Here are a few additional ways to increase your empathy:

Connect IN PERSON with people! In today’s digital world, we often do not give our mirror neurons an opportunity to fire: texting, emailing and posting items on social pages do not increase our sense of connections at a neural level—in a way that brings us together to strengthen our sense of humanity. Digital communication lacks eye contact, facial expression and tone of voice—all of which normally promote connection (positive or negative). As such, one way to increase your capacity for empathy, is to practice face to face (ichat, skype, facetime) and in person communication. Even (gasp!) having a good old fashioned phone conversation creates more connections than a digital one. 

Another way to work on empathy is through mindfulness and meditation:

“Many studies have shown that mindfulness meditation that includes LKM (loving-kindness meditation) can rewire your brain. Practicing LKM is easy. All you have to do is take a few minutes everyday to sit quietly and systematically send loving and compassionate thoughts to: 1) Family and friends. 2) Someone with whom you have tension or a conflict. 3) Strangers around the world who are suffering. 4) Self-compassion, forgiveness and self-love to yourself.”

(Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201310/the-neuroscience-empathy)

As another example of a loving kindness meditation, Jack Kornfield, considered an authority on meditation, suggests repeating these phrases, “May I be filled with lovingkindness. May I be safe from inner and outer dangers. May I be well in body and mind. May I be at ease and happy.” Practicing this on a regular basis can help increase your empathy.

(Source: https://jackkornfield.com/meditation-lovingkindness/)

In fact, countless studies have been done to prove the benefits of mindfulness and meditation. From better cognitive functioning (read: doing better in school) to healing mood disorders, practicing mindfulness and meditation has significant positive influences that also boost empathy, for yourself and for others.

Facing hardship yourself helps you empathize with others who are going through difficult times. When life is all sunshine and roses, it’s difficult to imagine what people who face hardship are feeling. So challenge yourself to something new, different, maybe even grueling to see what exerting yourself, and maybe even failing, might feel like. Failure is a growth experience and through it we learn so much about ourselves and we gain the capacity to understand other people’s pain and triumphs. 

For people who struggle to experience empathy, although these exercises would be beneficial, a more direct and focused approach might be more needed. People with large deficits empathy can build their skills through therapeutic interventions such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In CBT, individuals are instructed to become more aware of their thoughts and to change negative thinking patterns to more beneficial ones. Behavior is also targeted. 

For example, for someone who is lacking empathy, CBT might focus on challenging negative thoughts such as That person deserves to be hurt – she’s a loser! This thought process involves name calling, which dehumanizes people. As a result, someone in CBT would be asked to change such thoughts whenever they occur:  No one deserves to be hurt. Then, to alter behaviors, the individual in CBT might be challenged to ask the person his/her name, make eye-contact  and, in time, to offer help in some way.