Empathy vs Sympathy: "You wanna sandwich?" I take my understanding of empathy in terms of pre-Brene and post-Brene. There was a time when I think I misunderstood empathy. Then after learning from Brené Brown, I have a better appreciation. Aspects of Empathy: 🔭 Perspective talking - Accepting that someone else's perspective is what they are really seeing and their truth. ⚖️ Staying out of judgment - How often do we listen to others and go judgy judgy in our minds? ✔️ Recognizing emotions in other people and communicating that - Name what we are seeing. Empathy is feeling with people. It's "when someone is kinda in a deep hole and they shout out at the bottom and say, 'I'm stuck. It's dark. I'm overwhelmed.' And then, we look and we say 'Hey, I know what it's like down here and you are not alone.'" Sympathy is going "Ooo, it's bad huh? Errrr, now, you wanna sandwich?" Or anything that begins with "At least..." or trying to sliverline something painful. It's like trying to console someone by being seen as having gone through worse. In many (if not all cases), when someone shares something painful, all they are looking for is someone to listen and acknowledge that it's tough. Not to one-up pain or give solutions from experience. Brene changed my understanding of empathy. If you haven't already seen this classic The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) Shorts, check it out 👇
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I can’t believe it’s been ten years since we first met that damn “Wanna sandwich?” empathy-fail deer! Thank you Katy Ross (Gobblynne) and The RSA (The royal society for arts, manufactures and commerce) for turning this talk into an amazing cartoon. ❤️, BB https://lnkd.in/gVFU5eW8
thx bro! this is fun, funny, and enlightening!
Kent C. - The video shows a clear distinction between empathy and sympathy. Empathy is less depressing.
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3moI haven't heard Brené Brown speak on this before, Kent. But this makes a lot of sense to me. Empathy involves a recognition that sometimes the only thing a person needs is to be allowed to experience the emotion (and feel support in that), rather than trying to escape it.