The main aspect of being an Empath is feeling and experiencing the emotions of others. For example, an Empath can tell when another is nervous, when one is angry or sad. They may enter shopping centres, or busy peopled places, and feel an array of strange sensations wash over them like a tidal wave. This is due to the gift of being able to feel…
Granted, not all Empaths consider the ability to experience other people’s emotional energy as a gift. In fact, some would say the opposite. But that is often because they have emotional or physical imbalances to work through (which may take some time), and this makes feeling the emotions of others as intrusive and ‘just too much!’
Before they become aware of their birthright, some Empaths may not give much thought to all they experience, energetically, because what they feel happens so naturally. It is not something they force, nor do they have to work at it. They may go through life assuming everyone experiences the same, not realizing that what they ‘feel’ is a unique part of Empath life.
But once the Empath’s eyes are open to their incredible traits and abilities they have, they can’t unsee them. All those ‘feelings’ finally have an explanation.
Other than their ability to sense the emotions of others, most Empaths also have incredible intuition…
Empath intuition comes in many forms, but for most it comes as strong gut sensations, having the ability to read others, or just having a ‘Knowing’ about future outcomes.
Intuition can be developed (see this post for more details), if that’s what one wants, but most Empaths already have very dependable intuition (in the way of gut-feelings) without having to try at it.
Some ignore their gut-feelings for their own reasons: Maybe they want to see the best in others, or perhaps they don’t believe in their intuition as much as they should. But every Empath’s gut-feelings are there to warn, serve and protect them from experiencing anything they don’t need to.
The strong sense of intuition an Empath has is both their guide and their best friend.
They may question their intuition, especially if it does not fit in with what their mind or ego wants, but they would be wise to listen to it.
Strong urges, feelings, premonitions or notions in any shape or form, happen for a reason and it is in one’s best interest to take heed of them.
The reason behind them may not be revealed for days, weeks, months or even years but they will have a purpose that will eventually reveal itself. For more information on tuning into Empath intuition see this post.
Another one of the many traits an Empath has is the ability to feel the energy of the days of the week.
Many love the vibe of a Saturday morning, because it feels calm, peaceful and uplifting, but are not so keen on the energy of Sunday evening, there’s a reason for that too…
Empaths pick up on collective energy.
The start of the weekend, when the majority are off work, can feel deliciously freeing. Late weekend evenings (Sunday evening for example), can carry that heavy vibe, as people prepare to return to jobs they dislike or even dread.
Some Empaths blame their workday feelings on their own job dissatisfaction, not realizing they are picking up on the energy of those around them.
But not only do Empaths have the ability to feel energy, some can also see it.
I remember, from an early age, seeing energy fields (auras), around the animate and inanimate, without even trying.
I loved lying on the grass, on a warm summer’s day, and watching the hazy energy around the trees as they swayed gently in the breeze. I assumed this was something everyone could see/do.
It was only in adulthood, that I discovered not everyone could see energy fields. I realized it was just another trait of being an Empath and Sensitive to energy… There are many more.
An Empath’s traits may strengthen or weaken with passing years, depending on life circumstances. But they have these traits for a reason, and a great part of Empath life is figuring them out and learning how they can guide them towards the life they were born to lead.
Want to learn more about Empath traits? Click here.
Hope this helps on your Empath journey.
Until next time
Diane
©Diane Kathrine at Empaths Empowered
Empaths Empowered 
Pingback: At A Glance: 30 Traits of an Empath | Reiki With Friends
Hello,
I’d like to share that this is something wonderful being related over the net as we, adults, can now practically identify children with these gifts and acknowledge and follow them. I am empath and I relate to your experiences as a kid. I thought all my abilities were natural and normal and that everybody were like that. when I would relate seeing the aura (haze-like, not the colourful ones) of things and people, people would think bizarrely or even think it is my imagination. i then retracted for fear of being treated differently. I loved meditation as a child, loved the calming soothing effect of going inward – feeling nothingness was blissful (without learning the techniques, I always ventured for hours secretly sometimes). with time I started feeling presence of beings. Everytime I felt presences I would open my eyes instantly. since this became recurrent, I thought of speaking up. I talked to my mum who thought it was all wrong and she talked to someone who understood the energy world.
I was told to stop everything and that all of it might be just plain wrong. I got no support and no understanding from people who loved me. So that was where I stopped and started hating all of the extra abilities I had back then. I fortunately have 1 good friend who believed in me and still does as at 14 I predicted some real good things that would happen to her in the near future.
