Flourishing Life Society
  • Flourishing Life Society
    • Flourishing Favorites
    • Articles by Year Published
    • Privacy Policy
    • About Us
  • Psychology Definitions
  • Psychology of Wellness
    • Psychology of Emotions >
      • Emotional Data Base
    • Psychology Article Archive
  • Personal Development
    • Health and Fitness
    • Personal Development >
      • Personal Development Archive N-Z
  • Flourishing Relationships
Psychology of Wellness | Emotions | Flourishing Relationships | Emotions and Empathy

Emotions and Empathy

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | September 2018 (edited 9-19-2021)
A person gently holding the hand of of a lady. A Flourishing Life Society article on feelings and empathy
Adobe Stock Images
Shared feelings bring new aliveness. For some, feelings are frightening. They avoid contact with feeling, interfering with connections to others.
Being in touch with budding feelings of personal experience is essential before we can empathically relate to feelings of someone else. If our own feelings are unacceptable, shunned and buried, we will also recoil at other people's feeling experience. Emotion frightens those unaccustomed to feeling.

Intimacy, closeness and security arise from welcomed vulnerability to emotion. We connect through shared experience with empathy, attuning to each others felt experience. The thick walls of indifference tumble. Suddenly, the selfish and cold experience of logic loses supremacy for the warmth of aliveness. We must be capable of feeling before we can feel empathize and connect.

Key Definition:

Empathy is the trait tendencies to both affective experience emotion and to cognitively adopt the perspective of another.

Fear of Emotion

If you suffer from the malady of fright (afraid to feel), adaptive practices can introduce you to the rich world of feeling.  Emotions don’t have to remain hidden in the dull greys of a protected world. We can change, open our hearts, and see the colors we have missed.

Our fears may initially prevent full exploration of an unknown world. We begin this wondrous journey with gentle exposures, mindfully dipping in one foot at a time, remembering forgotten pains, and basking in present joys. As we allow quietness to weave its way through our psyche, gently exploring our feelings, without word or commentary, we open to this magical world of emotion.

Through emotion, we slowly discover new aliveness. We first discover ourselves and then, when ready, discover the vibrant inner world of others.

Books on this Topic

Intimacy and Empathy

Intimacy is built upon the feeling of emotion. Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward wrote in their intriguing book Born to Win that intimacy "occurs in those rare moments of human contact that arouse feelings of tenderness, empathy, and affection." They continue,  "intimacy is often frightening because it involves risk. In an intimate relationship people are vulnerable, and many times it seems easier to pass time or to play games than to risk feelings either of affection or of rejection" (1996, location 690-704).

Perhaps, we fear connection because it exposes our vulnerability. We don't want to feel because sometimes feeling hurts. So, we stuff all that pain down, away from consciousness, and, of course, still suffer.

The Cost of Empathy

Science strongly supports the benefits of empathy, both for the development of relationships and personal wellness (Greenfield and Marks, 2004; Lum and Lightfoot, 2005; Weinstein and Ryan, 2010); but does it have a cost?

​Anytime we see defensive avoidance of a behavioral our feeling state, we can deductively assume there is some cost.

​An interesting study found that parents rating high in empathy with their children also showed associations with indicators of chronic, low-grade, inflammation, suggesting that giving empathetic care might also come at a physiological cost (Manczak, DeLongis, & Chen, 2016).

We must keep in mind with these studies that we never live in an isolated vacuum, meaning life is complex full of moving parts. Empathy's benefits extend beyond raising a child. When skilled at empathy, we typically have wider availability of social support, more intimate connections, and greater regulatory skills. These benefits outweigh the costs when viewed from a deeper perspective.

A Few Words from Flourishing Life Society

Awareness of the presence of emotions in ourselves and others powerfully molds our lives. We escape pettiness through empathetic understanding. Kindness begins with emotional awareness. 
Please support Flourishing Life Society with a social media share or by visiting a link:
Twitter Reddit LinkedIn Email
T. Franklin Murphy
T. Franklin Murphy
Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
​T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.

