(note made a few days after the below outline was written, I want to call this a Circle of Empathy and NOT a circle of concern. I believe they are different things, and I want this to be about empathy, not just concern)
I can probably give a better title for this than “What is a Circle of Empathy” but let us begin nonetheless.
It is responsible for billions of deaths every year.
It saves billions of lives every year.
Any decision involving anyone else is driven by it.
Most people have barely given it a second thought.
I want to give a moment to understand what a circle of concern is and convince you that understanding yours better can not just change your life, but the lives of countless others as well.
A circle of concern (or circle of empathy) is everything that an individual deems to be concerned about. This can include, but is not limited to, groups of people, animals, the environment, ideas, events, objects, ideologies and areas of politics. And everything outside of a circle of concern is considered unimportant, even to the point of death.
To understand this concept the best, we will look at it through the lens of survival. Job #1 for anyone is survival (and you might even say it is the only job). There exist people and other things in the world that can help an individual survive. Whatever the individual thinks will help them survive will be in their circle of concern and everything else will be outside of it.
That’s it, it’s as simple as that. But the key idea here is the word “thinks”. What one thinks will help them survive is not always what will actually help them survive. A supportive loving family can and will almost always help someone survive in the world. Families are almost always, and rightfully so within most people’s circle of concern. But many people for example (but not all) are not concerned with their physical health, preferring short-term gratification over what will keep them healthy in the long run, and as you might imagine this usually is not a good survival strategy.
-The difference between what others expect your circle of concern to be vs what your actual circle of concern is.
-How circles of concern change over time
-The benefits of expanding your circle of concern
-The drawbacks to expanding your circle of concern
-The benefits of narrowing your circle of concern
-The drawbacks to narrowing your circle of concern