Do you understand what other people are thinking?  Probably not if you don't take the time to understand what you are thinking.  

First, I'd like to state that I am not a psychologist.  I did minor is that field in college but only by accident. I do have the ability to size up a room, person, or group of people in about a minute and when I'm lucky enough to talk to someone I can make my mind up about them in about 5 minutes.  Even though I usually don't change my mind - I will give them more than one opportunity to identify themselves.  Everyone gives clues about themselves on what they're able to compute and also give back to others.  I do consider myself a giving person with respect to time and thoughtfulness.  If I don't like you, those generosities are used in extreme moderation and if I DO like you they're given in spades.  These will always be situations that I'm in control of my interactions like social settings and relationships - in other words, everyday life.  A favorite thing of mine is listening to people.  The old adage of "I have two ears and one mouth" really is a thing.  I also feel it's important to be able to understand what's going on in a conversation so one can identify how far it can be taken.  A guilty pleasure of mine is to have that knowledge and push the other person to their limit of comfortability and watch them try to internalize what's going on without understanding what's going on.  These are people that I feel avoid knowing themselves.  People who avoid themselves, in my opinion, usually have a set image of themselves they're not meeting and unless they're - not necessarily by definition a sociopath - not able to have empathy, should be able to break down their own walls and come to terms with what they have to offer the world and themselves.

Empathy.  I fell it's important to have empathy with yourself.  Let yourself know it's okay to not be able to do some things and know it's also okay to want to do more than you have in the past but also understand the clear path to get there.  Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes but those mistakes are blessings to help us grow and in turn notice imperfections in other that make them interesting and help us decide if we want to have them in our lives or realize they're only adding to our own dysfunction.  

For instance, I had a conversation with an acquaintance just today and it was clear that he wasn't grasping a philosophy I was expressing and instead of asking what I meant, he immediately dismissed me and then stated his years of experience in this particular subject.  I wanted to welcome his input but the aggressive nature of his statements of fact and also from a previous vein of our conversation where he stated he likes to call the shots while at the gym and has no tolerance for a workout partner and he is a certified personal trainer gave me the context clues that I wouldn't be able to toss out some topics to ponder and would only be schooled on the facts and not possibility of thought.  I respectively changed the subject.  I don't always have to be right and I even laugh at absurdities I blunder out sometimes but this person would not be able to laugh or pontificate outside his realm of security.  Frankly, I found it fascinating.

Everyday life is so interesting.  Laughs, bouts of anger, tangents of frustration, peace, and hostility are around us everyday.  Deciding to not forcibly cause distress upon others is being graceful and also, at times, unselfish when we want to get a point across but realize that making our point is less important than causing other people to implode.  I can be a very impending person and have even been called aggressive - that can be true.  I can also be any color of the rainbow when vodka is present.  But I feel my greatest strength is assessing a situation and knowing when it's practical to assert my dominance or when to simply keep my mouth shut.  

Now, something for my actor friends, how about finding the empathy in a script/sides?  Understanding what a character is going though is a very important task that must be completed.  What do they want?  What do they want from others?  What are they scared to hear from others?  What are they scared to learn about themselves?  What are they happy to learn about others?  What are they happy to learn about themselves?  What are they willing to learn about themselves/others?  The parallels between "them" and "you/us" is in the form a razor thin line.  It's alright to not have all the answers but it's never alright to not get them or not "die trying".  The more we understand about ourselves, the more we understand about others.  The more we understand our character (in a script) the more we understand about the other characters in the script and how we empathize with them.  And, when we don't quite grasp what's going on - look for context clues to help fill in the gaps.  Most sides have enough nuggets in there to help us assess what has, is, or is about to happen.  If we're lucky enough to have a mentor or coach help us, we need to have enough compassion for our craft to accept their input and use it.  Otherwise, it's like being out of gas, someone giving us a can full and we leave it sitting on the curb and continue to try to start the engine.  It might be funny for one second but you can be guaranteed that offer won't come again and that's at your expense.