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By: Maryam Kakou
An empathic person is a good listener, patient, understanding, and kind. There is no right
or wrong way to do it. It’s simply listening, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and
communicating the healing message of “You’re not alone in this”.
When you
see another person suffering, you might be able to envision yourself instantly
in the other place and feel sympathy for what they are going through. However, sympathy is
completely different than empathy. Sympathy is the feeling of pity or sorrow for someone else.
Empathy, on the other hand, is having the ability to understand and share the feeling with another
person. Both are useful, but sympathy can become patronizing and can create a divide between
you and the other person.
Showing the virtue of empathy enables you to be helpful instead of getting caught up in
the issue. Advice is an enemy of empathy in some cases- you want to stay in their world, not
make yourself feel better.
Some signs of being an empathic person include people often telling you their issues, you
help others when they are suffering, deeply caring about others, and you are good at picking up
how people are feeling. Having this virtue of empathy makes you concerned for the well-being
and happiness of others. It also means, however, that you can sometimes get overwhelmed,
burned out, or even overstimulated from always thinking about other people's emotions.
There are different types of empathy a person might experience. The first is Affective
empathy which involves the ability to understand another person's emotions and respond
appropriately. Such emotional understanding may lead to someone feeling concerned for another
person's well-being, or it may lead to feelings of personal distress. Another type of empathy is
Somatic empathy which involves having a sort of physical reaction in response to what someone
else is experiencing. And lastly, Cognitive empathy involves being able to understand another
person's mental state and what they might be thinking in response to the situation.
From the perspective of the Catholic Graduate Expectations, an empathetic person is
confident in the dignity of selves and others, believes that the cross is the ultimate sign of
forgiveness, and seeks and grants permission. We should all strive to be more empathetic in our
daily lives.
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