• All three concepts relate to understanding and caring about others' feelings.
• Sympathy: Recognizing and sharing another's feelings, often with pity or sorrow.
• Empathy: Deeper understanding, actually feeling another's emotions as if they were your own.
• Compassion: Combining sympathy and empathy with a desire to alleviate suffering and help.

• Depth: Sympathy is shallowest, then empathy, then compassion goes deepest.
• Action: Sympathy doesn't involve action, empathy can lead to action, and compassion motivates action to help.

• Sympathy: "Poor friend lost their job, must feel awful."
• Empathy: "Losing my job was awful too, I understand their fear and frustration."
• Compassion: "I understand, and I want to help them find a new job."

• Empathy and compassion strengthen relationships and motivate helping others.

Tags: Relationships