It’s easy to feel sympathetic, to tell someone I’m sorry for your loss, or I’m sorry about your breakup, loss of job, your financial struggle, or anything else life throws at them. But it’s so much harder to walk a mile in their shoes, and tell them I empathize with you, I see you and I hear you. When people are hurt, angry, sad, or depressed, they are not looking for a reaction, they are seeking a compassionate response instead. According to Brené Brown, “Empathy is communicating that incredible healing message of ‘you’re not alone.’”
In a world that seems so broken, full of more questions than answers, packed with pain, loss, and so much unknown, we need to be more empathetic than sympathetic. Words of encouragements can only go so far. People around us need to know they are valued, they need to know we are in the foxhole with them. Empathy goes much further than sympathy because we are sharing the emotional journey. In fact, the word empathy came into existence as a translation for the German word Einfühlung which literally means “feeling in”.
Are you FEELING IN those around you?