I stuffed all inside but with time I gradually opened up when I realised the things I can still manage to do and feel, even when I was not acknowledging what I have. Big time to unwrap it all up!
I think the childhood experiences were a learning milestone. At that time I should have concentrated on my studies than on the energy world that fascinated me. If I had got appropriate guidance back then, it would have been nice to manage both studies and energy world with blessings and guidance of elders. this is a great work you are carrying out. Now we parents can actively identify similar kids and offer appropriate guidance without fear – it is a worldwide phenomena. Thank you so much.
Thank you and thanks for sharing. 🙂
I recently came across your blog when looking to find out more coping skills & empath info. I have read many of your articles and they really resonate with me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences as they have helped me in understanding my sensitivity and clear up a lot of false notions I had about myself.
I have a question about knowing. I recently had an interview with someone who I will be working as a contractor for who I met through one of my in-laws. While we were speaking I was trying to read her energy to get a gut feeling, but because I was somewhat nervous and self conscious I wasn’t very clear. Near the end of our meeting my right eye started watering profusely and that has never happened to me before or since. I told my spouse that it may have been my body trying to tell me to watch for something, but he explained it away and it didn’t make me feel any better. My gut wasn’t screaming to watch out, but I can’t shake the reason for my eye to act that way. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Namaste & thanks again for being here for us fellow awakening empaths!
Hi R,
When it comes to the Knowing it really is unique to the individual. From my experience, the initial feeling/thought one gets regarding a certain situation/person etc is normally the one to follow. If you were too nervous to read the energy (nerves always affect the solar plexus/gut area) at your interview, your body may have given you another sign. There is also the possibility that your eye was watering because you were picking up on an eye problem she had.
Hope this helps and thanks for sharing.
JPT, You might be right about picking up others’ eye problems like this.
A few weeks ago I was playing with my relative, who is just one year old, when my right eye started watering a lot. I didn’t pay attention then to that, but when You mentioned about picking up, it all makes sense. He has eyelid ptosis of the right eye.
Hi Sandra,
Yes, I’ve had the same thing happen to me too. It is a strange one to get your head around :).
Thanks for sharing
I need help understanding some events that are happening to me. The most troubling was on December 26, 2013 (very recent). I fell asleep on my couch in the living room. My husband was in our bedroom. I had taken my usual sleep meds and it is very rare that I will wake up, but I did. I heard footsteps close to me. I looked around and believed someone was in the hall bathroom. Then I felt what I can only describe as a body lay on top of me. I was frightened and kept telling myself not to be afraid. The body (presence) on top of me felt warm. I was laying on my right side and it covered my whole side. I reached up and thought I felt a hand. I became very afraid and called for help, but could only whisper. Then I whispered my dogs (I have 2 German Shepherds).Finally one of them started barking. The pressure from the presence would not let me get up. The barking woke my husband and he came out of the bedroom. I just kept saying as loud as I could manage, “Help.” He asked me why I needed help. I could not respond. My husband raised his voice and told me to take the dogs out. When he yelled the spirit/presence let me go. I am having trouble recognizing this as a good or evil happening. Has anyone out there ever had such a visit? Your thoughts appreciated.
I am still waiting for someone to answer me. Help.
Hello Fiona,
I saw your comment and thought about it for awhile. My gut impression is that you were actually sleeping and dreaming at the time. You were somehow caught between the two states – like sleep walking. This is a documented side effect of some sleep meds. During sleep, our body is paralyzed and that is why you couldn’t move. Your husband yelling at the dogs actually woke you up. The dogs could have picked up your distress even while sleeping. If you truly had a presence in your house, your dogs would know before you.
Thank you so much for answering. About the meds, I have been on them for 10 years or more. My dogs were in the bedroom behind closed doors. They heard me when I called their names. Don’t think I mentioned it but in the last 3 months I have been in 3 car accidents and totaled 2 cars. I remain unhurt and feel blessed for that. Also, the day after the event a huge painting came off the living room mantle and missed me by less than an inch. Glass everywhere. I suppose I could say I’m accident prone but…
Fiona,
Look back to whom or what happened before the first accident. You have a negative person or situation in your life that is causing discourse in yourself. When you spoke of the “accidents” I could relate to what you were saying. I have had a similar situation happen to me. The negativity was in the form of a woman whom I had met at a work training class and later became friends with. We became fast friends, chatting on the phone all the time, but she was an emotional vampire. Her value system was different than mind and though I didn’t want to judge her, just having her as a friend in my life was causing me discourse. I had three car accidents that year and a lot of near misses. All accidents were minor, and all were people who hit me. The last of which was at a picnic she and her boyfriend invited my family to. Someone had hit my parked car in the parking lot while we were at the picnic. It’s been about 2 years now since I have talked to her. I have another work training coming up soon and the day I saw her name on the list of people going, someone hit my car while it was parked in front of my house. The training sessions have been rearranged since then and she will no longer be in my session. I’m so glad. Take a look at what is bothering you in your life and do whatever you can to resolve it.
