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What’s the Difference Between Compassion vs. Empathy? · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
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  SPEAKER_01: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: From emotional intelligence through cognitive distortions, certified life and wellness coach Comedy Wood is on a mission to help people see the magnificence of their own unique human spirit.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Through these small bites of self-visualization and self-confidence, you can have healthy relationships, success in business and career, and live the life you want to live.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Rise up, live joy your way.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Hi there, and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
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  SPEAKER_01: Whether it's morning, afternoon, or evening when you've chosen to tune into this episode, I just want to say thank you for taking some time out of your day to spend here with me.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: And today we're talking about the difference between compassion and empathy, which they're very similar.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just be clear that there's a lot of similarities, and they're associated with positive interpersonal interactions, they're associated with more positive emotions, higher resilience, improved mental and physical health, and they both are about responding to someone else's feelings and experiences.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: However, there are differences between the two.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: The relationship between compassion and empathy is a delicate one.
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  SPEAKER_01: So empathy is really about being able to put yourself into or in someone else's shoes so that you might feel or experience what the other person is feeling and experiencing.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Compassion, on the other hand, involves recognizing someone else's emotions and then taking an action to ease or help them through their suffering and distress.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: So empathy helps us understand others, but it involves that healthy distance, right?
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  SPEAKER_01: That reasonable distance to avoid placing their needs ahead of our own.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Empathy involves understanding and experiencing or relating to the experience of the other person, but over-identifying with it could actually lead to toxic empathy, right?
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  SPEAKER_01: Because if we over-identify with that experience, we might take it on as our own.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_01: Compassion channels that empathy into a constructive action where we can offer this healthier approach, uh, which helps balance the difference between empathy and compassion.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just kind of just talk a little bit more about what empathy is.
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  SPEAKER_01: Again, empathy is our capacity and ability to understand what someone is sharing with us in terms of their feelings and experiences.
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  SPEAKER_01: So it's not sympathy.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Sympathy is more of that, um, I feel sorry for you versus empathy is I can understand or I can, I really hear what you're going through.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so there are different types of empathy.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Cognitive empathy is about recognizing and understanding others' emotional states as well as their perspectives.
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  SPEAKER_01: Uh, emotional empathy involves not only the understanding of their feelings, but also uh feeling a similar emotional response.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're having a if you're coming um towards somebody with emotional empathy, you're not just going to understand the feeling that they're having, but you're also going to somewhat experience that a bit yourself.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Compassion and empathy is a mix of the cognitive and the emotional empathy, and it entails knowing and feeling the feelings of the other person as well as being motivated to assist them and support them to alleviate the suffering they might be going through.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Compassion empathy is what motivates people to actually act and help somebody else.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: And empathy, honestly, is a huge part of the human connection.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: So as human beings, we are relational beings.
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  SPEAKER_01: We have this innate desire to relate to others.
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  SPEAKER_01: And empathy is that root of that connection.
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  SPEAKER_01: Because when we have the ability to honor someone else's experience, that is the groundwork, the foundation for a more meaningful, safe relationship.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And research will show that empathy activates the brunt the brain's pleasure neurotransmitters.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: So it activates serotonin, which is a mood regulator, it activates dopamine, which is that natural high, that hit.
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  SPEAKER_01: And so that results in a satisfying situation that we get when we demonstrate empathy.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and it nurtures and fosters compassion.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: So let's just talk about compassion for a second then.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: So even though it's similar to empathy, compassion takes it slightly further, where compassion involves the understanding and the sharing of the other person's feelings and then takes actions to actually support and help that person.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's a proactive reaction to what that other person is experiencing.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Compassion and empathy are therefore closely related because both of them involve the understanding of what this person is sharing with you.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Empathy is the first step in recognizing this, and then compassion takes it a step further into adding a genuine drive to support and nurture that person.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: So again, empathy is your foundation for compassion.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Compassion is the what am I going to do with this information?
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: How do I want to move forward?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, when we are talking about, it's important to just recognize though, either one of these, taken to an extreme, can absolutely take a toll on your own mental, emotional well-being.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's where burnout can happen.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about things like compassion fatigue when we're taking it too far.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So it's always knowing what your own limits are when we are, um when we are being empathetic, when we are being compassionate.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Those individuals who classify them as highly sensitives, that's something to keep in in, you know, just in your awareness.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: So despite the similarities between these two, empathy, again, put yourself in the shoes.
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  SPEAKER_01: Compassion, on the other hand, is moving and taking action to support it.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: What it's important to recognize, though, that both of these things are the underpin for that connection with another person.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Understanding um somebody on an emotional level allows for trust to be built, to allows for open and safe communication to happen, allows for the acceptance of differences between people.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um when we think about uh how we can use empathy in our everyday life, not just in our personal relationships, but even in our professional world, there has been a lot of talk around becoming an empathetic leader or empathy in leadership, because when we are an empathetic leader, those individuals tend to be slightly more people-oriented.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: They tend to be able to understand and recognize signs of stress or signs of burnout.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that leadership style, that empathetic leadership style, does allow employees to feel seen, allows them to feel supported and safe.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: And that can actually contribute to a reduction in the incidence of burnout, the reduction in stress levels.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: So empathy actually has a very important role in our personal world and our professional world.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: The the important things to just make sure that we're paying attention to, though, again, is leaning too far into anything is never a good thing.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But how do we how do we bring this into our everyday?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that we can do to bring both empathy and compassion into our worlds is to practice things like active listening, to recognize when we're being judgmental, not because we then start judging ourselves for being judgmental, but to become aware of when that's showing up.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Practicing things like loving kindness to others as well as to ourselves.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Engage in activities that promote understanding of others.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, for instance, volunteering.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: I was just talking recently to a company around just how kindness can be a health benefit and what the healthy benefits are to acts of kindness.
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  SPEAKER_01: Being able to engage in things like that can start building our empathetic muscle as well as our compassionate muscle.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: So when we're thinking about these two things, they are very important to building our own our own mental and emotional well-being.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Both of those things are it's important to just have that balance, right?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: That balanced approach to empathy for others as well as compassion for others, and then also holding that space for yourself.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you'd like to talk about this or anything else that you feel like coaching might be a benefit for you and your world, you know where to find me at coachwithcomedy.com.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay well.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: For more information, book a chat with comedy at www.chatwithcomedy.com or visit her website at www.comedywood.com.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find comedy on Facebook or Instagram.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Username it's authentic me.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.