Category: Workplace

Why Is Empathy Important – Theory and Practice

Empathy is an increasingly relevant topic in a world where people grow apart, divided by digitized communication, social segmentation, and multiculturality. More or less often, this diversity of opinions, lifestyles, and beliefs can become a challenge to one’s own capability to show not merely acceptance but high emotional intelligence.

 

But then, if feeling empathy towards strangers or loosely related acquaintances is a hot topic, what about being empathetic towards our closest ones? If you take your time and think about it, you will probably recall a situation where you found it difficult to show empathy towards your own significant other or even your child.

 

So – what precisely is empathy, why is it important, and how does it benefit us and everyone around us? Below, you will find our brief guide into the world of empathy – a term that’s easier explained than practiced and more important than you would probably suppose.

 

What is Empathy: Some Definitions

 

Many people, organizations, religions, philosophical schools, and psychology experts have tried to define empathy through the ages.

 

Though explained with examples millennia back in time, the social and moral nature of compassion has become a central motif of discourse around the eighteenth century in the writings of David Hume and Adam Smith. By this time, David Hume writes that “the minds of men are mirrors to one another,” while Theodore Lipps defines empathy as the mere “experience of another human.

 

Here are some other definitions of empathy that will give your understanding depth and perspective:

 

  • According to the American Psychological Association’s Dictionary of Psychology, empathy is “understanding a person from his or her frame of reference rather than one’s own, or vicariously experiencing that person’s feelings, perceptions, and thoughts.”
  • The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines empathy as “the psychological capacity to know what other people are thinking and feeling, to emotionally engage with them, to share their thoughts and feelings, and to care for their well–being.”
  • In the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, you will read that empathy is “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.
  • In Christianity, empathy is mentioned multiple times, but the most famous citation comes from Romans 12:15, which says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

 

Finally, the finest explanation of empathy in literature comes from the American poet Walt Whitman and his famous line, “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.”

 

All of this being said, empathy is nothing but being able to jump out of your shoes and tune in to others’ emotional states. It’s not just about the rational cognitive understanding of the situation but also about emotional intelligence and the ability to feel compassion and show kindness.

 

emphaty in children

Why Is Empathy Important in Real Life?

 

The theory is one thing, but real life takes us far beyond written definitions. So – how does empathy alter our quality of life on a day-to-day basis?

 

There are multiple reasons why being empathetic matters in real life, and here is a short list to begin with:

 

  • Practicing empathy helps you better understand the motifs and behaviors of others. It can be your own emotional compass, thus ensuring your confidence and resilience in social situations.
  • Empathy is also a powerful tool for building meaningful relationships and growing a healthy social circle based on acceptance and respect. It gives the fundamentals for fairness, justice, and equity in your relationships, be they friendly, intimate, or professional.
  • Experiencing empathy helps you feel connected to others by paving a solid two-way street toward being valued, loved, and cared for by the people you surround yourself with.
  • Empathy improves communication and opens the door to honesty in your life. When you actually listen instead of just formulating your reply, you reach a whole new level of connection – and experiencing that will show you just how valuable it is.

 

At the end of the day, empathy is one of the central traits of being human. And as natural as it sounds, it often needs nourishment in order to grow, develop, and bloom.

 

What Are 2 Benefits of Empathy?

 

There are way more than two benefits of feeling, showing and practicing empathy in your communication with others. And still, there are two essential tracks in which those benefits manifest themselves.

 

First, it makes your own life better by giving depth to your experience of others. When Aristotle said that “man is by nature a social animal,” he touched a string – because no one can live happily alone. Empathy is a way to grow your interpersonal connections into something meaningful and beautiful.

 

Second, empathy obviously makes things easier for everyone around you too. It’s how you make your friends, family, relatives, and colleagues feel understood, appreciated, and valuable. It’s the basis of establishing healthy relationships and a massive contribution to the overall well-being of your community.

 

emphaty in adults

What Is a Good Example of Empathy?

 

Some people have the natural ability to read others and are instinctively good at catching the air in the room. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need that superpower in order to be an empathetic human being.

 

One super simple example of empathy is, for example, active and engaged listening. Unlike automatic responses and self-centered dialogues, active listening is about actually paying attention to what others are trying to communicate. Moreover – it’s about trying to figure out how they’re feeling and how you can give meaningful, valuable, and helpful advice.

 

If you think about it, intentional and engaged listening is a rare thing to encounter. And if you’ve ever experienced that kind of response from a person around you, you already know the precious feeling of being someone’s priority, if even for a brief half an hour.

