Rengganis Rizka Prasanti Is your biggest motivation to become a Reyo to help others?
We all know how much of a relief it could be to get everything out of our chest, when we can share our deepest fears and biggest worries to someone compassionate. We all know how calming it feels to have someone who listens, and as a Reyo, we want to be that someone for other people.
We know what the benefits are for the receiving end: It helps them calm down, it helps them see their problems more clearly, and it may even alleviate stress and all the symptoms that come with it.
However, it turns out our drive to help others is also beneficial for us. To understand, we have to dive in deeper about empathy, the benefits of showing empathy, and tips to cultivate empathy to become a better Reyo. Let’s begin!
Why is Empathy Important for a Reyo?
To empathize with others is to understand what they’re feeling and to treat them accordingly.
When your main responsibility is to listen to others, we can see how this is one of the main traits every Reyo should have. Listening with empathy means you have the emotional depth to understand the speaker’s perspective and give advice accordingly. It means taking in their story without judgment, weighing in when asked, and giving reassurance.
Showing empathy towards others will also help them open up better to us. When our priority is to bring relief by listening to others’ stories, we have to make sure that they’re comfortable enough to share their concerns with us.
The Benefits of Empathizing
We all know the relief we feel when we have others who want to listen earnestly to our stories. But is it beneficial for the listener too? If so, what are the benefits?
Here are some of the known benefits we get by listening to others’ stories.
1. Building Connection with Others
Aristotle once said that human beings are social animals who will always seek the companionship of others. Us humans have an innate need to connect with others in a meaningful way.
With a genuine intent to help others, you will want to know what could be the best way to listen to make them feel comfortable. Outside of your role as a Reyo, it can also improve your relationship with your family and friends.
2. Better Emotion Regulation
Listening to others can also help you understand how to regulate your emotions better. As you listen to others, we tend to have better control of our emotions because we focus on the other side of the party.
Emotion regulation skills are essential to learn, with many benefits from higher relationship satisfaction to preventing burnout. Regulating our emotions starts with identifying what we’re currently feeling and framing the emotional situation from a different perspective.
While your primary goal in listening to others is to figure out their situation, it can also be a good start to understand how to view your own emotions from a distance.
3. Lowering Stress Levels
It may sound stressful at first to know that you’ll spend a lot of your time listening to other people’s problems, but surprisingly, showing empathy towards others can lower your stress levels.
The mechanism of this is closely tied to how listening to others helps you regulate your emotions. Focusing our energy on others can help us control our emotions better, therefore lowering the intensity of stressful emotions that we feel. In a way, showing empathy improves the skills we need to regulate stress.
4. Improved Physical Health
Other than our psychological health, showing empathy also has a positive impact on our physical wellbeing. A study by Post (2005) about altruism and its impact on happiness and health shows that people who show more compassion in their everyday lives tend to have better physical health, a higher rate of happiness, and better overall wellbeing.
This finding is related to the first point: connection with others. Compassion is closely linked to a deeper and more meaningful relationship with others, which in turn leads to improved emotional and physical wellbeing.
5. Understanding Ourselves Better
At a glance, it may sound contradictory. We listen to others to understand them, why would it benefit our understanding of ourselves instead?
However, it does! Just like how it boosts our emotion regulation skills, taking a step back to examine other people’s situation can help us gain better insight about our own issues. Rather than turning it into a one-way conversation where you listen and give advice to others, make it a discussion where they can weigh in about how they feel and what they think about their current situation. Nobody knows when your sessions can turn into an invaluable lesson that you can apply to your own life.
Conclusion
While our biggest motivation as Reyos should be to help others understand themselves better, listening to their stories do have its own benefits for ourselves.
From improving our personal relationships to boosting our physical health, showing empathy and compassion towards others is not only beneficial for the receiving end, but also for those who give.
References:
Cherry, K. (2020, May 2). What Is Empathy? . Retrieved from Verywell Mind: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-empathy-2795562#toc-impact
Post, S. G. (2005). Altruism, happiness, and health: It’s good to be good. International journal of behavioral medicine, 12(2), 66-77.
Psychology Today. (n.d.). Emotion Regulation. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/emotion-regulation
Segal, E. A. (2018, December 17). Five Ways Empathy Is Good for Your Health. Retrieved from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-empathy/201812/five-ways-empathy-is-good-your-health
