Can you look at the other side of the grass?

Photo by Jana Sabeth Schultz on Unsplash

Do you recall a time when you had an argument or debate with someone and you ended up in frustration because of the wide difference of opinion you felt? Such an experience is bound to happen in everyone's life. Read the parable below which throws some light on the phenomenon.

Two horses were grazing on a field. Suddenly the first horse picked up an argument with the second horse about a blade of grass that stood between them. The first horse said that the grass was brown in color. The second horse did not agree to this and contested that it was rather yellow in color. The situation slowly turned into debate and then into a fight.

Photo by Claire Nolan on Unsplash

You will laugh on knowing the reality. The first horse only had to take a step forward and look at the other side of the grass to know it was actually yellow. The grass was brown on one side and yellow on the other. Hence the two horses formed different opinions only because their point of view differed. Each horse failed to 'look at the other side of the grass'.

If you need to effectively manage a conflict with someone, along with your opinion, you need to understand the other person's opinion also from their point of view. This skill or quality is popularly known as 'empathy'- to put yourself in the other person's position to understand them better. Empathy is a great quality that can reduce differences and enhance cooperation and harmony with others. 

Here are a few tips to be empathetic with others.

In the first place, you need to listen to the other person completely without interrupting their talk. 

Try to understand the other person from their point of view, without evaluating them from your point of view. 

Love the other person genuinely. It helps to avoid prejudice or bias against them. 

Respect others even when they differ from you, because they might be right from their perspective. 

Explore how to work together even with differences in place. 

Consider differences as valuable insights as they are helpful to look at a situation from different angles and help to workout different solutions. 

Understand that differences need not inevitably be conflicts. Differences, when managed properly, can work out to be the power of diversity.