Deb,
I thought about what you wrote about the negative” person and I am afraid of that too. This is because the negative person(s) in my life right now are my 45 year old daughter and 23 year old granddaughter. They are always in some sort of crisis. It is hard to take them out of my life. It has been so scary in my life with all this negativity. I am going to talk to a therapist who is also an Empath and is very knowledgeable about my life. He is going to try to help. Thank you for all of your comments. I will keep in touch with what’s going on. Fiona
Deb,
I just thought of something. About 2 months before the first accident, my brother-in=law moved in with us until he gets his own place. He moved here from Florida where he lived with my in-laws. He transferred with his employment so he does work. He does have a pretty bad drinking problem. He will often butt in to some family stuff and cause arguments between my husband and me. In fact, the night the spirit/presence came to me my husband and I had a bad argument because of him. He is supposed to move out in a couple of months. I do let him get on my nerves. I will try to not think about him as much as possible. What do you think?
When I was about 20, I remember my sister telling me that my gut feeling was more accurate than other people’s facts. I always knew I had great intuition but it wasn’t until I was about 40 that I had what other’s would call a premonition. I had called an old neighbor to see if I could bring my son over to her house to play with her son. She said no because she had someone over right now. She never said who it was. As I hung up the phone, a clear thought popped into my head of “she’s selling her house.” Sure enough, when I talked to her a couple days later, the person at her house was a real estate agent. She had never mentioned that she had been thinking about selling her house before, so I don’t know where my thought came from. Since that time I have had several other incidents where a clear thought has come to me and not just a gut feeling. Makes me wonder if this has happened throughout my life, but I just wasn’t listening then.
Im a empath. And im so glad i saw this link on f.b. ive been reading this for a few hours now and making notes. Its so refreshing to find other people like myself the emotions are like a wave calm then like a raging sea. Im a reiki master and spiritual healer and developing my spiritual awareness and im begining to understand my inner self and love my inner self more and letting go off all my fears slowly,but it really does help, thou i still have a few issues even i need to concentrate on….
Im sensing more as i develop and feel people pain and ailments in this life and with spirit..
Thank you soo much in sharing this to all of us, we will all learn and share our own experiences with compassion and most important love…
Over the past 15 years,I have picked up on things,no one else did,and I was actually scolded for thinking ill of someone and had my thoughts dismissed. Sometimes,I see things,that I don’t want to see. Painful,sometimes,very disturbing things. I am glad I don’t have be alone anymore. Realizing this is a gift,not a curse,is a blessing to me. I have thought,my purpose for being on this earth,was to be a protector of the innocent. There is a shift in thinking. I will be looking at the good in others,not just the bad. Thank you so much for this site.
This is a fantastic post…and I of course respond to that, cause not following my intuition some 2 years ago, is bringing to a very unhealthy intimate relationship right now…
I remember the time to make the choice I was extremely struggling with myself…and the answer was still, don’t go for that relationship, but I chose otherwise( I know it was my ego too who run that specific show) and now I can see the big picture…this relationship should have had never happened!!!
I am actually working to trust my intuition more and more…and at the same time eliminating those toxic relationships I am bringing in my life…
Thank you again to give insightful information about how to recognize the warning and the physical manifestations of the intuition…
Pure Love Energies
Danielle
I found this blog through a Facebook share – Titled 30 traits of an Empath. I almost fell off my chair to find something so well suited to my nature and mind.
Lately things have been so confusing, actually in fact most of my life I have felt this way. In my own words…Trying to make sense of what I am feeling, thinking..etc etc.. generally to no avail I spend most of my days confused and unclear of where I get these feelings, memories and my sensitive nature from.
I am 24 years old now, and just wanted to thank you for sharing such deep insights into Empathy. I am willing, and hungry to know more on how I can manage myself, and my environments.