References:

Greenfield. E. A. , Marks N. F. (2004) Formal volunteering as a protective factor for older adults' psychological well-being. The Journal of Gerontology: Series B. Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 

Lum, T. Y., Lightfoot, E. (2005).  The effects of volunteering on the physical and mental health of older people. Research on Aging.

​Manczak, E., DeLongis, A., & Chen, E. (2016). Does Empathy Have a Cost? Diverging Psychological and Physiological Effects Within Families. Health Psychology, 35(3), 211-218.

Muriel James; Dorothy Jongeward (1996).  Born To Win: Transactional Analysis With Gestalt Experiments. Da Capo Lifelong Books; 25th Anniversary ed. edition

​Weinstein, N., Ryan, R. M. (2010) When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Index:

Flourishing in Life
  • Personal Development
  • Mindfulness
  • Addiction Recovery
  • Wellness 
Psychology of Wellness
  • Emotions​
  • Personality
  • Defense Mechanisms
Flourishing Relationships
  • Intimate
  • Parent/Child
  • Society
Health and Fitness
Flourishing Topics
Psychological Definitions
Research
About Flourishing Life
Flourishing Life Society Link to research articles
Psychology Definitions Data Base Link
External Link. The Dance of Intimacy and Autonomy
External Link: parental warmth protects troubled teens from psychopathic features

​Other Flourishing Life Society articles of interest on this topic:

FLS Link. The Fleeting Emotions. When emotionally flooded, it is difficult to cognitively inject thoughts to escape the moment. We need habitual practices that we automatically integrate into these moments that calm the system first, then we can cognitively join adapt, thinking of the future.
Achieving the most from the wisdom of emotions requires purposeful effort to integrate emotions into our larger concepts of self.
Attachment Injury. Breaches of Trust in Critical Moments. A Flourishing Life Society article image link
Emotion Differentiation. A psychological definition article link
Mental Recovery. Heavy demands exhausts our energy and we need to rest or risk mental and physical illness. A Flourishing Life Society Article Link
Emotional Safety. Courageously allowing vulnerable openness in relationships. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Emotionally Detached. A Flourishing Life Society article link
Guilt may push for change or leave us debilitated and paralyzed. Loving kindness is the healthy response to debilitating guilt.
Mixed in with the beauty are some sorrows. When we are well-connected, occasionally, along with the joys are some tears.
When we expertly greet our child's emotions with empathy, acceptance and reciprocation, the child develops a positive relationship with their own feelings--a major contribution to healthy living.
Picture
A Flourishing Life Society article link. Emotionally Connected. Attuning to a Partner's Feelings
FLS Link. Emotions and Empathy. The feelings of living come to life, pushing experience into a new aliveness. For some feelings are scary and they avoid deep contact with feeling experience. This not only limits their experience but interferes with connection to others.
Picture
Flourishing Life Society
  • Human Flourishing
  • Psychology of Wellness
  • Flourishing Relationships
  • Psychology Definitions​
  • Privacy Policy
​Other Links
  • About US
  • Companion Site​
  • Most Popular Articles
  • Psychology Topics A-z
Articles:
  • New Articles​
  • Last year's Publications​
  • External Psychology Links​
​Favorite Topics:
  • Mental Illness Archive
  • Personality Archive
  • Personal Development
  • Psychology of Emotions
News Letter

    New Article Updates

Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Flourishing Life Society
    • Flourishing Favorites
    • Articles by Year Published
    • Privacy Policy
    • About Us
  • Psychology Definitions
  • Psychology of Wellness
    • Psychology of Emotions >
      • Emotional Data Base
    • Psychology Article Archive
  • Personal Development
    • Health and Fitness
    • Personal Development >
      • Personal Development Archive N-Z
  • Flourishing Relationships