 

So, instead of asking yourself „Why do people lack empathy?“, you should probably begin by asking yourself if you are giving out the things you’re expecting to receive.

 

How Does Empathy Make You Feel?

 

Long story short – empathy feels equally good when you’re showing it to others and when you’re receiving it from them. It’s the satisfying feeling of connection, support, and compassion. It’s the joy of placing yourself among equals and sympathizing with both their happiness and their trouble.

 

The good news is that empathy is actually something you can work on and improve. It begins with emotion recognition and social skills, it goes through attention training and communication skills, and it reaches all the way to your own individual well-being.

 

So – it’s never too late to become better at empathizing with others, and today is the best way to start that journey, with RelaxifyApp!

The Pressure for Self-Care: It Should Not Be a Chore

Self-care is a multifaceted process of engaging in strategies that promote overall well-being. It essentially involves conscious and intentional acts that one takes to promote their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. A survey by The Harris Poll found that 64% of Americans are focused on mental health care now more than ever. To prioritize self-care, they have started exploring strategies such as lifestyle changes, stress management, a healthy diet, and regular exercise.

Self-care is essential to building resilience in this fast-paced and anxiety-driven world. Taking steps to care for your mind and body equips you with the energy to live your best life. It could be thought of as recharging your personal battery so you can stay on top of your other priorities and obligations.

The pressures of self-care

Taking care of ourselves in the most basic ways helps us restore balance and find relief from stressors that plague our day-to-day lives. Self-care has been shown to provide a myriad of benefits, such as reducing anxiety and depression, avoiding burnout, and increasing energy and happiness. It also allows us to build a stronger relationship with ourselves and the people around us.
Unfortunately, all this emphasis on prioritizing self-care has brought needless pressure on some people. For some, an hour nap may feel like another chore they need to add to their growing list of responsibilities. For others, a trip to the spa could be just another thing they think they should be doing instead of genuinely finding pleasure and relief from it. Taking time to receive a healthy dose of self-care could stir up feelings of guilt from doing one activity (such as taking a walk in the park) over another (like playing with children). The pressure of doing self-care could also make some people feel like they do not deserve the time off or the relaxation activity. Instead of curbing these feelings, the worrying, anxiety, and stress continue. Today, we’ll discuss how to lessen the pressure for self-care and bring it back to its primary purpose of rest and relaxation.

 

Making self-care healthy and easy once again

Delegate time for yourself

Self-care doesn’t have to be complicated and shouldn’t take up much of your time. It doesn’t necessarily mean treating yourself to special gifts or activities. Focusing on the basics like sticking to your morning routine of attentive showering or skin care without any distractions can be an essential way to take care of yourself. You can also consider taking advantage of applications that offer small pockets of relaxation through ambient audio as you work through the day. Relaxifyapp’s comprehensive and science-based program is designed to improve your cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being. It offers gamified mental health technologies designed by psychologists to provide stress and anxiety relief.

Create healthy physical health goals

Fitness and nutrition are important components of self-care. But, with the advent of social media and the unrealistic expectations of beauty it sets up, it can be difficult to create goals that fit your personal journey. Your physical health goals should be unique, sustainable, and not dictated by external pressures. That is why having a healthy motivation toward losing weight is important—this could include treating yourself with kindness and compassion and focusing on what changes you genuinely want to see in yourself. Taking charge of your fitness journey sustains your motivation for longer and allows you to care for your own body. After all, self-care for physical health should go beyond being concerned with how you look, how you will fit in your clothes, and how other people will perceive you.

Find opportunities to socialize

Although we may picture self-care as involving activities you do alone, it doesn’t have to be a lonely journey. However, maintaining social relationships is a critical aspect of self-care. Having close connections with others is vital for our well-being. In fact, we tackled in our blog how powerful physical touch such as cuddling and hugging could be for our physical health. Socialization doesn’t necessarily mean reaching out to people outside your immediate circles—it could be as easy as playing with your children, having date nights with your partner, or meeting up with a friend you haven’t seen in a while. When it all becomes too overwhelming, developing boundaries as you interact with your friends and family could also be the building blocks of good self-care. When self-care becomes a tedious activity, it fails to serve its purpose. As with any other activity in your health journey, it’s essential to assess where you’re at in your self-care process and whether there are things you can improve to create positive and more meaningful changes in yourself.

Concentration: 5 Valuable Tips for Improving it

Massive information stream, unceasing connectivity, multi-channel communication, urgent messages, and near-aggressive calls to action from all sides… Today’s lifestyle can be rather challenging for one’s ability to focus, maintain concentration on one thing at a time, and ignore all the potential distractions on the way.

