Empathy vs. Sympathy
Sympathy is when you feel pity for someone else.
Empathy is what you feel the emotions someone else is feeling.
Ex: Mary’s husband died in a car crash.
Sympathy: That’s hard. I feel bad for her. Well, I’m going to watch my TV show now.
Empathy: Wow, that’s hard. I feel bad for her. Well, I’m going to go over there now and cook dinner for her / do the dishes. She shouldn’t be alone at a time like this.
For some, feeling sympathy might be the first step to building empathy. For others sympathy might be a wall that blocks you from walking over the bridge to the other side to feel what someone else feels, to stand on the same side, together.
Notice it’s not about feeling the right or wrong thing. It’s about building the habit of responding to your feeling with action that can potentially alleviate someone else’s suffering.
It doesn’t matter where you start. But it does matter where you end up.
Cross the bridge.
Get to empathy.
