Building empathy for your intimate partner
Envision a characteristic or behavior of yours that you know your partner dislikes. Imagine shifting your consciousness into your partner's perspective, even though you may disagree with that perspective.
Immerse yourself in your partner's perceptions of you. Try to experience them fully. At the same time, hold on to your own views.
Then try to understand your partner's attitudes as a reflection of who he or she is, based on all the influences and choices that have shaped him or her. Don't judge.
Creating empathy for someone you dislike
Extend the practice described above.
Tell yourself how or why that person may have developed negative feelings about you. Imagine what the conflict feels like from his or her perspective.
Entertain the idea that you are only partially right or perhaps wrong altogether.
Next, open yourself to seeing yourself through the eyes of that person. Just observe, without either defending yourself or agreeing.
Generating empathy for strangers
It helps you expand your capacity for empathy by practicing it toward people you don't even know.
Identify an encounter with a stranger, especially one who may be very different from yourself. The checkout person at the grocery store could be an example.
Think of ways that he or she may be like you -- someone who desires love, who probably has experienced some kind of loss or disappointment, or who has aspirations he or she hopes to fulfill.
Focus on the common traits that show you how this person is much like yourself beneath surface differences.
Finding empathy for people whose way of life is alien
Establish a direct connection through a charity that allows you to make a contribution to a specific recipient or a microfinance organization that provides small-business loans to specific individuals in developing countries.
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