This is a post of gratitude for Caroline Fleck’s book, “Validation,” a must-read for anyone who wants better relationships in life.
Why am I talking about empathy? After all, this is My Gratitude Project. But I am truly grateful for some recent books on epathy that have called my attention to its power and uses. So much so, that I want to share my reading with you.
Here is the first book I want to recommend: Validation: How the Skill Set That Revolutionized Psychology Will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life by Caroline Fleck. This effusively titled book is in part a personal memoir of how Fleck learned about and uses empathy in her life. It is also a reflection on how she, as a psychologist, began incorporating validation in her practice to help suicidal patients reconnect with their humanity and endure until they feel better.
Mostly, though, it is an instruction manual for anyone who wants to use validation and empathy to improve outcomes with others in their life and work.
As a mother, Fleck uses empathy to help manage her pre-teen daughter through illness and other bad days. As a person with MS, she uses it to forgive herself for her own limitations, even when she wants badly to do more than she can muster. It is candid, personal, revelatory, and practical all at once. Caroline Fleck’s book “Validation” is well worth reading.
This post is part of my Gratitude Project 2025: The Magic of Empathy — a 30-day exploration of empathy and gratitude. Visit the hub to follow along or catch up on past reflections.
If you’d like to explore the science behind gratitude, visit the Greater Good Science Center’s Gratitude Resources.
