I'm currently reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, written in 2006 before he was elected as president he has some very interesting and enlightening insights into his journey through life and into American politics. Some of his thoughts are very refreshing and I hope we get to see him fulfil some of them. Over the next few days and weeks I will be sharing a few of them with you, for example I read this today:
...a sense of empathy-is one that I find myself appreciating more and more as I get older. It is at the heart of my moral code, and it is how I understand the Golden Rule-not simply as a call to sympathy or charity, but as something more demanding, a call to stand in somebody else's shoes and see through their eyes...I find myself returning again and again to my mother's simple principle-"How would that make you feel?"-as a guidepost for my politics.
Not rocket science by any stretch of the imagination but I still agree it is a fantastic guide to live by. If we are to be a positive influence in our circles empthy is vital, we need to be able to understand people and their lives to be able to effect them. If we don't demonstrate it people will be driven away from us rather than drawn to us.
Try and take a walk in someone else's shoes today and see what insights it gives you.
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