"Your physiological state is as likely to block your empathy as your cognitive state. The work of Dr. Stephen Porges, Professor of Psychiatry at The University of Illinois, has found that unless we turn off our defenses our physiology will blur our perception of the world with different psychological experiences. Our emotional state at any time (anxiety, frustration, exhaustion, overwhelm, anger, annoyance, impatience, calmness, etc) sets the physiological stage for perception. So walking around in a state of agitation and irritation literally blocks our vision of what we see."