Empathy

The Cleveland Clinic has a well-known, powerful video on empathy as related to healthcare. Take a moment to watch the quick video. Cleveland Clinic Empathy Video

As defined by researcher, professor, and emotions guru Dr. Brene Brown, "Empathy is not connecting to an experience, it's connecting to the emotions that underpin an experience."

When you empathize with someone, you are sharing an emotional connection in which you both understand the underlying emotions and feelings, even though you may not be able to share the experience. Using the Cleveland Clinic video as an example, we may not be able to share in the experience of being cancer-free, losing a loved one to a terminal illness, or worrying about how to pay for our healthcare, but we can all share in the underlying emotions and feelings of fear, heartbreak, and worry. Sharing in that emotional connection is empathy.

Empathy is about feeling with someone while staying out of judgment and not trying to just make it better.