he Truth About Your Emotiitivity
Are you an Emotional Empath?: Discover The Truth about Your SensitivityBy Dr. Michael Smith, Ph.D., Counselor and coach for empaths and highly sensitive people.
Can you look at someone and just 'know' what they are going through? Do you cry easily? Do you find yourself listening with ease to other people's problems? Do strangers easily share intimate secrets? If so, you might be an empath, and you probably have gone through life being more affected by other people's energies than you realize.
An empath is an individual who has an exceptional ability to feel other people's emotions, sensations, and even their pain. For an empath, it can be like living an episode of Star Trek! You don't even have to try and you just know the motivations and intentions of other people.
Here are some of the traits of those who are known as 'empaths':
* Empaths are good listeners and easily draw out stories from others.
* Empaths generally put others needs before their own, with a deep desire to assist people.
* Empaths are deeply in touch with emotions and tend to cry easily, often for no apparent reason (only to find out later a friend or family member is having a rough time).
* Empaths often get overstimulated in chaotic public settings (e.g. they tend to avoid public places like malls).
* Empaths do not understand cruelty or violence.
If you resonate with these descriptions, take the empath quiz for a deeper understanding of just what type of empath you are.
An empath is an individual who has an exceptional ability to feel other people's emotions, sensations, and even their pain. For an empath, it can be like living an episode of Star Trek! You don't even have to try and you just know the motivations and intentions of other people.
Here are some of the traits of those who are known as 'empaths':
* Empaths are good listeners and easily draw out stories from others.
* Empaths generally put others needs before their own, with a deep desire to assist people.
* Empaths are deeply in touch with emotions and tend to cry easily, often for no apparent reason (only to find out later a friend or family member is having a rough time).
* Empaths often get overstimulated in chaotic public settings (e.g. they tend to avoid public places like malls).
* Empaths do not understand cruelty or violence.
If you resonate with these descriptions, take the empath quiz for a deeper understanding of just what type of empath you are.
You cannot change the fact that you are an empath. It is akin to your eye color; if you are an empath, you were born with a sensitive nervous system. Being an empath is not teachable; it's not something to learn. However, you can learn to manage and adapt to your empathic nature. Hopefully you will make it your intention to modify the intensity of your experience through adaptive means (meditation, movement, grounding, etc.). However, it is quite common for empaths to modify the feelings through not-so-adaptive means (alcohol, drugs, and addictions such as 'over-thinking'). If you fall into that category, it is completely understandable and you are not alone. As you move forward as an empowered empath (as taught when you sign up for my free eCourse and newsletter), you can unlearn any maladaptive habits that you have accumulated.
As an empath, you have a gift, or in many cases, what may feel like a serious curse! Perhaps you have had the experience of being bombarded with the frightening emotional rages of family members (trauma is associated with roughly 40 percent of empaths, and it may actually enhance energetic perception, being constantly aware of where the next threat may be).
Whatever your experience, being an empath can be challenging. It means that you are able to process energy for other people. You feeleverything, even if you are not aware of it. Being what some may erroneously call "hypersensitive" to the feelings of others is not a bad thing. It does not mean you are co-dependent. There is nothingwrong with you, although it may feel like there is. For better or worse, because of your diffuse energetic boundaries, you can feel, and in many cases, take on, the pain of others.
Whatever your experience, being an empath can be challenging. It means that you are able to process energy for other people. You feeleverything, even if you are not aware of it. Being what some may erroneously call "hypersensitive" to the feelings of others is not a bad thing. It does not mean you are co-dependent. There is nothingwrong with you, although it may feel like there is. For better or worse, because of your diffuse energetic boundaries, you can feel, and in many cases, take on, the pain of others.
While this is almost always helpful to others; it can leave the empath severely drained, always running on empty. As you now awaken to your empathic gifts, if you are to thrive, you must have the courage to plant your feet firmly in the ground, and learn to say no. You are being asked to choose wisely. Just because you have this gift, does not mean you need to always use it.
With the gift of empathy comes tremendous responsibility. Before we can move on to bigger things, such as helping others, we need to confront the challenge of really knowing, loving, embracing, and fully accepting ourselves as we are. Many of the clients who I coach in myEmpath Academy classes have energy blockages in the throat area, which is metaphysically tied to being able to express yourself fully in the world. When the lower vibratory energy from others accumulates in your body over time, you may feel constricted around the throat and you may lose the awareness of how to fully use your own voice. It is the rare empath who has not been challenged to keep this area flowing freely to express oneself in an authentic manner. If we can be more fully authentic and honest about who we really are, then we allow others can do the same. Instead of being overtaken by the energy of others, we will overtake them with our joy and expressive authenticity.
In my instruction package, The Complete Empath Toolkit, I discuss hundreds of effective ways that you can take care of yourself and maintain your energetic and emotional sanity. Applying the principles and working them into your daily routine may likely allow you be happy, joyful, and more prepared to face the demands of your daily life. And, in the Bigger Picture, that's really all that's being asked of us. May you continue to put one foot in front of the other with a smile on your face, no matter what the circumstances, one small baby step at a time!
With the gift of empathy comes tremendous responsibility. Before we can move on to bigger things, such as helping others, we need to confront the challenge of really knowing, loving, embracing, and fully accepting ourselves as we are. Many of the clients who I coach in myEmpath Academy classes have energy blockages in the throat area, which is metaphysically tied to being able to express yourself fully in the world. When the lower vibratory energy from others accumulates in your body over time, you may feel constricted around the throat and you may lose the awareness of how to fully use your own voice. It is the rare empath who has not been challenged to keep this area flowing freely to express oneself in an authentic manner. If we can be more fully authentic and honest about who we really are, then we allow others can do the same. Instead of being overtaken by the energy of others, we will overtake them with our joy and expressive authenticity.
In my instruction package, The Complete Empath Toolkit, I discuss hundreds of effective ways that you can take care of yourself and maintain your energetic and emotional sanity. Applying the principles and working them into your daily routine may likely allow you be happy, joyful, and more prepared to face the demands of your daily life. And, in the Bigger Picture, that's really all that's being asked of us. May you continue to put one foot in front of the other with a smile on your face, no matter what the circumstances, one small baby step at a time!
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