Empathy is likely a word you’ve heard thrown around in everyday language, and while most people have an understanding that empathy has to do with caring about other people, the nuisances of empathy make this crucial concept more complex than that.

What is Empathy?

The basic definition is that empathy is the ability to share someone’s feelings. Within this definition, there are three types of empathy:

 1. Cognitive Empathy refers to a situation where you understand someone else’s emotions. You know both what they are feeling and why they feel that way.

 2. Emotional/Affective Empathy refers to the ability to feel another person’s feelings. When they feel happy, you feel happy and when they feel sad, you do too.

 3. Compassionate Empathy/Empathetic Concern refers to the taking of feelings into action. Instead of merely understanding or feeling someone else’s emotions, you to act as a response to their feelings (like buying flowers for your wife after she had a bad day).

With this understanding of what empathy is, you can begin to see how just important it is in everyday life. Empathy helps forge deep connections between people, helps one another to see value in each other, improves intellectual ability, and encourages people to act respectfully towards each other. These types of mindsets and actions are what makes the world a better place.

The Empathetic Deficit

As wonderful as empathy is, it’s not always present in our society. When you know the good things come out of empathy, you know the issues faced when empathy is removed from the equation. When people don’t empathize with each other, fights and disputes break out. This causes rifts in relationships, cruelty, biases, and even decreased efficiency in terms of the workplace.

How to Practice Empathy

In order to avoid these problems, it’s important to make sure that you practice empathy in your own life. There are several ways that you can deepen your empathetic ability:

 1. Read Literary Fiction: Studies show that people can increase their empathetic abilities by reading fiction. This is because when you read, you are immersed in someone else’s world and you experience emotions other than your own. Even though the character which you are empathizing with may not be real, the empathy is. And that empathy can be applied to real people in your life.

 2. Listen Attentively to Others: People’s emotions aren’t at all difficult to comprehend when you’re giving them your full attention. People want to be understood, so they communicate their feelings to you through their words and body language. Putting away your cellphone and giving someone your undivided attention will go a long way in improving your empathy.

 3. Attempt to Understand Those with Different Beliefs: It’s really easy to empathize with people you agree with. But if that’s all you do, then your empathetic ability has no room for growth. Branch out of your social circle and listen to opposing opinions. Even if you don’t end up agreeing with them, you’ll understand why that person feels that way. And you’ll both be better off for it.

With this deeper understanding of empathy, you’ll be able to see value and wisdom in each individual, thereby creating not only healthier and stronger relationships, but a healthier and stronger world.