Emotions, Empathy, and the Choice to Alleviate Suffering

This chapter offers a conceptual framework for the role of emotions and empathy in the desire and choice to alleviate suffering. Because the locus of the suffering (self, other, or social) may change the role of emotions in suffering, they are discussed collectively and separately. The structure of the empathy process is outlined in ten steps or phases, including emotional resonance and self-regulation. This larger perspective on empathy encompasses shared experience as well as the potential for compassion and altruism. Mindfulness is discussed in terms of its role in readiness for the alleviation of suffering through exercises in resonance and self-regulation. The chapter ends by showing how emotional processes can apply to large-scale social suffering and the potential they hold for contributing to even broader relief.