Empathy  is a quality that is essential to most people's lives and yet the modern world makes it easy to lose sight of the feelings of others. But almost everyone can learn to develop this crucial personality trait , says Roman Krznaric. Roman Krznaric used to regularly walk past a homeless man around the corner from where he lived in Oxford and took almost no notice of him. One day he stopped to speak to him. It turned out his name was Alan Human and he had a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. They afterwards developed a friendship based on their common interest in Aristotle's ethics  . This unexpected meeting taught Roman that having conversations with strangers opens up our empathic minds. We can not only meet amazing people but also challenge the prejudices that we have about others based on their appearance, accents or backgrounds. Furthermore, it's about recovering the curiosity everyone had as children. Respect the advice of oral historian Studs Terkel, who always spoke to people on the bus, "Don't be an examiner, be the interested inquirer ." The world's first Empathy Museum, which is starting in the UK in late 2015 and will then be travelling to Australia and other countries. Amongst the unusual exhibitions will be a human library, where instead of borrowing a book you borrow a person for conversation-maybe an unhappy investment banker or a gay father. In other words, the kind of people you may not get to meet in everyday life. As the psychologist and inventor of emotional intelligence Daniel Goleman puts it, without empathy a person is "emotionally tone deaf". It's clear that with a little effort nearly everyone can put more of their empathic potential to use. So try putting on your empathy shoes and make an adventure of looking at the world through the eyes of others. What should adults learn from children?
Never judge by appearances. Be curious about others. Never talk to strangers. Always be polite.