Written by Roop Bajwa, Volunteer Copywriter | Estimated reading time: 5-minutes
Volunteering is about working collectively to shape a world that is more supportive and compassionate for the people around us—and it all begins with empathy.
A quality we all inhabit, empathy helps people relate to others, forge deep bonds with their community, and broaden perspectives. To embrace our empathy and direct it towards action means building a bridge to stronger, more connected communities and healthier populations.
There are an endless number of steps we can take to incorporate empathy into our daily lives to effect change. To scratch just the surface, here are 10 Ways to Put Empathy into Action!
1. Make a commitment
Dedicating yourself to year-round volunteerism demonstrates consistent support for your community. The non-profit sector needs reliable volunteers who regularly show up and act upon their empathy.
2. Get to know your community
When you’re directly connected to the community or cause your supporting, it translates to more meaningful volunteerism. Becoming knowledgeable about your neighbours, the seniors, the youth and everyone in-between, places greater value on your acts and will lead to a deeper understanding of what is needed and the role you can play.
3. Show allyship
Being an ally can take many forms, but in essence, it begins by acknowledging your privilege and leveraging it to support those asking for what they need. It is about educating yourself and taking action to ensure you’re not creating spaces where harm can blossom. It can also mean advocating for human rights—like food, shelter, living wages and community—for everyone.
4. Listen and support causes led by those with lived experiences
It’s important to ask people how they feel and validate their emotions without offering solutions. Your wisdom and words are not warranted in every situation and often support through hearing another’s lived experience can lead to healing. Those with direct experience in a community know what solutions are best suited to help their community thrive.
5. Lead with empathy, not sympathy
These two feelings which guide our actions are often conflated. However, we must lead with empathy, to steer away from the white saviour mentality associated with the idea of sympathizing with disadvantaged folks and that you are best positioned to “save” them. Learn more about the concept of Empathy vs. Sympathy in our complimentary blog post.
6. Lean into the difficult – avoiding it or ignoring it is not empathetic
When volunteering, it is likely we will meet individuals in tough situations, experiencing hardship. It may feel like the right thing to avoid drawing attention to it but often leaning into the difficult can open the space for healing and understanding.
7. Challenge your prejudices
Our assumptions and blind biases pose a barrier to our ability to wholly understand others’ experiences. We must challenge and unlearn our preconceptions so we may open ourselves to new ideas and uphold a holistic dimensional view of people.
8. Change and grow with each experience, reflect on what you can do better
As people who do not wish to cause harm, we can turn a blind eye to an instance when we do. It is key to acknowledge when you have caused harm, not to sulk in the situation, and hold yourself accountable by reflecting upon your actions and changing for the better.
9. Seek ambitious goals
Leverage your empathy to look past conventional hurdles to social change and imagine an end that many would find too ambitious to pursue. Through empathy, our actions together can lead to making collective visions for our society come true.
10. Help others bring about their empathy
Once we hone in on our empathy and put it into action, we should encourage others to do the same. Building a world full of empathetic individuals focused on uplifting their communities begins with the voice of many people. Our empathetic connections can and will translate to better lives.
Whether you implement one, a few or all ten ways to put empathy into action, beginning a journey of volunteerism with these things in mind can build our capacity to work collectively for a greater good. Empathy is a quality we can all unveil and seize to forge deeper human connections. As we enter National Volunteer Week 2022 with the theme of Empathy in Action, it’s only appropriate to ask how can you begin putting empathy into action?
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About the Author
Roop Bajwa has been a Volunteer Copywriter with Volunteer Toronto for the past three years. You may be familiar with her stellar written contributions—and creative puns—showcased
in our Opportunities of the Week social media posts. Roop has also lent her skills to write content for the 2020 and 2021 Legacy Awards, and drafted a case study for our non-profit Learning Library. Last year, Roop wrote
50 pieces of copy for various Volunteer Toronto programs and channels. |
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