[00:00:02] Welcome to the Business Miracles podcast. I'm Heather Dominick, founder of www.businessmiracles.com and author of the book Different The Highly Sensitive Leadership Revolution, found at www.differentthebook.com. Since 2010, I've been training Highly Sensitive Entrepreneurs and Leaders from around the globe to work less while making more impact and income by doing things differently. I'm so glad you joined me. Listen in and get ready. Get ready for a shift in the way you view yourself, your work, your life. A business miracle.
[00:00:39] This is a Course in Business Miracles podcast episode 193 Turn HSP Empathy into Compassionate Action. In this episode, I go in depth about the difference between sympathy, empathy and compassion. I discuss how compassion is where where we, as highly sensitives in business and leadership, are able to make the greatest difference and impact, because compassion is the willingness to take action in service to positive change, which is often why we've chosen to be in business in the first place. As HSP's, I also share how the energy of lightheartedness supports us in being able to make this shift from empathy into compassion, and how this will support you in staying out of the trap of limiting beliefs and HSP shadow behaviors. So let's dive in.
[00:01:37] We are here today to focus on the topic of turn empathy into compassion. Let's start with a definition of empathy, shall we? Empathy definition is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. So I'm going to say that again. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy is absolutely one of our HSP strengths. It just makes sense. Our nervous system is wired to take in stimulation at a much higher degree, which means we are able to really intuit what another person is thinking, what they're feeling, what they're experiencing, and when we're in a strength perspective, that allows us the ability to understand and share the feelings of that other person. For today, I'm going to highlight that empathy as an HSP strength is a first level of HSP leader training, a first level of HSP leader training to shift from sympathy to empathy.
That is a first level of training and it is very important and it is very valuable because if you attempt to be in business and or leadership as an HSP with without learning to shift from sympathy to empathy, you are going to find yourself having a lot of difficulty. You'll find yourself absolutely overtaxed and overwhelmed and either ensconced and over responsibility or overprotection. If further helpful to understand sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who's experiencing something difficult or painful. Sympathy involves feeling sorry or pity for someone. Empathy involves actively sharing in the person's emotional experience. It means understanding and sharing someone's feelings, not taking them on and not slipping into feeling sorry or pity or again, overwhelmed because someone else is having a difficult or painful emotion or experience.
Now let's look at the definition of compassion. Compassion is more engaged than simple empathy because it involves the willingness to take action. So we are being called to the next level of HSP leadership training over these next months and beyond to go to the next level of our HSP strength of empathy into empathetic compassion. And here's how we do that. Five steps.
Step number one, actively engage with identifying and experiencing your own full range of emotions. Here in Business Miracles, we do that by turning to the energy management tools that we teach. Things like the belief transformation tool, things like the shame transformation tool. So that we are in the core practice of realizing that our emotions do not dictate our entire sense of being, that we actually do have the ability to handle our full range of emotions.
Step two, take a step back to manage your response to those feelings. Again, turning to energy management. Also that those feelings aren't dictating your actions and choices.
Step three, this is an underline, underline, use energy management tools proactively to support you.
Step four. Now this really speaks to HSP leadership, this step four. Step four, be willing to be lighthearted through all of it. You can do that by celebrating what has been working and finding reasons to laugh in spite of, both/and. “I can feel my feelings the full range and I can access being lighthearted. I'm not going to fall into the perfectionist trap of the limiting belief that I have to have my feelings all figured out once and for all. And then I'll be lighthearted and then I'll take action.” If you're trapped in that limiting belief, you will wait forever.
Step five, flow into hopeful action.
And here's a bonus step for you. Track this process.
Feel the feel. Take the wheel. You feel the feelings, and then you take the wheel, you take action in spite of. That comes directly from a quote of Oprah Winfrey. You feel the feel and then you take the wheel. You get to choose how you respond.
So empathy is the ability to feel the feeling of self and others. Compassion is to take action in service to positive change in spite of what you are feeling.
It is an untrained HSP who says, “Oh, I can't do that because I'm not feeling it. I can't take that action because I'm not feeling it. I can't make that change because I'm not feeling it.” It's the untrained HSP who says, “I'm so overwhelmed by everything that's happening to my clients, to my family, to my friends. It is just too much. I can't take action.”
The trained and in training HSP says, “I take action in service to positive change in spite of what I'm feeling because I recognize that the feeling is going to shift in 90 seconds to 90 minutes. I get to choose how I respond.” Empathetic compassion next level of HSP in business and leadership, breath in and let it out.
[00:10:18] Thank you for being a part of this Business Miracles podcast episode and for beginning to dip your toe into the journey of highly sensitive leadership training. If you are ready to truly use your sensitivities as strengths in all parts of your work and life, I invite you to connect for a one on one chat. You will experience being deeply listened to and together we'll get a sense of whether the Highly Sensitive Leadership Training Programs are the best next step for you and your highly sensitive journey at this time. Just go to www.claritycall.com to schedule a conversation. We so look forward to connecting with you. Talk to you soon!