EMPATHY IS NOT:

Giving Advice / Fixing
Why don’t you…If I were you…You should…
Minimizing
Come on. It’s not the end of the world! It could be worse
At least you’ve got a job!
Interrogating
What are you going to do? Why do you think they did that?
Self-Referencing
Wait till you hear what happened to me!
Giving Sympathy
You poor thing! / That’s terrible!