be at ease and happy.
• Jack Cornfield – 1960’s Monk in Cambodia, teaching in U.S. ever since.

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• Compassion elicits greater vagal activity
• Compassion boosts happiness

Self Empathy

Be the colleague…

• Be the colleague you want to see in the hall.
• “Empathy is a skill that you practice and get better with over time.”

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Modern Barriers to Empathy

• Isolation:
• In 2001 : about ⅓ of the human population live in cities (First time in history that more people live in urban settings than not)
• By 2050 : about ⅔ of the human population live in cities (HUGE rise in solitary living) �
• Compassion collapse
• Easier to empathize with one person (image of one starving child)
• Harder to empathize with statistical information about large people suffering (news of 500K ppl suffering)
• Less help for larger groups - more likely to donate to individuals than larger groups (even tho larger groups have 100x more need)�
• Tribalism erodes empathy b/c of “outsider syndrome”
• Political affiliations
• National borders (wars)
• Sports fans
• Professional groups, (grade levels, admin v. teachers, etc.)

Sustainable Teaching

• When I feel exhausted (frustrated, challenged, burned out) from a difficult day or week, my favorite way to recharge is to _________��

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• Three Components to Self-Compassion (Kristin Neff, PhD)
• Kindness, care, and understanding for ourselves
• Sense of common humanity
• Mindfulness

Modeling Empathy

• “What if practicing empathy was the first step to designing our children’s education?” ~Ellen Feig Gray�
• Practice self-empathy out loud to model for students
• I Statements
• Identification of emotion
• Acceptance of what you can control
• Deep breaths
• Patience with situation�
• Classroom activity to boost empathy for self and others
• Empathy Maps
• Deepen our understanding of students’ needs and interests
• Can be adapted to any grade level/subject

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r/thisismylifenow

Compassion

Noun

Def: Sympathetic concern for the suffering of others.

Altruism

Noun

Def: Selfless concern for the wellbeing of others.

Empathy

Noun

Def: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Resources

Feeleez – Empathy Game

Berkeley Social Interaction Lab

Compassion Institute

Greater Good Science Center

EDUTOPIA.ORG

Brene Brown

Ellen Feig Gray

Kathy Perez

Nicole Mirra

Dacher Keltner