The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life's Most Essential Skill Paperback – October 1, 2013

An eye opener, goes in deepth on empathy, I would say that its a book for every one to read and to grasp the complete understand on how to relate to others. I work within the customer service industry and deal with different personlities on a daily basis; I purchase this book personally to help me understand people on whole so that I can be more supportive with my interaction.

Loved. If you are looking for an emotion positive view of these crazy things we call emotions, you would be missing out not to receive Karla's perspective. Basically, if you aren't currently using your emotions as real time tools, then this book has the potential to add value to your life. You'll notice some repeating material if you've read her other book, her blog, or taken her online course. However, she has plenty of new content and updates and adds nuance to some of the older material. Thanks Karla.

Karla McLaren is a highly skilled and trained Empath, as all her books demonstrate. This one is fabulous for those needing validation for their unrecognized EMOTION WORK in the WORKPLACE! Empaths are frightfully discounted in our culture and Karla is one who pulls the cover on the dirty business in the world of business (and healthcare and therapy!).

Karla McLaren has written another, well researched book on the subject of emotional understanding & the benefits of empathy. I'm happy to recommend it to any one who is interested in developing their social & emotional skills.There are many connections between this book & her earlier work The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You. This book, being a later work, reflects some of the further maturing of her understanding of this, very current, area of research & consideration. & she is quite open to the probability that others, with different life experiences, may have some differing views.Two key delights for me are that:1. She states very clearly that empathy is a human ability (though often suppressed), & she references otherworks that make clear how much of myth some of the gender stereotypes are2. She states very clearly her concerns about "otherism" i.e. making folk wrong or unnatural in some way for simply being different or having a different perspectiveA concern is how she initially describes the skill of Perceptive Engagement. For me, that description may tend to give an undesirable message to people who have boundary management issues or have a sense of being drained, or who struggle to respect the boundaries of others. I'd prefer that you read it & think through what she is saying, so I'll not discuss the detail here. My take on Perceptive Engagement is that the ideal outcome is for all parties to have sense of wholeness about the outcome.For me, an interesting gap is that Marshall Rosenberg's empathy oriented communication guidelines are absent from her many references. Rosenberg is a globally recognised mediator, & his focus on empathy is marketted as non-violent or compassionate communication.Other books that you might enjoy include:The Empathy Factor: Your Competitive Advantage for Personal, Team, and Business SuccessNonviolent Communication: A Language of LifeAnger, Guilt and Shame: Reclaiming Power and ChoiceWhat We Say Matters: Practicing Nonviolent CommunicationThe Compassionate Instinct: The Science of Human GoodnessGetting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life

Another one of those books that changed my life. For good. Thank you Karla for writing this guide to ourselves. I've been in dark for many years but now I can see the light. And thank you for making me feel like I'm a human being and not some sort of weird creature who can't fit in. I can now fit in as I finally understood my strengths. Thank you for holding the space that set me free.

Great book on working with emotions and empathic skills. At times, I found it hard to follow the languaging, how she creates her own terms for various techniques and then references them throughout the book. But I love Karla's work, and find it invaluable. I especially recommended it for those working in therapy or the healing arts, or those who find themselves highly sensitive or empathic.

I don't like the textbook feel of the book. I was looking for something more practical and hands on. While this book does have some of that, you have to wade through a lot of technical talk to get to it.

Five stars. Lots of work catching up with the terminology, and the information Karla presents. She is on the opposite end of the empathic continuum than I am, so I have a lot of work to do. I am eternally grateful to have found this book. I will also probably buy her other books.