Kuala Lampur, July 12 -- When someone dear to you experiences something that brings them down, leaving them disheartened or absolutely crushed, how do you usually respond? "I know exactly how you feel," "I can imagine," "That happened to me too"? If you've used any of these responses, or something similar, you might have mistakenly shifted the focus away from the other person, although it was well-intended.

We have to remember that sympathy is not the same as empathy. Sympathy costs very little of our emotion, time, and energy. But empathy? It demands your time, emotional energy, effort to think deeper, careful consideration, and sometimes even the courage to simply admit that we don't understand.

Think of it this way. It's easier to do...