here we go my name's Todd this is Kathy welcome back to another episode of Zen Parenting Radio this is

podcast number 586 why listen to Zen Parenting Radio because you'll feel outstanding and always remember

our motto which is the best predictor of a child's will-being is a parent's self-understanding. Will you tease the topic of

today's show? Yes. So we are in the middle of February. It's called the empruary, sweet.

Empruary, as Todd likes to call it. And if you guys remember, we decided to dedicate this month of

February, which is the month of love, to empathy volume. And what empathy volume means to us is how to turn up our empathy to stay connected,

but how to turn it down to avoid burnout.

And that's kind of the place that we're all trying to, this middle place that we're supposed to find,

because I don't know if you guys, you know, read all the news when it comes to,

you know, connection or disconnection or what's happening during, you know, what's been happening

during this pandemic as far as relating to people's stories or not at all relating. Like, for example,

there's people who don't want to wear masks and who don't care what people think. And then

there's people who

are attending to people's needs every day, like health care workers and teachers. And so maybe the

people who are like, I'm not going to practice these mitigations that have been recommended,

maybe need to turn their empathy volume up. but these people who are being paralyzed and not

wanting to go out of their house to go get groceries might need to turn it down a little bit?

Well, I was just going to talk about instead the health care workers and the teachers who are being

through their profession are exposed continuously. They may need to have a practice of coming home and turning down their empathy so they can release the experience they had during the day.

But the examples you gave are also, you know, connected, meaning that people who are scared to death may need to, and they feel overwhelmed by it, may need to figure out this middle place.

So Todd and I are calling this empathy volume, you know, turning the... may need to, and they feel overwhelmed by it, may need to figure out this middle place. So,

Todd and I are calling this empathy volume, you know, it's turning the dial to figure it out. And last week, we talked about how to be a mindfully caring person, meaning who do you want to

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