Contrary to popular beliefs, multitasking is not a superpower but a productivity killer. For example, research shows that habitual multitasking in the workplace can decrease productivity by 40%. The same goes for every process of education, learning, and managing new skills.

At the end of the day, concentration is the only way to improve both your mental well-being and your everyday performance in various fields of life. But once you try to spend time focused on one thing only, you will begin to understand that being perfectly centered is easier said than done. 

focus

How to Work on Your Concentration Skills and Why?

The short answer to this complex question is that your work on this skill must be continuous and ongoing. There isn’t a single wonder technique or a magic button you can push and start being concentrated. Instead, you can think of your brain as a muscle – it needs to be trained daily and for long periods in order to get better and better at deep focusing. 

There are multiple exercises and practices proven to strengthen concentration and “teach” your mind to stay present without letting the distractions get in the way. If you follow your plan strictly, you will enjoy a smoother process, better results, and improved general well-being in multiple areas of your life. 

Put shortly: better concentration will not merely help you do better; it will help you feel better by reducing the chances of habitual burnout, generalized anxiety, information overload, and restlessness.

improve-concentration

Concentration Improvement Techniques You Can Try Today

Your journey towards a more peaceful, better composed, and extra focused mind can begin at home with the help of some rather simplistic everyday habits and practices. These can include, for example:

#1 Active Listening

Have you ever found yourself making plans for dinner while attending a meeting? You’ve probably even planned a meeting while having dinner and talking with your family? That’s something you shall address and try to work on. 

Active listening is about paying attention to what other people have to say and engaging in mutually fruitful and satisfying communication with no smartphone scrolling allowed. Just try to think of nothing else than the talk you’re currently having. 

#2 Deep Reading

Rapidly scrolling through multiple sources of uncomplicated information is not exactly what you need to improve your focus skills. On the contrary – you can try and take your time to read something longer and more complex. 

This can be an expert article on a subject you fancy or a new exciting book. The longer the book, the better. The more pages in a row you are able to read without “leaving” the story – the better. As time passes, you will find yourself getting better at this and enjoying it to the fullest!

#3 Mindfulness & Meditation

There’s nothing better for your concentration than… Well, concentrating. Mindful meditation is all about experiencing the present moment to the fullest and paying attention to every little detail of your here and now. 

You can concentrate on your breathing, your bodily sensations, a chosen positive visualization, or even an object from your immediate surroundings. The important thing is to keep your mind free of all external thoughts, desires, or distractions. Stay focused for as long as possible – the longer you practice, the better you’ll become!

#4 Attention Games

In most scenarios, technology is seen as the primary “enemy” of concentration. Anyway, there are multiple interactive and gameful exercises you can include in your daily program to strengthen your ability to focus on a task. 

In Relaxify App, you can gain cognitive points by playing multiple games, including:

  • The Concentration game, where you need to spot the inconsistency between color schemes and the colors they are labeled with, try it;
  • The Odd One Out game, where you interact with an even more significant number of colors, patterns, and labels to point out the mistakes, try it;
  • The Guided Body Scan game, where you are encouraged to focus on different parts of your body and fully encounter their sensations without losing focus, try it;
  • The Mindful Breathing game, where you are encouraged to clear your mind and focus on your breathing to relieve stress and anxiety, try it.

At the end of each game, you will be given different bonus points for your cognitive performance, depending on your results. In this way, you can monitor your improvement live, and start noticing some tangible differences in how you interact with your environment.

Plenty of mental health apps have similar games and exercises but RelaxifyApp is unique due to it being based on science. You can read more other ones and the differences between them here: 11 free anxiety relief apps.

Once you spend enough time working on your focus skills, you will relish a more attentive mind, a healthier cognitive process, and the capacity to stay present where you’re needed most – here and now. 

RelaxifyApp is happy to be your guide through the path of a more healthy, content, and productive version of yourself. Because sometimes working smart is way better than working hard!

8 Best Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace

Which are the Best Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace?

According to the American Institute of Stress, a massive 80% of workers feel continual job-related stress

What’s more: 

  • 25% claim that their jobs are the number one stressor in their lives;
  • another 25% have felt like screaming or shouting because of workplace stress
  • and 2% had actually struck someone in a job-related rage!

First thing first – this type of everyday struggle goes far beyond someone feeling “kind of unwell” or “slightly concerned.” It actually results in chronic physical and mental conditions, worsened private and social life, stress-related autoimmune diseases, and even suicidal thoughts.

So, let’s dig a bit deeper into the origins, manifestations, and solutions of the problem.

workplace stress

What Causes Stress in the Workplace?

