Personality Isn't Permanent: Break Free from Self-Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story

by Benjamin P. Hardy

Being an empathetic witness is about being interested, not interesting. Empathetic listening can’t be done in haste. It must be done out of love. Even if you will never truly understand where the other person is coming from, you need to want to understand. When done correctly, the listener’s core motivation is to understand and encourage. Time is allowed for each person to open up and process their perspectives. Solutions or advice are not presented, at least initially. Instead, open-ended and sincere questions are asked. When the questions have been answered, the listener continues asking for more information and insight, with questions like: “Can you explain more for me?” “What do you mean by that?” “Why was that part so important?” “Have you given up on the idea of a better future?” “What positives have come from this?” “How will your future be different because of this?” “What can you do now to move forward?” “How can I help?”