Empathy has played an important role in my life in a few different ways. First and foremost, developing empathy and compassion for others is a central element of Buddhist mind training and meditation, so it is something that I have tried to work on every day for over fifteen years. This has helped me to make my mind more flexible and manage my own emotions more effectively, and to understand others' viewpoints and make an attempt to relate to them. Empathy has also been important in my professional life, primarily in end of life/elder/dementia care, to help the patient (as well as their families) to deal with a difficult transition and to avoid shame and self reproach over their own illness or infirmity, as well as their reactions to a loved one's decline.
Empathy helps to build better software in a few different ways: First off, it helps to keep issues around accessibility in mind, and highlights the importance of comprehensive semantic markups fo