Workplace-related stress factors can be generally divided into four larger groups. These are workloadspeople issuesjob security, and the balance between personal and professional life.

Of course, combinations of them can frequently occur. And as we are all perfectly aware, both the balance and security have been severely disrupted in the last couple of years due to the unusual situation of the ongoing pandemic.

Respondents around the world reveal that long hours, tight deadlines, pressure to be responsive outside working hours, and a toxic in-house environment are among the top stressors in their professional fields. 

Last but not least – lack of autonomy, monotonous work, or workplace gender inequality can also add to the ultimate feeling of being tense, anxious, and burnt out at the end of the day. 

What are the Signs of Stress in the Workplace?

You obviously can’t mistake the feeling of anger, worry, and distress when it hits you. Anyway, there are multiple other, not-so-obvious symptoms that you might be having long-term trouble in your workplace. These include, for example:

  • A pounding heart, irregular heartbeat, or chest pain;
  • Stress-related shoulder, neck, and back pain;
  • Worsened efficiency of the immune system;
  • Persistent stress headaches;
  • Warm or cold waves with episodes of excessive sweating;
  • Stomach problems;
  • Fatigue or nausea;
  • Unnatural appetite and/or libido alterations.

The Best Strategies for Managing Stress in the Workplace

As unlikely as it may seem at first, stress management is greatly about how you control your own response and how you handle the situation. Or else said: you probably can’t change the world, but you can alter the way things get to you.

Here is some advice on where to begin and how to proceed:

#1 Start Your Day Right

Most people are already stressed the moment they arrive at their workplace. So, try to organize your mornings in the smartest way possible – preferably without rushing and giving too much credit for road rage, for example. 

Sometimes, waking up earlier causes much less damage than taking these extra 20 minutes of sleep and then running wild for the rest of the day. 

Another way to start your day right is doing the professionally designed “Positive Affirmation” or “Emotion Recognition” exercises in our RelaxifyApp.

#2 Keep Things Organized

A journal, a schedule planner, a to-do list, or a priority tracker – you choose the means; it does the magic. Having a strict plan spares the pressure of tight deadlines, neglected tasks, and minor panic attacks throughout your day. 

The longer ahead you think, the better you will be able to comprehend and prepare for everything that’s coming.

stress at workplace

#3 Avoid Heavy Multitasking

Considerable research suggests that calmness and productivity do not come with multitasking but with enhanced focus and prioritizing. 

So, instead of playing the Multi-Armed Shiva, try to avoid distractions and concentrate on one thing at a time before you jump on to the next. 

#4 Do Not Overcommit

To prevent burnout and work overload, you shall learn to say “no,” establish respectful boundaries, and develop healthy responses to task requests.

Whether you work for yourself or an employer, set your limits straight and step back once you reach them. Performing your duties and following your goals is good until it turns to performing everyone else’s duties and letting your goals remodel your mental energy. 

Restrain your perfectionism, do not always shoot for the stars, and learn to delegate responsibilities when needed. This is the only recipe for enjoying your job and making it not merely profitable but also healthy and emotionally rewarding. 

#5 Take Little Recharge Breaks

A 10-minute walk can do miracles! The same goes for a bit of exercise, a friendly chat, or a good joke. 

Know what takes your stress away and turn it into a routine during your workday – walk a bit after lunch, create a physical activity plan, or merely reach out to your crew to make this day better than expected. 

#6 Make Your Workplace Feel Good

Being comfortable – both physically and emotionally – turns the workplace into a friendly place. 

So – grab a back booster for your chair, bring on your fancy headphones, listen to music, and surround yourself with feel-good symbols or memories. Even use an essential oils dispenser if everyone in the room is ok with it!

All workplaces and professional roles have their specifics, so cater your environment to your duties and design your own way to bring these positive thoughts on. 

#7 Practice Mindfulness

Daily mindfulness practices can help you relaxfocus, and raise your productivity without creating extra stress. 

If you have no idea where or how to begin, you can always use guided practices – including in our scientifically backed RelaxifyApp!

#8 Ask for Some Support

Everything is not always pink and admitting it is an essential part of improving it. So – feel comfortable to ask for advice and support from your employer, supervisor, colleagues, and relatives.

Share your concerns and expectations, manage conflicts before they grow, and talk things through honestly. Sharing how you feel can bring clarity and point out the organizational issues to be addressed for long-term improvement.

Do not hesitate to seek professional help if needed, as well as boost your well-being with a chosen self-help tool – be it a favorite book, a professional mental health app, sports, or a combination of all of these.

Because little things make the bigger picture, and the bigger picture is your life!

Scroll to top