This meeting focused on developing an empathy circle curriculum and improving the quality of empathic listening practices. Susan and Edwin discussed issues with current empathy circle implementations where participants tend to repeat single sentences rather than sharing full ideas, which doesn't capture the deeper essence of empathic understanding. They agreed that the curriculum needs better explanation of paraphrasing techniques and felt sense awareness, drawing from experts like William Miller and Gendlin's focusing work. Susan offered to create draft content explaining paraphrasing and felt sense concepts, while Edwin suggested incorporating exercises and expert quotes into the curriculum. They also discussed plans for upcoming empathy summits, organizational training opportunities, and building a network of empathy experts. The conversation included practical discussions about creating a LinkedIn event to promote the project and potentially hosting their own empathy circle session to demonstrate effective practices.
Add Alan Ross to the advisory page and email list once contact information is received.
Invite Alan Ross (and potentially Susan) to present at upcoming Empathy Summits.
Email Alan Ross's contact information to Edwin for inclusion in the advisory group and email list.
Share the upcoming Empathy Summit event with her LinkedIn contacts to help promote the project.
Susan and Edwin discussed meeting logistics and documentation. Susan expressed that she didn't need to attend the Friday meetings regularly unless she had specific projects to contribute. They reviewed a shared document where Edwin had noted Susan's questions and responses, and Susan offered to create a draft introduction for empathy circles incorporating William Miller's contributions and paraphrasing techniques.
Susan expressed concerns about the current empathy circle workshops, noting that participants are repeating single sentences rather than engaging in deeper listening as described by Edwin and Lou. She highlighted Rolf's work on focusing and the importance of tuning into felt sense experiences, suggesting a need for clearer guidance on embodied empathy. Edwin acknowledged the issue and discussed plans for a course to help people go deeper into empathic practices, mentioning a recent 8-hour empathy circle marathon as an example of their current approach.
Edwin and Susan discussed improving the capture and practice of active listening techniques, with Edwin suggesting creating a module that includes practicing full ideas, focusing exercises, and using expert models like Rogers. Susan shared her connection with Alan Ross, who works closely with Gendlin, and mentioned receiving definitions of Gendlin's work that could be incorporated into their materials. They agreed to review Gendlin's definition of listening, which focuses on the listener's intention to grasp the speaker's experience moment by moment.
Susan and Edwin discussed creating a lesson on paraphrasing and empathy circles, with Susan agreeing to draft an explanation in the next few days. They also discussed inviting William Miller to join as an advisor to their curriculum project, and Edwin proposed inviting empathy trainers from around the world to present at upcoming Empathy Summits in June, October, and January. Edwin identified the curriculum project as their main priority and expressed the need to find professional curriculum developers to help build infrastructure for the project.
Edwin and Susan discussed building a core team of experienced professionals for curriculum and instructional design work, including potentially recruiting students and leveraging AI tools. Susan shared her experience with creating trainer manuals and emphasized the importance of having a first training on empathic listening that goes beyond basic active listening. The conversation ended with them preparing to review a shared document containing their list of items to discuss.
Edwin and Susan discussed plans for creating an expert list and index of resources related to empathy, including potential use of materials from authors like Miller and Rolf. They explored the idea of incorporating body sensing exercises before empathy circles and discussed the possibility of custom training for organizations as a potential income source. Edwin shared information about existing empathy programs and training opportunities, and they agreed to potentially use Edwin's own trainers for a pilot run to gather feedback on the empathy training approach.
Susan and Edwin discussed plans for a one-hour presentation on empathy titled "Empathy and Beyond." Susan outlined her approach, which would include exercises like Voice Mirror to help attendees connect with their inner experiences, examples of empathic resonance, and guidance on self-empathy. They discussed the potential for using empathy circles as a follow-up recommendation and explored ways to make the presentation engaging and impactful for audiences like the Rotary Club.