All 30 traits have rivers that run through me…
Most of my life, I have shut the ‘spiritual, intuitive’ self away in fear. But am returning to the source like many other human beings at this critical time in our evolution and history.
Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you – And I will follow and learn as much as I can from your words of wisdom.
Growing up, I always felt odd. If I would mention something that I “saw” and I would get these disapproving looks or be admonished because that was not “right.” There are abstract theories that I can “see clearly” in my mind’s eye. The vision is so real and concrete to me.
Thank you so much for sharing The Knowing. Blessings to you and all that have The Gift.
I never realized that’s what I was feeling. I’ve always enjoyed getting up early on a Saturday morning. I purposely get up early to enjoy my coffee and the energy of Saturday and Sunday mornings. But I never realized that it was because I was feeling it. (I’ve only recently learned that being an Empath was a real thing – someone told me years ago I was, but I thought it was a Star-Trek thing, not real). I’m so glad I found this community.
I love to read these stories and all the comments. It’s nice to feel that I’m not alone in being an Empath. Somedays, when so much sadness is going on around me, I find it so difficult to ignore it all. I usually have to leave the room or work or wherever it is I am. I have not watched the news in so long and if I’m on a social network, I have to force myself to scroll down past something horrific, so that I’m not sent into a mental and physical meltdown. One day on facebook, before I learned to ignore most posts, I read one father’s struggle through losing his baby and I could not get out of that father’s heart. I could not get myself out of the pain for several days. You might say get off facebook, but I’m an author and need to market my books, so I do my best.
Thanks for this blog!
Julie
I had a similar experience as the one you described where you hired a girl you felt in your gut was wrong:
I reconnected with friend from the past and discovered he was having a difficult time since almost dying in a head on crash with a semi. He traveled to the town I lived in and interviewed for a few jobs with some people I knew. I was going to let him stay with me until he found his own place and got back on his feet.
Very soon after he arrived I found he had arranged to pick up the rest of his things and my heart sank. I felt out of control and could barely speak. I didn’t know how to stop what had already been put in motion. All I could say to him was that I didn’t feel good about it as he assured me it would be fine and left to get his things.
Needless to say, it wasn’t fine, and after several months and several thousand dollars of “help” from me, I discovered that he had found my bank pin number and helped himself to cash for drugs, I had to actually pay him to leave. That’s how bad it was. I would do anything ot get him out of my house. Not to mention the demons that he brought with him, though I suppose demons are discussed in a different blog.
I hope I’ve learned to listen more closely to my inner voice.
I have been an empath my whole life ~ I think it is normal and natural to be connected to others. I am particularly connected to my children. I do pick up others energy ~ I am a receiver not a sender. My worst experience happened when I was caught unaware. I was in a cemetery, as I walked into a courtyard I was hit with wave after wave of intense grief. I told my sister I had to get out of there. I was starting to sob with the intensity of broken heart. There was only one other person in the courtyard. She was standing with her back to is. From her outward appearance she was just standing there. From the intensity of her emotions she was in the depths of grief. Usually I would try to comfort someone I can feel is so sad but I knew there was no comfort for this woman. Plus, she was overwhelming me! I felt better as soon as we left tho her sadness stayed with me for days. She didn’t even know she was broadcasting the energy. I have wondered why I didn’t feel her before I saw her especially since her feelings were so strong. Walls and distance had never been barriers before or since. I suspect the construction of the place may have hidden her from me. The walls are crypts with bodies in them – all of which would have been absorbing the energy before it reached me. When I came around the corner into the courtyard I was totally unprepared.. Had I felt her before we got there I would have chosen not to go.
The girl in the cemetery may have not been in this physical world anymore and that may be why your reaction was so intense.
I well feel how you feel. I still don’t know how others don’t inhale and feel nature. Don’t know their spirit guides. I know things as you wrote and others don’t see them..yet. Negativity totally drains me. I am connected to those I love. Husband is also an empath. We have had to be apart due to immigration issues. Soon reunited. Even from the distance we can feel each other. Especially energetically. We are nicknamed Desi and Lucy. I am here ripping up a carpet and moving furniture one night. The next day he asks, what is my Lucy doing there???? He picks up my energy and “knows” Content marriage. Fights don’t last long. and are rare anyways. The souls talk and there is an understanding and tenderness the mind can not grasp. Saturday morning here. I have had a long week here. Ah..coffee and relax. Inhale.