Have you ever suddenly felt yourself getting angry but you didn’t know why? Or maybe anxious, or even happy when you weren’t before? Maybe you’ve all the sudden felt nauseous or had a headache?
Now, were you around other people when that happened? If so, have you ever thought that you might be an empath? I guess the next question is, do you know what an empath is?
I wanted to talk about this because it’s been coming up a lot for me lately. I’ve been learning about my own abilities and I have friends who are finding their abilities as well. Some of them are super sensitive and that can be difficult to understand.
I also feel like there are people who may dismiss this because they feel like it’s just another spiritual thing and they aren’t into that. But I wonder all the time how many people are empaths of some kind. Those people that will change emotions on a dime. Are they feeling someone else’s emotion and taking it on? Probably, and without even realizing it.
So, let’s get into it. What exactly is an empath, and how can you determine if you possess these unique abilities?
Let’s start with defining what empathy is. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. For empaths, it goes beyond sympathy, empaths can deeply connect with others on an emotional level, often experiencing the emotions of those around them as if they were their own. They are attuned to their feelings and emotions.
But what makes someone an empath?
Empaths are individuals with heightened emotional sensitivity. They possess an innate ability to sense and absorb the emotions of others. This sensitivity often leads to feeling overwhelmed in crowded or emotionally charged environments.
Some common signs of an empath are:
High Sensitivity: Empaths are highly sensitive to external stimuli, including noise, light, and emotions. They may feel overwhelmed in crowded or noisy places. I’ve been known to have a full-on panic attack in settings like this. This also makes me think of people who are autistic. I wonder if this is something that contributes to their challenges. Just a thought…
Intuitive Insights: Empaths often have strong gut feelings or intuitive insights about people and situations. They can sense when something is wrong or when someone is upset. Trust those feelings. If you are tuning into to someone else, it may help you pick up little cues or information that helps you communicate with that person better or even help you make decisions.
Mirror Emotions: An Empath tends to unconsciously mirror the emotions of those around them. For example, if someone is sad, they may feel sad too, even if they were in a good mood before.
Strong Connection with Nature: Some say that many empaths have a deep connection with nature and animals. And that natural settings are where they can relax and regroup or feel rejuvenation.
Compassion and a desire to Help Others: They may be drawn to helping professions, like counseling, nursing, or social work. This most likely comes from their desire to help others who are suffering. They just want to help people. They want them to feel safe, to feel happy.
Maybe you are thinking about people in your life that fits these descriptions. Maybe you’ve never thought about this way before, but may be empaths.
If you want to find out for sure there are some online quizzes you can try if you find that helpful. I recommend you talk with someone who works with energy and such. That could be a spiritual coach. You can reach out here and we can help you get started.
Empathy comes in various forms. It’s not a one-size-fits-all concept.
Let’s talk about the different types of empathy:
Cognitive or intuitive Empathy: This involves understanding someone’s perspective and emotions intellectually. It’s about “getting” how someone feels without necessarily feeling it yourself. These types will tend to go with gut a lot.
Physical Empath: This is when you will pick up on medical symptoms of others. Stomach aches, headaches and things like that. Maybe even feeling hot or cold.
Plant Empath: You have a connection to things that grow basically. You have empathy for plants and you know that plants can feel.
Animal Empath: Kind of same as plants, but with animals. You guys are usually animal rights supporters. Animals tend to gravitate to you as well because they feel safe with you. You can pick up on their emotions like you would a human.
Earth Empath: They are going to be sensitive to changes in the Earth itself. They will also be just really in tune with nature. These are people that definitely recharge when they are in nature.
Heyoka Empath: This type is very rare. It comes from the Lakota or Dakota native American dialects and it means sacred clown or spiritual fool.
These types of empaths are like a spiritual mirror. This can show the person what they aren’t seeing. They tend to see right through people that are being dishonest about something.
You can be more than one kind of empath. Becoming aware of your empathic abilities is really just the beginning. The journey of an empath involves self-discovery and learning how to manage their heightened sensitivity because, let’s be honest, it can be overwhelming if you aren’t aware of what an empath is.
Being empathic can be both good and bad.
It can be a good, helpful gift. When you know how someone is feeling or what they might be dealing with, it puts you in a position to help and with that insight you know what help they need.
It can help you know when someone is dishonest or lying to you and it can also help you know about the person you are communicating with so you can maybe adjust what you say or how you talk to them to make interactions more pleasant.
It can also be difficult.
You tend to carry all these emotions of others with you and you have work to shed those emotions.
A lot of the energy you absorb maybe negative. which can make it difficult for empaths to set boundaries. It’s really crucial for them to practice self-care, grounding techniques, and boundary-setting to protect their emotional well-being.
It can also easily overwhelm you, especially in crowds where there are so many emotions to deal with at once. I may have said already that I struggle with all of that, especially the crowds. A crowd can send me into a full panic attack when it’s too much.
It can be quite draining and taxing.
There’s also that I have found people be a bit leary of me because they didn’t like that I could read them so easily or that I “knew” things.
So, if you think you might be an empath, what can you do to nurture and harness these abilities?
Self-Awareness: A great start is recognizing and accepting your empathic nature. Understand that it’s a gift, not a burden. These gifts can not only help you personally in your journey, but it may help you help others. When you understand it, then you know how to control it or what to do when you are picking up on energies in particular. That can be very jarring if you don’t know what it is.
Another great practice is Meditation and Mindfulness: These practices can help empaths stay centered and manage overwhelming emotions. For example, being in the moment, helps you start to recognize emotions and then you can ask yourself, is this my emotion or someone else’s. If it’s not yours, you can then learn how to get rid of the energy or handle it in the moment. Meditation is such a great way to learn how to stay centered and help you calm yourself when you need to.
Energy Protection is vital too: You want to learn to shield yourself from negative energy.
This can be done with meditation and grounding, for example.
If you have never grounded before, feel free to reach out and we can get you the steps to follow. There are several guided meditations on youtube that are great resources to help get you started. If you’ve never meditated before it may take a few tries to find the style that works for you.
You also want to set Boundaries: Establish healthy boundaries! It’s okay to say no and prioritize your own well-being. If something isn’t working for you or making you anxious or causing those emotions to come up. Say no.
Connect with Others: Seek out support from like-minded individuals or join empath support groups. Sharing experiences can be therapeutic and a great way to learn and grow.
Again, I wanted to talk about this because I know people who are newly discovering their abilities and some who have known for awhile but don’t really know how to deal with it.
I’ve even started wondering if this has an effect on mental health issues. When you have odd things happening in your head and you can’t control or explain it, it can really affect your daily life. I believe there are some people how have been misdiagnosed because they don’t understand and neither do the people treating them. I’m not saying all people! But I just wonder how many times knowing about abilities could help people.
But, this is why I do this. this is why I work with other people who do this and who teach how to work with these gifts. It’s important. And we are adults. Can you imagine kids who have abilities they don’t understand and can’t explain and the adults aren’t listening?
It’s important – it’s important to know and important to be explored and be open minded about.
Remember, being an empath is a beautiful gift, but like many things, it comes with its challenges. But with some self-awareness, paying attention to your self-care, and then implementing the right techniques, you can harness your empathic abilities and you may even have the opportunity to make a positive impact on the world with your gifts.
We will see you guys next time… Until then, stay connected and stay curious.
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