Discover why small acts of kindness might reveal our natural wiring for connection, and how “street empathy” could be the antidote to our disconnected world – no special training required.
The story
Ever notice how your day brightens when a stranger unexpectedly helps you? I’ve been thinking about these small moments of goodness while reading Scott Swain’s “A Practical EmPath.”
The book talks about “street empathy” – those everyday connections that happen naturally when we’re not overthinking things. Like yesterday, when I saw an elderly man struggling with heavy bags and before I could even move, three different people rushed over to help. No phones out for social media posts – just humans being kind because that’s what felt right.
What’s striking is how Swain suggests we’re naturally wired for connection. That same nervous system that floods with anxiety can also light up with belonging when we tune into others.
The book blends Buddhist wisdom with practical communication tools, but uses real conversations that make empathy feel doable rather than some impossible ideal.
It’s a refreshing reminder that despite what headlines suggest, humanity’s default setting might actually be goodness – not perfect goodness, but that simple impulse to ease suffering when we see it clearly.
Sometimes in this doom-scrolling world, we just need a path back to that natural state of connection. And maybe that’s what makes us human after all.
