Healthcare provider course - Module 2. Compassion, the new empathy? Taking the “me” out of empathy

Compassion is a way to feel patients’ suffering without being emotionally exhausted by it. 

In this podcast, you will learn:

-        How to differentiate between empathy and compassion.

-        How to stay with patients’ suffering without being consumed by it.

A way to feel patients’ suffering and not be consumed by it is to not take it personally, by removing the “me” element: not getting stuck in their story (i.e. throwing them a rope instead of jumping in the river). Compassion allows us to be with the experience of suffering while keeping patients’ story separate from our own so we can be moved to help. Empathy and compassion are siblings with different patterns of activations in the body and mind. Empathizing with someone’s pain feels contracted and closed, whereas compassion feels more open. 

There are two home practices for module 2: (1) Exploring the difference of being in an empathy habit loop or compassion habit loop and noticing the feelings of being contracted, closed or expansive and open. 

(2) The 3-step process to step out of the empathy loop and go into compassion action. 1. Take a first deep breath and see in which loop you are in. 2. Take a second deep breath and name the loop and acknowledge the behavior. 3. Take a third deep breath and step out of the empathy loop and go into compassionate action, focusing on the fact that your patient is in pain, without entering in their story.

 GUIDED MEDITATIONS

- H.A.C.K., Habit, Awareness, Curiosity, Kindness meditation (5min)  Click here HACK    

- Self-compassion meditation (5min)  Click here Self-compassion 

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