Sympathy vs. Empathy?
There is a huge difference between Sympathy and Empathy.
When we interact with a person who is deeply in hurt and pain, in the effort to cheer them up, sometimes we try to convince them to believe in our perspective by saying “You know, it’s all gonna be Okay if you do this and that”. By doing that, we unconsciously put our judgement in their perspective and force them to change . In other words, we don’t actually show any compassion to heal their pains and suffering. It’s only Sympathy.
Empathy is a much deeper, scared state in which we have to strip down all our perspective and recognize this person’s perspective is also the truth. Showing empathy is you’re both in the dark room when you see that person is curling in the dark corner, you then just sit down next to them, cuddle them and don’t say a thing.
This is an awesome video clip by Brené Brown about empathy and sympathy. You should definitely check it out.
Share it to your friends if you like. You can also leave a comment below to tell about your story. Let’s all hear you.
