The Rapture and the Despair I’ve been thinking — or more honestly, feeling — a great deal about this week’s Rapture, when there will supposedly be huge, planet-wide earthquakes, a rapture into heaven for 200 million true believers, and the beginning of the end of the world. The Apocalypse, Armageddon, Judgment Day. Of course, none of that will happen. It never happens. Hundreds and thousands of … Read More
Welcome to the Off-Ramp! My newest project starts with this question: How do we get out of intense relationships, positions, ideas, and groups? How do we take an off-ramp, and how do we become an off-ramp for others? This project started first with my 2025 book, Missing the Solstice, and continues with my new podcast called The Off-Ramp Project. How do we create (and survive) drastic … Read More
We welcome you to our Empathy Academy Community! For many years, I’ve been fortunate enough to develop a worldwide community of licensed Dynamic Emotional Integration® professionals who have become friends and family. Their presence, empathy, humor, and emotional awareness have helped to grow our knowledge and the depth of our work, and they’ve been with me as I wrote and wrestled with the books I’ve written … Read More
Oh, here’s a great book you’ve got to read: The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society. Primatologist Frans de Waal works with our cousins, the great apes, and has been able to identify empathy and emotional awareness in very helpful ways. Dr. de Waal sees empathy as an inheritance from our ancestors (primate and otherwise), and he sees empathy as the organizing center … Read More
An empathic approach to empathy! In my book and audio learning program, The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life’s Most Essential Skill, I focus on my Six Essential Aspects of Empathy model, starting with the first, which has a strange name: Emotion Contagion. Because empathy is first and foremost an emotional skill. Before empathy can take place, you need to sense that an emotion … Read More
When I talk about The Language of Emotions, one of the central ideas I share is that all emotions are useful. If you can approach them with care and ask them the right questions, there aren’t any “negative” emotions. Every emotion has a specific function, and all of them are important and instructive Some emotions (such as hatred and panic), need to be handled with care, … Read More
Art is a specific empathic healing practice Artistic expression is a wonderful and soul expanding thing for anyone, but it has a particular healing quality for anyone who wants to understand and work with emotions and empathy, because art helps you express and channel emotions intentionally. Empathy is first and foremost an emotional skill, and learning how to work with and understand emotions is a vital … Read More
Did you know that there’s a distinct difference between healthy empathy and enmeshment? I’ve spent a lifetime exploring how empathy works, how it goes awry, how we can understand it more clearly, and how we can create a ground for self-care and self-empathy within our everyday lives. I’ve also been looking at an unhealthy idea about empathy that goes something like this: Empathy means that you … Read More
I’ve written a great deal about what it means to be an empath, and luckily for all of us, empathy is a big topic right now. I just discovered a study that seems to measure empathy. The study is in the news right now because the researchers have concluded that students today are 40% less empathetic than they were in the 1970s. Hmmmmmm. I’ve got a … Read More
The Darkness before Dawn: Understanding the Suicidal Urge Suicidal feelings are painful but normal responses to deep pain and deep trouble — and people survive their suicidal urges every day, and go on to live and thrive. If you or anyone you know feels suicidal, there are some excellent free resources that can help. First, here in the US, you can contact the 988 Suicide & … Read More