Babies are very truthful about their emotions. And sometimes we adults need to learn from what simlicity babies teach us in understanding emotions of ourselves and others.

I went to meet Roots of Empathy during my visit to Toronto in January, led by an amazing social entrepreneur who is devoted to early childhood education. Mary Gordon, the founder, is a wonderful lady who when sitting inside a room with kindergarten children ages three to four, will give you all the insights into how a young child learns about "empathy" from a baby that visits their classroom.

I personally have never had much problem expressing and communicating my emotions, however in Japan it is usually very difficult to be open about sharing personal feelings. And Ms. Gordon commented that when they had a Roots of Empathy classroom in Japan, one of the difficulties the kindergarten teacher's faced was to share and express their emotions to young children.

Japan has a language which protects people's privacy. For example we never ask the taxi driver or a lady who takes your order in a cafe "Hi" How are you?". People's privacy are expected to be respected in this country.

I feel however that maybe it is this "respect" that estranges people and especially young children. There must be more trust in being able to share personal feelings with other people in this country.

Which brings me to the last point that Ms. Gordon emphasized strongly: "I will work only with people I can trust"

Roots of Empathy HP
http://www.rootsofempathy.org/