The value of people is in their way of being, not in their thinking.

In this society where it seems that if you are not with me you are against me, it is important to value people for their treatment more than for their beliefs. After all, a belief is a state of mind in which we assume the knowledge or experience we have about an event or object to be true.

Beliefs describe the educational and cultural content of people, however The way you treat others shows something more personal, the capacity for empathy. How we treat others says a lot about ourselves.

Empathy is the ability to perceive what another being may feel by putting ourselves in their conditions and adopting their scale of priorities. This can be divided into affective and cognitive. Affective empathy is the ability to respond with an appropriate feeling to the mental states of another. For its part, cognitive empathy is the ability to understand the point of view or mental state of another.

Empathetic people make others feel understood, heard and emotionally cared for. From a psychological point of view, In the emotional bonds we form, it is more determining how we relate to others. than the beliefs we cherish.

“Belief is involuntary; nothing involuntary is meritorious or condemnable. A man cannot be considered better or worse by the belief in him.”

-Percy Bysshe Shelley-

Why do we need to make an impression of others?

All the information we receive and the way we organize the world passes through our perceptual filter. The interpretation we make of the reality that surrounds us is the result of our personal baggage in the form of expectations, emotions, needs, values.

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The perception of others is the process through which we seek to know and understand other people. It refers to how we perceive others and follows the same principles as the perception we make of ourselves. Self-concept is closely linked to the perception of others, because in part We learn what we are like by our perception of the reaction of others.

We need to categorize others into schemes or groups, in the form of a guide to orient ourselves. This evaluation has to do with the evolution of our species and is an adaptive resource. We need to make an impression on others to adapt our reaction. We need information to assess whether we should be close, stay as far away as possible, or show indifference.

“The most precious gift we can give to others is our presence. When our mindfulness embraces those we love, they bloom like flowers.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh-

People who make our world easier

Surround yourself with people who make your life easier. People who are pleasant to deal with and make us feel appreciated share a series of characteristics. They are affable, noble, affectionate, respectful and like to listen to others. People who do not respect our way of life, our decisions and our way of seeing the world do the opposite.

Let’s think, is it preferable to be surrounded by arrogant and arrogant people who think the same as us or by kind, loving people who take care of us, even if they don’t share some of our beliefs?

Everyone will have their opinion, but It has been proven that surrounding ourselves with empathetic people helps us face our daily lives more optimistically since having them is already a great reason for this optimism. Let us not forget that a belief is a way of interpreting reality, not the only one. There are multiple benefits of surrounding yourself with people because of their way of relating to and appreciating others and not exclusively because of their beliefs, apart from enriching ourselves with other cultures and opinions.