Hi, my name is John Kim. I'm a therapist who went through his own

rebirth many years ago and I've been documenting my journey ever since sharing my life

lessons and revelations. I believe in casual or clinical with you instead of at you. I come unrehearsed on purpose

because self-help doesn't have to be so complicated.

First I just want to say that empathy I think many believe that it just kind of comes

naturally and of course as human beings we are empathetic and of course if we care about someone you

know that kind of comes naturally to a certain extent but it also has to be

practiced and this is the point of today's episode is to talk about

how empathy is a muscle. So before I get to that I just want to give you some broad strokes on what happens to the brain when we practice empathy.

So the first thing, it increases mirror neuron activity and mirror neurons are brain cells that activate both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing the same action. So empathy triggers the

activation of mirror neurons helping us understand and connect with others emotions and experiences.

it also strengthens emotional regulation.

Empathy requires us to recognize and understand emotions in ourselves and of course with others and this process can improve our emotional

regulation skills and this is a really important piece because many people

especially if you've been in traumatic relationships or had a traumatic upbringing, emotional regulation

is one of the tools that you're going to need, you know, just to calm

life turbulence.

So this allows us to manage our own emotions

more effectively, the practice of empathy, right?

Also, enhances brain connectivity.

Empathy involves various brain regions, such as the prefrontal cortex,

and that's the part of your brain that's responsible for decision

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