what is it like to be you?

I spent this weekend filming a video for the urgent care company where I work.  After 13 years of practicing medicine, I got to be a "patient" in the video.

It was an interesting experience.

I sat in our waiting room for the first time ever -- and noticed magazines and art work I didn't even know were there. 

I used the iPad at the front desk to complete the check-in process, which I'd never done before. 

I sat on the edge of the exam table -- which I'd never sat on before.

I had my vital signs checked by one of our nurses.

I laid on the X-ray table while the radiology tech set up the shot.

The whole day was basically a long exercise in empathy, an opportunity to see the experience through my patients' eyes.

It was an opportunity to remember to stop and ask, "What is it like to be you?"  when I encounter other people.

That's really what empathy is all about.  Choosing to ask the question, "What is it like to be you?" Choosing to see the world from someone else's view.  Choosing to feel the world the way another person does.

The word empathy means "in feeling."

In feeling other peoples' experience of the world, we can understand them better.  

We can show more grace, we can give more generously, we can speak more graciously. 

We can love others better when we take the time to ask, "What is it like to be you?"