Emotional Awareness - Lisa D. Foster, Leadership Coaching & Training

Eight Practices of Empathy That Strengthen Connection | My Gratitude Project Day 9

When we break it down, empathy becomes a number of small acts and practices of empathy. Here are a few practical and tactical practices of empathy, with special thanks to Caroline Fleck and her excellent book on Validation: Whatever you call it and whatever you do, use these empathy skills to keep your mind on their experience and help you understand them. Try various ways to show you get them and see what works best for you. This post is…

How Tactical Empathy Turns Conflict into Connection: My Gratitude Project Day 5

November 5, 2025

Gratitude Project

One step beyond feeling empathy is tactical empathy, or what some people call, validation. Tactical empathy is the act of letting another person know you see them, you hear them, you understand them. To be effective, validation has to resonate with the other person as if they said it themselves. The easiest way to do this is to mirror what they said, or copy it. Hearing their own thoughts from another person’s mouth is a powerful experience. This is a…