YOU LIVE BY A SET OF PRINCIPLES. WHAT IF THEY WOULD HELP YOU CREATE A MORE EMPATHETIC WORLD? The Empathy Manifesto.
This is not your typical Manifesto. The statements shared here are designed to create a more empathetic world. They have the power to help you create stronger connections with others and for that, they must be embedded in your everyday actions. Using them for short term purposes will lead you nowhere. Thank you for reading it.
Manifesto
man i fes to
A written statement that publicly declares the policies, goals and opinions of a person or group. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Empathy
Em pa thy The feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Empathy allows you to improve your life in almost every aspect of it. By becoming more empathetic, you improve your relationships, you improve your self-awareness, you improve your proactive output. Empathy is what allows you to understand what others feel but, it’s compassion the one that makes you want to do something about it. That is the next step.
01.- EVERYONE IN THE WORLD IS STRIVING FOR THE SAME THING AS YOU! AND THAT IS TO BE HAPPY. The Empathy Manifesto
It is time to start working together. It does not matter where you come from, we all want the same thing in life and that is to be HAPPY. From USA to Japan, we all want to find either our dream job or have a wonderful family or live in a nice house, etc. Whatever it may be, in the end, we are all striving to be happy.
02.- TRAVEL OFTEN. LIVE ABROAD FOR AT LEAST 6 MONTHS. MAKE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDS. The Empathy Manifesto
Become a Citizen of the World. The first country shapes your perspectives, the second challenges them and the third one changes them. Discovering how others strive to be happy is perhaps the best way to grow. It not only opens yourself to new experiences but, gives you new ideas on how to live your life. The more we understand one another, the more we will be able to collaborate with each other.
03.- UNDERSTANDING WHO YOU ARE ALLOWS YOU TO BUILD STRONGER RELATIONSHIPS. The Empathy Manifesto
You spend most of your time trying to get to know others, while you rarely invest time to understand yourselves. To live a more fulfilled life you must understand who you are, what motivates you and what your passions are. By finding out who you are, you develop the confidence and emotional intelligence necessary for self-leadership. These skills stop you from judging others; therefore, resulting in stronger relationships based on trust.
04.- LEARN TO BE VULNERABLE. COMMUNICATE HOW YOU FEEL. BE YOURSELF. The Empathy Manifesto
Understanding who you are, allows you to become a more empathetic individual. However, in order to connect with others you must be vulnerable and let go of your pride, your ego and your stubbornness (please, let us know if you succeed). We believe that 49,5% of the problems in the world are because people do not express how they feel, making it very hard for others to truly understand what is really going on. By learning how to be vulnerable, you will begin to be understood. It’s the first step to a healthy relationship.
05.- LEARN TO LISTEN EMPATHETICALLY. IT MEANS NOT LISTENING TO WORDS BUT, TO HOW PEOPLE FEEL INSTEAD. The Empathy Manifesto
This is where the other 49.5% is coming from. There are two sides to every conversation. As Steven Covey said: “They teach us how to write, how to read and how to speak but, nobody teaches us how to listen.� Not only people have a hard time expressing themselves but, then, when they finally decide to be vulnerable, you are not really listening! This means to be mentally present, vulnerable and concentrated in the emotions that are been shared. By understanding how the other person feels, you are finally able to provide them with the support they need.
06.- FOLLOW YOUR HEART! IT WILL GUIDE YOU TO YOUR PASSION. SUCCESS WILL JUST FOLLOW AFTER. The Empathy Manifesto
Being successful is not hard. Yes, it takes commitment, sacrifice and perseverance but, what is really hard is being average because that is where the competition is. Throughout your life, others will encourage you to believe in yourself but, is not until YOU start to do this on your own, that things start moving forward. Whatever your dream is: an invention, a business idea, a wish to travel - just give it a chance. Don’t live your life wondering how it would have been if you would have gone for it. Time will pass by anyway, what matters is what you do with it.
07. EVERYDAY CHALLENGE: YOUR MINDSET, YOUR PERSPECTIVES AND YOUR COMFORT ZONE. The Empathy Manifesto
Never stop learning or the world will leave you behind. Never stop expanding the limits of your comfort zone. There is nothing more exciting than pushing yourself to live new experiences. They give you the space to learn and discover yourself. They have the power to help you grow and, gain the necessary confidence to go after the challenging and scary great rather than settling for the comfortable good.
08.- DON’T BE YOUR OWN OBSTACLE OR IT WILL BE THE HARDEST TO OVERCOME. The Empathy Manifesto
Let life be the only one that puts obstacles on your way. By having a negative attitude or a fixed mindset, you will hold yourself back. Many times, you may build walls of excuses, full of reasons telling you why you should not move forward. Check your attitude, look at your life and understand that the only common thing between everything around you is YOU! You have the power to decide how you want to react to things. Take ownership over your attitude. If it seems that all the bad things happen at the same time, maybe is because you decided to only see the bad things. Sometimes we find a problem to every solution.
09.- REFLECT OFTEN ON YOUR LIFE. LEARN TO COACH YOURSELF. FIND YOUR BALANCE. The Empathy Manifesto
Create the space to disconnect from the world and recharge. Learn to project yourself and analyse situations from an external perspective. Ask yourself, in what situation do I need to be in order to say what he/she said to me? Or what needs to happen for me to act the way he/she acted? Learn not to take things personally and you will be able to learn from your experiences. Little by little you will start to identify key behaviors that will allow you to overcome the external obstacles life has put on your way.
10.- A SMILE, A PLEASE AND A THANK YOU ARE THE KEYS TO MANY DOORS. The Empathy Manifesto
Regardless of the culture, there are 3 universal elements to building stronger connections with others. A Smile: is friendly, welcoming and contagious. It also has the power to put us in a good mood. A Please: recognizes the efforts others do for you. And a Thank you: it appreciates (you being vulnerable) the efforts that others do to accommodate you (them being vulnerable). If only one side is vulnerable, the trust bond can not be built.
BECAUSE LIFE SHOULD BE FUN. IF IT ISN’T, THEN WE MUST BE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. IT’S TIME TO IMPROVE YOURSELF. The Empathy Manifesto
At Fun Side of Life, we combine the power of empathy with design thinking process to change the way you grow. We believe that everybody deserves the chance to go after their dreams. This Manifesto seeks to connect and create a framework where you can be supported in our journey. We know that by supporting your personal development, not only you will be able to achieve your goals but, also you will have a bigger impact in the lives of those around you. Our idea is a simple but, it involves everyone. To find out more on how you can develop the skills you want, go to our website.
LET US ALL BE PART OF THE CHANGE WE WANT TO SEE IN OUR SOCIETY. THIS IS AN EVERYDAY THING! The Empathy Manifesto
#FUNSIDEOFLIFE Spread the word! Next time you share a picture online of you getting out of your comfort zone or having fun with your friends or traveling, use #funsideoflife and let us begin working on creating a more empathetic world.
e f i L f o e d i S Fun For a more empathetic world.
If you can think of is somebody who should read this, make sure to share it with them. That is how movements are started.
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