Meet Love Feels Best

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Love Feels Best a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Love Feels Best , so excited to have you with us today and we are really interested in hearing your thoughts about how folks can develop their empathy? In our experience, most folks want to be empathic towards others, but in a world where we are often only surrounded by people who are very similar to us, it can sometimes be a challenge to develop empathy for others who might not be as similar to us. Any thoughts or advice?

I suppose empathy begins with a simple choice or realization.

Numerous events may cause a sudden change of heart or a realization, at any age. This can inspire a subsequent decision to place importance on the welfare of people and other life forms.

Feelings of empathy are often activated when we see ourselves in others. Recognizing our similarities as well as the sameness of our struggles, pain and fear fosters connections.

Experience also goes a long way. The older we get the more mistakes we have made so the less perfection we expect from others.

There are many ways people naturally develop empathy. There may be more reasons you are discouraged from them by family and society to enable you to ridicule, fight, isolate, sell, deceive, disempower, detach, label and dehumanize.

Shared pain is usually a profound way for very different humans to connect.

It has long been understood that a shared enemy is the best way to unite two individuals or groups that dislike each other or have an adversarial relationship.

To better understand empathy I think it’s helpful to contrast it with an idea like compassion. Empathy is a passive, feeling word. Compassion is an active, doing word. There is no relief within empathy. You simply feel it and only with time and space will the emotion dissipate. With compassion you can act to reduce the discomfort caused by shared suffering. You can offer a smile, a kind word, help them up, etc and these actions help to diminish the pain you both feel.

Empathy is probably impossible if we do not slow down, pay attention and assign value to others and their feelings.

Often society pushes us to avoid each of these instances. Our handheld computers do not usually help the propensity to overlook many things. Spending time in the present moment with your full attention is vital to connecting with and loving others.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’ve always kinda been unusual. As a baby I never cried. My mother was forced to potty train me early because I refused to wear diapers. Even today wearing clothes feels oppressive.

Stories of my disobedience and unquenchable curiosity about the nature of reality begin during preschool.

These were never traits anyone encouraged. Such qualities or, defects as most of my teachers viewed them, just seemed to come naturally to me. Just like being inherently organized or detail oriented which I later learned are qualities I am genetically predisposed to. That is just a fancy way of saying that qualities passed down by ancestors make me more likely to be organized and attentive to details.

I tend to prefer not to confine myself to particular labels or ideas. That which is this, is not that. Labels tend to dehumanize people and reduce them to a single or finite idea which is never realistic.

I feel that I’m constantly changing, evolving and growing on a surface level. At the same time my foundation grows stronger and heavier as it becomes fortified by new data.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Honesty or authenticity because the only way to truly know thyself, connect with people or learn about the nature of reality is to be yourself and say what you feel. Deception is a choice that ought to be vigorously rejected. If liberty is a jet plane, truth is jet fuel.

Adaptation is key because the one thing we can truly predict and count on is change. If we do not learn be flexible and bend in the wind like bamboo we will snap under the pressure that rigidity inflicts. Attachment to that which will not last causes much suffering, needlessly. I could be sad that this glass will break and avoid using it or I can appreciate how much it serves me while it exists and use it as best I can as much as possible. Cherishing it as time elapses because I know that it won’t last.

I consider a well developed intuition to be my most important quality. The vast majority of the brain’s calculations operate below the level of consciousness, beneath our awareness. When we learn to fortify, develop and trust, what some might call our inner voice, we tap into an intelligence far beyond that which we are able to access at the surface level. Clouded by our self story and ego driven concerns, among other things, the mind is often preoccupied and overloaded with debris. The flow state is easiest to tap into when we strengthen the connections in our brain toward empowering our intuitive abilities.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

There are a variety of projects I’d love to find collaborators for. Email or dm on insta if any of the following hit your heart.

I’d love to find a vocalist to work with on experimental music of varying styles.

Electronic dance (Happy vibes)

Drums didgeridoo water (Forest Vibes)

Trap Metal (Beach Goth vibes with lyrics that poke fun at misogyny and materialism)

I’m interested in applying insights I’ve gathered, from the field of environmental psychology, to interior design. I wish to design furniture, water features and interactive movable and musical murals and home decor that transports people into energetic spaces alive with restorative and educational engageables. Yes I coined that word.

I want to design mens clothing, specifically all over print pants and hoodies. I have witnessed what sells and excites people and I have some very specific design ideas I am eager to bring to life.

I’m working to create a humanizing broadcast series that consists of 5 minute interviews of people from every country, then every occupation and so on. I wish to develop an interview style and series of questions that cut to the heart of what’s most interesting about a person, quickly and gracefully.

I’d like to create a companion series of tools that compliment the information shared by the Board of Labor website. They created a priceless resource in the form of detailed data on most occupations. They provide info like what is done at a job, what expertise is required, how is that industry expected to grow or shrink, what is the average, high and low pay rates, etc.

I think a video series that explores each occupation including interviews and walk throughs may help prospective employees across the globe immensely. More like an interactive career day vibe for those who want to delve into any given profession with up to date resources and insights provided by members of that field.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lovefeelsbest.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovefeelsbest/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@lovefeelsbest

Image Credits

LFB