To empathize means to understand and share someone else's feelings, almost as if you're experiencing them yourself. When you empathize with a friend who's nervous about a big presentation, you don't just think “that's tough” from a distance. You remember how your own stomach felt tight before your last presentation, and you genuinely feel that same anxious flutter for them.

Empathizing goes deeper than sympathy. If your teammate strikes out in a baseball game and you feel sympathetic, you might think “I feel bad for him.” But if you empathize, you recall that sinking feeling you had when you struck out last month, and you connect with exactly how disappointed and embarrassed he feels right now.

People who empathize well make loyal friends because they truly understand what others are going through. When your sister is frustrated about a difficult math problem, empathizing means remembering your own confusion with fractions last year and recognizing that same frustrated feeling in her. You don't have to fix the problem to empathize. Sometimes just saying “I know how that feels” helps more than any advice.

The ability to empathize grows stronger with practice. The more you pay attention to how others feel and connect those feelings to your own experiences, the better you become at understanding the people around you.