Empathy
What is it for?
Time & People
20 – 30 minutes
Any number of people
Materials
None
Source
David Robinson, Seattle, USA
And also...
This is a deep dive – it invites more openness and empathy
The debrief can happen in a number of ways. We often let participants spend a few moments with their partners informally debriefing, sharing experiences. Then we either instruct them to sit with their partners to share insights, experiences, stories followed by a group debriefing, or we sit and as a group hear the insights. This debriefing session is more about processing the experience than about identifying lessons or abstracts.
Description
Set Up: Generally, participants have just moved through an exercise that included greetings or some physical awareness around communication. Then, participants stand facing each other (in pairs) and I leave them there long enough to be self aware and a bit uncomfortable. I ask them to close their eyes, which is usually a relief.
The Sequence:
• With eyes closed, I am going to ask you to remember
5 things but I want you to remember them through your senses, how they felt, smelled, tasted, etc.
With each instruction, allow them time to be in the memory, a few minutes before moving on.
• Remember your favourite childhood game. How did it feel to play? What were the sounds? Smells? Textures? o Let that go.
• Remember a sanctuary, a secret place, a place you go to rejuvenate or escape. How does it feel to be there? What are the smells?
o Let that go.
• Remember your first love… o Let that go.
• Remember your greatest loss… o Let that go.
• Remember your most potent learning. What is the greatest lesson you ever learned? How did that come to you? How did it feel?….
• Open your eyes and look at this person facing you. Recognize that their memories were just as potent, just as specific, just as rich as were yours – and that is true of every human being you pass on the streets every day.