Reflective Essay on Empathy

The virtue I feel I need in my life is empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathy is caring for another person, and understanding what they are going through. I struggle with empathy. I have a hard time understanding what another is going through, especially if I have not experienced the situation before. 

Empathy is a way to show you care for one another. Without empathy, you can come across as ignorant and rude. I know at times I have come across that way because I did not know how to show empathy for the person. Working on showing empathy can teach me how to express care for what another person is dealing with. Empathy is needed for a person to become their best self. This is because when we interact with others, we come off as friendly and caring. Coming off as rude or ignorant is not what creates a “good person”. I would be considered a “good person”, someone who cares for one another.

If I possessed more empathy in my life, I could help and show care for more people. I could help those who are going through hard times, by showing understanding of what they are going through. I could help care for another person. I feel empathy is needed in everyone's life, especially mine. When I possess more empathy, I show more compassion and make other people feel better. By showing more people you care about them, you are showing love. God shows his love to us, therefore we should show others we love and care for them. By showing I love and care for others this is helping me become a good moral person. 

Empathy would help me to become a better person. By changing bad habits, and teaching myself to understand others situations, I improve my character. BY improving my character, I can also help others improve their character. By showing more people empathy, I not only help myself but also make a positive impact on others around me. 

The second virtue I feel I need in my life is openness. Openness is being accepting of ideas and new changes. Openness allows you to experience new ideas and changes instead of something you already know or understand. Openness is benign, open to trying new activities, listening to new ideas, and even trying new foods. When you are open to the world, you can experience many new things, and experience can improve who you are as a person. 

I struggle with not being open to new ideas or actions. I like experiencing the same, and not trying something new. If I became more open I could expand who I am. I do not like trying new foods. I have a mindset that I feel it's okay to always eat the same food over and over again without trying something else. I am not open to new ideas, and would like to work on that. I am also not always open to other people's ideas. It can be hard for me to feel open about trying someone else's idea because I feel as if I already have the solution to the problem. This can cause me to be closed off to other people's ideas, and I do not want that. This is why I would want to work on being more open with others, and new ideas. 

If I became more open, a lot would change in my character. Being open would lead me to more learning experiences, and learning experiences would help me grow into a better person. Also, if I were more open, I could view solutions to a problem from someone else's point of view. That would help me to learn how others think differently than me. Seeing how others think differently than me would help me to realize the many different ways of dealing with problems. Being more open would also show me other people's thoughts/options. It would lead me to have a different view from my own thoughts/opinions. 

If I were to be more open, I would learn more about the world and people around me. Knowing more about everything around me would help me to improve myself into a more open person. A person who would listen to others ideas. A person who would not mind trying something new. Being open would teach  me lessons, and make myself more awhere.