Though the acts of caring and caregiving relate to our interaction and relationships with other human beings, this dimension has a different emphasis than our social and cultural dimensions. 

This dimension invites us to explore and understanding the differences among healthy versions of:

• Sympathy: sharing someone else's emotions

• Empathy: understanding the emotions of someone else but not feeling the intensity of that emotion ourselves

• Compassion: understanding another person's suffering or pain and taking appropriate action to solve the problem or alleviate the person's suffering and pain

In this dimension, we can also enhance our awareness of symptoms of trauma (primary and vicarious) in ourselves and others. 

We can learn to:

• recognize what aspects of our day-to-day lives in lawyering evoke trauma responses

• establish healthy personal and professional boundaries

• cultivate healthy dialogue around helping one another prevent, process, and work through trauma

• For a deeper dive into cultivating our caring and caregiving well-being dimension, consider exploring Chapter 14 of The Flourishing Lawyer.
• Also consider checking out:
  • Christopher Kukk, The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success
  • Paul Bloom, Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion

Trauma Resources:

• Bruce D. Perry & Oprah Winfrey, What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
• Bessel van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
• Laura van Dernoot Lopsky, Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others
• Compassion Fatigue: ABA Resources
• Trauma-Informed Lawyering: Resources
• Trauma and Burnout: Resources