We have seen that empathy is a great key to effective witness for Christ, but why is it so hard to express? The answer lies in our conditioning. We are all trained from birth to use words as a medium of communication, so we become fluent in the use of communication by language, but we are not trained in the development of emotional communication skills. In fact, in some family sub-cultures, we may even be actively discouraged from expressing ourselves in this way! Let me explain further. Whilst it is possible to communicate empathy using words, these are not the main channel of emotional communication. Empathy is best communicated by sighs, hmmms, aaaaahs, groans, gasps, sympathetic facial expressions, tears, open body language, nods of concern, caring silences and sympathetic smiles, etc. If you still think this is easy, try it on someone. Maybe warn them in advance of what you are doing, or they may be a little nonplussed. There’s not a great deal of active empathic communication in our culture.