Here's how to be more empathetic:

• Listen. And then open up until you have a "vulnerability hangover."
• Try meditation. Broaden the loving fuzzy feelings past family and friends.
• Expose yourself to different ways of living. Hang out with different people. If it can end slavery, it can help you.

Empathy doesn't just have the power to change our lives, it can also change the world:

As Roman Krznaic recounts in his book, Empathy: Why It Matters, and How to Get It, Muhammad Ali addressed the graduating class at Harvard in 1975. The champ was known for coming up with clever poems, so an audience member asked him to recite one.

At a length of exactly two words, what followed may very well be the shortest poem in recorded history. Ali said:

Me, We.

It's a pithy reminder of the importance of empathy. Introspection only gets you so far. We need some "outrospection" to really live good lives.