Magazine for Bored Bears

This is a beautifully animated video acting out a well articulated section of Dr Brené Brown’s lecture on the difference between an empathetic and a sympathetic response from the RSA. the video neatly wraps up a difficult subject to pinpoint the consequences of both responses. Empathy is the ability to place yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand relate as best as you can to how that person feels in the situation. The trait of being able to express this feeling and understanding it is the second tier of empathy. Another response to hearing another person’s problem is to express sympathy. Sympathy is the ability to express ‘culturally acceptable’ condolences to anothers plight. A lot of the time, this includes pointing out a silver lining in the situation but it’s not always a helpful thing to do. Empathy is harder to accomplish for many reasons. We not only have to actively listen to another person’s problem without judgement but then be honest with...

This is Friar Bigotón (Friar Moustache), the stray dog who has just become a member of a St Francis Monastery in Cochabamba at Bolivia. A saint, famous as the patron of animals, was the reason why the dog was adopted since the monks are expected to help stray animals. Now the dog lives happily enjoying his life as a monk. “His life is almost exclusively about playing and running,” fellow Friar Jorge Fernandez mentioned at The Dodo. “Here, all of the brothers truly love him. He is a creature of God.” Friar even wears a habit as a monk. Possibly inspired by his outfit, the dog was caught seriously following to his religious duties: “[Here’s] Brother Carmelo preaching to the fish,” said Franciscan Kasper Mariusz Kaproń, who was the first to post these adorable pictures on the Internet. “If only every church of our country [would] adopt a dog and love it like we love and care for Friar Bigotón,”  Proyecto Narices Frías  (Cold Nose Project), a local animal rescue, wr...