I think basically for the first step you choose an event or location you attended to recently, but I would always just do something from awhile ago too. It’s not like they’re going to know where you have been. By this they mean just jot whatever it is that is down in your brain, not worrying about how the wording is at least. Then afterwards they want you to read over what you just wrote and write a second paragraph conveying your words with more detail and description, this is where the “good authors choose their words carefully part” comes in. How you felt, what the setting looked like in your eyes, etc.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Beth took her understanding about how hard it is to deal with loss, and put herself in her friend's shoes