Summary: My conversation this week is with Belinda Bauman. She’s the Executive Director of One Million Thumbprints and the author of Brave Souls: Experiencing the Audacious Power of Empathy. Reflection: Belinda says, “embracing our weakness leads to greatness.” Where have you found this to be true in your own life? How might it be true for your child/athlete this season and this year? She also says sports are a great place to practice empathy, to learn other people have perspective other than my own. Who can your child learn from this season? Another quote from the episode is, “Where sports engage the concept of peacemaking, they become the most accessible on ramp to conflict transformation that we have.” Have you seen sports act as a vehicle for healing or reconciliation in a community? If so, how? Belinda says, “Empathetic listening is when we turn the noise down in our own head enough to hear and feel what the person in front of us is saying. Turning our own noise down in our head lets us read the air around the person that’s talking to us.” Who are you struggling to show empathy to these days? Is it your child? A coach? A teammate or teammates’ family? Have you been quick to write someone off because you haven’t stopped to learn the whole story? What might you change to see them for who they truly are, not as the person you’ve decided they are?
