Empathy is not agreement, so you risk no loss of integrity by practicing empathy with someone you disagree with. To empathize, you are merely removing your filters and opinions for a moment to have a more pure understanding of their perspective.
It can take valuable time and energy to be empathetic towards one whom we perceive has wronged us. Why waste this precious energy seeking to understand what they experience, feel, or need?
Here are six reasons:
Every time we practice giving empathy, especially when it is difficult, we strengthen our "empathy muscles", making it easier and more automatic next time. Eventually, giving empathy will actually charge our batteries.
Have you heard the term, "Understand thy enemy"? Surely, you gain some advantage by understanding another person's perspective, whether they are enemy or friend. And bonus, by understanding one more person, you increase your understanding of humans in general. You can only benefit from this.
Carrying anger or resentment is no fun and affects our well-being. When we choose to give empathy, we are choosing to walk away feeling lighter and more healthy.
If there is a chance of repairing or strengthening the relationship, empathy increases the likelihood of this happening.
We never know when we might meet a person again. They may be a future client, lover, or friend.
Finally, if you care about the idea that your "enemy" moves on to affect others who affect others, who might some day affect you:
Our authentic smile or words of acceptance may not change a person's life but it might reduce strife and add to the empathy they received from someone else and make the difference in decisions later made.
For more information on training up your Emotional Intelligence, visit https://ClearSay.net.
Empathy is a much needed skill we need to develop, agreed.
Our society is anti-empathic right now.
Acetaminophen dulls this capacity chemically, consumerism keeps the focus on what "I" want, and the media keeps us blind to what others NEED.
It is also a skill that is hard to teach.