Susan agreed to create a bibliography of empathy experts and their work, including contributions from Miller and Rogers, with specific page numbers and quotes. She will also develop content on paraphrasing and tuning into felt senses, and plans to conduct an empathy circle as an alternative demonstration for the project. Edwin showed Susan how to use LinkedIn to invite her contacts to an upcoming event, demonstrating the process of selecting and inviting multiple connections at once.
Susan agreed to host a meeting using her own Zoom account, planning to invite friends and contacts, particularly senior citizens who have more available time. They discussed timing, with Edwin suggesting 9am as optimal to accommodate participants across different time zones including East Coast and Europe. Susan also requested access to a shared document containing meeting notes and agenda items, which Edwin provided the link for.
Meeting to discus Going Deeper Module
To Do
( ) would Rolfs join the Curriculum project?
( ) would he give 15 min talk at the Oct Empathy Summit
( ) Would Susan give a15 min talk at the Oct Empathy Summit
Ideas
Susan
create a 1 hour talk
Voice mirror exorcise
inner experience
describe empathy resonance
audience feedback
Examples - what the last dinner like.
moment of experience
self empathy - connect to deeper self.
Edwin
Create a Empathy Expert Active Listening Directory - annotated biology
maybe start a directory of good material, books, articles, papers, about empathy and active listening.
Carl Rogers
Paper: Empathic an Unappreciated Way of Being
Paper: Active Listening
Sample Videos: Active Listening examples
Book: Therapy ?
Book:
Marshal Rosenberg
Audio Workshop:
William Miller
Book: Listening Well
Gene Gendlin
Book: Focusing
Rolfs
tuning into the felts sense
Listening is as a way of being.
use empathy circles in the module to discuss topics
A new Empathy Circle intro that includes
Gendlin and Rolfs
Greetings Edwin, and reply to Susan
I’m looking forward to our conversation tomorrow at 9am. During my retreat the last several days, I went over some of my recent notes and readings about empathy. I generated several topics to cover tomorrow during our call. Here’s some of what I have in mind and I hope this will fit for you.
Best source for paraphrase: Miller
I love William Millers work.. it is serious stuff. He created Motivational interviewing which is in many many healthcare centers. His book. Listening Well: The Art of Empathic Understanding , is one of the best empathy books out there. it is simple but very practical. It could actually be the core of a empathy training. I had used it as the basis of a training at one point.
He was very accessible and I interviewed him. see https://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/William-R-Miller.htm
Best sources for empathy, including felt-sense: Gendlin and Rohlfs … and Google is good too
I find Gendlin Focusing as a great way to get connected with feelings. It is also good for Self-empathy. I've interviewed multiple people about Focusing. see
https://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Kathy-McGuire.htm
https://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Ann-Weiser-Cornell.htm
https://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Others/Jo-Kennedy.htm
I've interviewed Allan Rohlfs , but am not so aware of this trainings. You mentioned you talked to him.
https://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Allan-Rohlfs.htm
My offer to contact, get permission to refer to Miller and Rohlfs on your website/materials
yes, would be good if we could use Millers book or material.
I am not so familiar with what Rohlfs has.. perhaps they would both join the Empathy Movement Curriculum project? or be willing for us to use some of their materials.
Perhaps creating something about both of these topics to include in your directions for how to do an Empathy Circle. Need to clarify empathy as including the inner experience/felt sense/feelings of both the speaker and listener. To resonate with the speaker.
This is my Wholistic Empathy: Defining Empathy in the Context of the Empathy Circle #3. there is a section on Self Empathy. and inner experience/felt sense/feelings is the core of that.
https://youtu.be/9ljJCiJnOzY
can you review it and I'd love to discuss your thougths about the model.
My training outline covers several of the topics you include in your curriculum outline. Not a problem… and we may want to clarify what goes where.
ok
I have a tentative plan for my one-hour free presentation for the community. It will take some time to get some specific engagements to present. My desired outcome is to bring to life empathic listening/resonance and perhaps a section on self-empathy. I’m happy to share this if you are interested. I’d like to refer audiences to the Empathy Circle and perhaps offer low-cost coaching sessions by zoom.
