Mrinal

"It helps people immensely in shedding their insecurities."

Written Response

• 1. Feeling Heard: People feel heard when they are not interrupted and someone is paying attention to what they are saying. Moreover, the biggest point is they walk out satisfied because when they opened up, people did not react, which otherwise is a common experience.

  2. Shed insecurities: The opportunity of expression just makes them feel less insecure about opening up, repeated practice, instills this faith and they share without any anxiety or fear.

  3. Retrospection: When we think loud, get more clarity into our thoughts. That is exactly, what happens in empathy circle, it is an opportunity for the people to think out, hear back the reflection and go back with a clearer thought process.

  4. Art of listening: Biggest problem of our society is we find it difficult to listen. Listen without reaction, without an opinion….all this takes away part of our attention off the speaker and we don’t really listen what they say.

  5. Learning: Sharing of experiences in a circle is a huge learning. We gain a lot from listening to diverse experiences of others, and this happens because we are doing 4.

  6. Building Trust

  7. Learn to share

  8. Humanly connected

Benefits of Empathy Circles - Mrinal

"is the feeling of getting humanly connected. "

One is the feeling of getting humanly connected. This happens with me at times. This is just my second interaction with all of you in the empathy circles. When I opened up last time, that was the time when I was high on emotions, on both the levels, I didn't know what to say, but it was more like my responsibility to share my experience that this is what I've gone through. But after being part of empathy circle last week and this week, when I'm speaking with you. I think there is a graduation. I am more me, talking today.

That is something I have explored about myself, that even with completely unknown people, you don't know them personally, but the empathy circles just ignite some level of human connection, it just helps you, be you. It helps you communicate in whichever way you want to without thinking about how it would go! And that is the graduation that I have seen in my last interaction and this interaction. I was more conscious last time and less conscious this time. I see this getting improved with each passing minute. And that is exciting, it's really exciting.

I have had professional experience, I'm not a shy person, I don't find it difficult to communicate to communicate. But still, over chats, this is my first experience that I am interacting over video conferences and I didn't ever imagine in my life that I would be so open on an emotional front. And would be so myself talking to someone when I'm talking to people across the globe. That is really really nice.

Edwin Reflects

An empathy circle creates a connection. Maybe you're feeling a bit of a surprise how in the circle you are able to be more and more yourself. There is more of an authenticity that's developing and you are surprised that that is able to happen. You are finding you are becoming more and more authentic in being more and more yourself.

Mrinal

I wouldn't say it's like and on and off switch. It's like a gradual transition that is happening. When you give someone the time they want, it just lets them be. That is the last thing I want to add.

The other point I want to say. We talk about that people listen. But the art of listening is somewhat unexplored. The biggest challenge that I experienced when I first organized the empathy circle this week was that people were finding it a little difficult to actually control their emotions and not speak out of turn. That is something that the empathy circle is doing, and this can be taken back to our normal lives and applied there. Even when we are not doing empathy circle because we tend to react and not listen. So that reaction bit is somewhere getting controlled in the developing personalities. And that is something I again see a very gradual process of learning that happens with the empathy circles.

Edwin Reflects

In the regular listening that happens during the day when someone speaks, people automatically react to what is being said, and with an empathy circle, you are slowing working past that. You are learning not to react, and then you are able to take that with you into your everyday encounters with people? And it's a slow process of learning that.

Mrinal

And that tells me it is not only one space of your life that it is not only your interactions with your life partner, not only with your parents, your family, your friends, it's like in the professional life also. So like it's like a holistic personality development.

Edwin Reflects

There is this quality of listening is not just in one area of your life but it becomes your whole way of being in your work and your relationships, with friends. It becomes part of you.

Mrinal

It is because we see the benefits coming out of it. When we don't interrupt someone in between, the other person feels more satisfied, feels heard, and when it happens with you, you perhaps understand that feeling and that resonates with you and you just hold it up.

Edwin Reflects

You learn the reason for not interrupting because you see that when you don't interrupt there are all these benefits happen, so you have that motivation to not interrupt and listen deeply.