"Empathy and Emotional Intelligence"
Empathy and sympathy are two completely different words.
Empathy is understanding you own or others' feelings. Sympathy, on the other hand, is sharing others feelings and taking on their emotions.
Practicing Empathy:
1. For self
Awareness without judgment! Learn to recognize and name what feeling you are feeling, without trying to suppress your feelings or cover it up with another emotion.
If you are feeling sorry for yourself, do not deny it. Go through it but don't hang onto it. Let your emotions pass your way as if they are on a conveyer belt. They are neither good or bad. They just are.
2. For others
Be empathic but not sympathic. You DO NOT have to take on others' negative emotions. Just because somebody tells you about how angry they are about something doesn't mean that you have to start feeling angry. Remember to respect YOURSELF!
The important key is that it is not your job to try to fix or change others' emotions. Their emotions are theirs!
