Helping our patients to hold an uncomfortable feeling with care, hope, and compassion

Being able to sense other people’s feelings or empathy is great isn’t it, but at times, it can work against us too if we are not careful or unaware.

Why?

Imagine if someone is angry with us. We then can sense their anger. We then hold their feelings with the anger we sense. They then sense our anger, and now we may have an escalation of two angry people.

Same goes with sadness and anxiety. We may end up with two very sad or anxious people too.

So how can we mitigate this?

Consider holding other people’s anger, anxiety, or sadness with care, hope, and compassion instead. If they can then sense our care, hope, and compassion, they may then be able to use those feelings to hold/shift their own feelings.

As Family Doctors, we often lead with our thoughts, but don’t forget to lead with our feelings too.

Feelings are “contagious” and can be “transmitted” in both ways.