Yes, we need that. We've given multiple talks to places like, Rotary Club, Churches, Yatch club, nonprofit organizations, etc. I have moved toward giving a short talk and then inviting participants to take part in an Empathy Circle so that have the experience of empathy and have a practice they can take home. Usually it is doing a fishbowl type empathy cirlce to model it with a small group.
A pure lecture with slides, etc. could be helpful where there is not a situation for doing empathy circles.
I have prioritized customizing trainings for the organization’s goals, values, language, and priorities, and I have included common examples that their people provide to me. We may want to provide some guidelines about this later, later when the time is right.
Getting into organizations is good since that is where we can make an income for all this work.
There is currently multiple organizations working on brining empathy into health care.
The Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion (UC San Diego)
Center for Empathy in Medicine (NYU Langone Health)
Empathetics
The Stoneygate Centre for Empathic Healthcare (University of Leicester) The Global Network for Empathy in Healthcare: Co-founded by Howick to unite international researchers, educators, and frontline clinicians who are working to make compassionate communication standard practice worldwide.
The Oxford Empathy Programme (University of Oxford)
What is the desired outcome of your Friday 9am meetings? I enjoyed attending and appreciated the people you are attracting. Is there a role for me in these meetings? (I’m not looking for more meetings!)
Friday meeting is a meet and greet, and a sharing of projects. It's where new people can learn about the Empathy Movement Curriculum project and see if they want to join it. If they do we can talk about how they want to take part and schedule personal project meeting times. I have follow up meetings with people interested in joining and discussing how they and get involved.
It is also a place to share any short updates with the team.
With gratitude for all you are doing. I’d like to be on your team.
Gratitude for all you are doing as well and glad to have you on the team.. ;-)
Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of another person. It involves stepping outside one’s own frame of reference to experience what someone else is going through, serving as a crucial foundation for healthy communication and social connection. (Psychology Today)
Gendlin – Draft: Community Psychology article
Listening includes saying back the meaning the speaker is just then trying to convey. The listener attempts to grasp how each bit of the speaker’s experience moment by moment feels to them. The listener wants to be in contact with every turn the speaker takes, with every one of the meanings the speaker finds as they are to the speaker. This is the listener’s intention.
Carl Rogers defn empathy
I’d like to attempt a description of empathy that should seem satisfactory for me today. I would no longer be terming it a state of empathy in my definition because I believe it to be a process rather than a state, and perhaps I can capture the quality, the way of being with another person who just term empathic as several facets. It means entering the private perceptual world of the other, and becoming thoroughly at home in it. It involves being sensitive moment-to- moment to the changing, felt meanings, which flow in this other person, to the fear or rage or tenderness or confusion, or whatever she is experiencing. It means temporarily living in his life, moving about delicately without making judgments, sensing meanings of which she is scarcely aware, but not trying to uncover feelings of which he is totally unaware, since this would be too threatening. It includes communicating your sensing of his world as you look with fresh and unfrightened eyes at elements of which she is fearful. It means frequently checking with him as to the accuracy of your sensing and being guided by his responses. You are a confident companion to him in his world. By pointing to the possible meanings in the flow of his or her experiencing, you help her to focus on this useful type of reference, to experience his meanings more fully and move forward in his experiencing.
embodied empathy The "felt sense" is your body’s physical, intuitive awareness of a situation or emotion—the "gut feeling" before you find words for it. Empathy is the ability to understand or share another's feelings. Together, they form embodied empathy: feeling someone else's emotional experience somatically in your own body.
empathy training
The purpose of empathy training is to develop the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, fostering improved communication, trust, and collaboration. It aims to reduce unconscious biases, boost emotional intelligence, enhance leadership effectiveness, and reduce burnout by teaching techniques for active listening and perspective-taking.
The primary purpose of empathy training is to systematically develop the "soft skill" of understanding and sharing the feelings of others to improve professional performance, personal relationships, and societal cooperation. It transforms empathy from an innate trait into a learnable competency through structured techniques like active listening and perspective-taking.