View the World Through a Different Lens
I believe that what the world needs now is a showering of empathy on all human beings. Imagine if we all had the super power of empathy imagination? I’m sure you know what I am going to say next, we do!
We all have the ability to view the world through a lens of empathetic imagination. We can listen to another’s point of view and not agree with it but use our super power and imagine what this person feels and believes. We even have a part of our brain, the neocortex and thalamus, that controls this very gift we have the ability to use. All we need to do is consciously choose to slow down and drop into the energy of empathy and imagination.
Step Out of the Mainstream
There are very real reasons why we are not using this super power. One of them is the way we are all living with tech surrounding almost every aspect of our existence. In order to have a mind of our own, use our imagination and see life how others do, we must step out of the current of mainstream society. We must think for ourselves, unplug, and expand our consciousness. It’s not hard to do. Here are a few ways to play in the field of empathy imagination.
Empathetic Imagination Tips
Unplug
Firstly, and most importantly, is to limit the amount of time to be plugged in to the world via tech; the news, social media, scrolling, EMFs, looking down, taking in toxicity, reading things that cause an unhealthy physiological reaction and jumping onto threads of reacting to crazy things
Creating Space
Once you have stopped the flood of energy that shrinks our brain and limits our capacity for empathy, there is a quieting of the emotional thunderstorm from taking all of the negativity in. There is now space for conscious choice; there is space to think for yourself and not live in reaction mode.
Pause
When you see something that instantly causes a strong opinion to pop up, pause there. Notice what it is you are seeing; reading, witnessing, etc. Imagine how that person is feeling, what their history is that brought them to this very moment in time you are forming an opinion about. This can be an article, a news story, a person on the street, something a friend, or family member, says, etc. Notice your jump to opinion and see if you can shift into empathetic imagination.
The Child In All Of Us
One helpful tool is to imagine the people as children. Imagine their childhood, the parenting they received, where they lived, the era they grew up in and what the challenges of that time were. What hardships have they endured in life? Where they might have learned the behavior you are finding yourself reacting to.
Our Best New Habit
Imagine if you were able to use this super power to soften your reaction to all of life and simply observe it from this space of empathetic imagination. When we tap in to this part of our brain, here’s the really cool part, we strengthen this habit and will lean into more often, more automatically. It is like anything else in life that we start doing consciously, we are creating new neural pathways that will begin to be a new habit; and quite a healthy one.
Caped Crusaders!
I invite you to play around with this and see what it feels like. I have personally chosen to apply this practice when I find myself having judgmental, critical, or opinionated thoughts. Ego based thinking can pull us into some not so nice places in our psyche. When we drop into empathy we instantly soften and by adding in the vast field of our imagination we are now in the unlimited thinking capacity of our beautiful brain and truly are a super power. There is great beauty that can arise from the mud when we resonate empathy; imagine the possibilities.
Please feel free to keep the conversation going and share your experiences with me.
I send you massive blessings of good health and a peaceful journey.
Don’t forget your cape. ☺
EDITOR’S NOTE
Dove suggested we share John Lennon’s IMAGINE while enjoying this article… so here it is:
Dove Rose
Dove’s boutique studio, Dove’s Bodies, has been an LA institution for more than 35 years. With a background combining decades’ worth of studies in fitness, dance, pilates, martial arts, primal movement, yoga, pranayama, organic nutrition, energy healing, mindful living, intuitive clearing and meditation, Dove is sought out for her unique, intuitive wholistic total-body approach. Dove’s life passion is to guide her clients on their own unique path to wellness, wholeness, and the full integration of mind, body and spirit.
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