Thought for today:
‘I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.’
— Walt Whitman
#thoughtfortoday #empathy #sympathy #feelings #emotions #therapy #counselling #coaching
I am often asked about the difference between empathy and sympathy.
I was taught this and still struggle to succinctly describe the difference in a way that is helpful.
I think I can feel the difference better than I can express it.
I have a few “heroes” I can turn to for guidance.
One is Julia Samuel the highly experienced grief counsellor and author.
Another is Irvin Yalom – I am following one of his masterclasses right now.
Empathy is about feelings and emotions where sympathy is about thoughts and cognition.
Then I found a Brené Brown TED talk which breaks it down into four elements.
This is the work of Theresa Wiseman.
Wiseman used a model of concept analysis by Lorraine Walker and Kay Avant.
How can a concept of caring be so involved?
Well, watch this RSA Short video drawn to match Brené Brown’s words to see: