Empathy is the ability to empty yourself, to let go of your ideas and judgements so that you can meet the other person as openly and freely as possible. This openness creates a space in which it is possible to fully engage with the experience of the other person. Being empathetic means tuning in to the other person and recognising what is going on in their mind as well as emotionally. ‘Don't do anything, just be there’, says a Buddhist proverb and perhaps summarises quite well what empathic listening is all about.