For the Empath, having a variety of quick-fix-pick-me-ups is vital for their continuous health and happiness.
After spending time in public places and around draining people, or just when the stresses of life bring us down, the last thing we may want to do is sit in meditation or do energy clearing techniques to realign ourselves.
When affected by the energy of a hectic world, the idea of waving a healing wand to rebalance and recharge is a most appealing idea. And this is where essential oils come in.
Essential oils work like a magical elixir and have many incredible benefits, they are the perfect way for a busy Empath to stay in balance. The oils help still the mind, clear energy, aid restful sleep and return us to a state of equilibrium.
The value of essential oils has been known for more than 6000 years, not only for their amazing healing properties but for their ability to bring balance back to the body and mind, and promote emotional wellbeing.
Essential oils are composed of tiny molecules that are easily penetrated by the body.
When the essences are inhaled through the nose, the cells that line the nasal passages send a message to the limbic system in the brain, via the olfactory senses. These messages then act as instructions for the limbic system.
The limbic system is a part of the brain that controls the major functions of the body and has a huge impact on the emotions and emotional memory (it is also responsible for sparking nostalgia through certain scents). When the limbic system receive the oil’s message it responds to the request and takes action, whether that be to heal the body, calm the mind or both.
Depending on the oil will depend on the instruction the body gets. For example: with lavender the message will be one of relaxation, if it’s jasmine oil the message will be to promote calm to the body.
The following essential oils are brilliant for the Empath, and have many therapeutic benefits. Not only do they help heal physical ailments but they also work to remove emotional energy held within the body, or within the aura, and act as incredible Empath elixirs.
You can use the oils listed below in diffusers, room sprays, candles, body and facial oils, on a handkerchief, on your pillow, and even in your bath. Continue reading →
As an Empath, you will no doubt have heard of the chakras; but you may not know of the importance they play in keeping you happy, healthy and protected from the energy of others.
The chakras are energy centres located along the central energy canal, near the spine, and are in direct correlation with the endocrine system.
Chakras and Their Corresponding Glands
Root or base chakra: adrenals
Sacral chakra: ovaries/testes
Solar plexus chakra: pancreas
Heart chakra: thymus
Throat chakra: thyroid/parathyroids
Third eye chakra: pineal
Crown chakra: pituarity
The word chakra means wheel or circle and can be translated into vortex or whirlpool. The chakras are vortices which controls the energy of the body.
Chakras can be classed as healthy or unhealthy, open, closed, blocked or imbalanced.
If any of the chakras remain permanently open, it can result in physical and energetic vulnerability, and a diminished aura.
A weakened, leaky aura is bad news on many levels for the Empath. It not only allows our energy to leak out but also allows too much energy in, from those we come into contact with.
So, if you are struggling with fatigue, overwhelm and dealing with too much emotional energy, you may have to consider that your chakras are unbalanced and your aura is leaky.
Anyone who has read many of my posts is probably aware that I’m a big advocate of taking responsibility for self-healing.
When it comes to finding balance and realigning the mind, body and spirit, I believe we are the ones who are responsible. We must make the changes. It is after all our journey. (Of course I am not talking about serious health conditions, that need medical assistance).
I wasn’t always of this mind. When I was younger, I hoped others would do it for me. I wanted the easy option… I learnt the hard way on that one.
It was over 20 years ago when I started looking for answers to the mysteries of life. And in that time I have made many discoveries. Especially in regard to Empath life!
It took me a while to see it, but although it comes with many challenges, the journey of an Empath is a brilliant fast-paced rollercoaster ride and a true blessing. If it were an easy comfortable trip we would never get to overcome the many obstacles we do. And, in turn, accomplish and learn so much.
We climb mountains, float on clouds and stumble into darkness, sometimes all in one day, and it is these experiences that make the Empath journey so worthwhile.
I have by no means got the answers to life’s mysteries, nor would I yet want to have. We have to leave something to learn on life’s path. However, the most important detail I have realized to date is: we will never find true health, peace or happiness until we heal the trinity of mind, body and spirit.
Mind = thoughts, ego and emotions
Body = physical vessel
Spirit = the energetic body and higher self or soul
We come as a trinity package and when it comes to healing we generally have to work on all three.
We heal the body and mind through eating the right diet, drinking plenty of water, doing a good amount of exercise, avoiding excess amounts of stress or anything that is harmful to us.
We heal the spirit by living authentically, expressing gratitude, being kind, having a spiritual practice/belief and spending time in nature.
Generally, when the body is in balance the mind and spirit very quickly follows. The biggest cause of physical imbalance is the diet.
It won’t matter if you work out five times a week, or if you have a regular spiritual or meditative practise, if your diet is unsuitable you will be out of balance and you will struggle with Empath life and your trinity will be out of sync.
Eating foods that do not agree with you will weaken your body, disrupt your hormones, cause mental imbalance and contribute to leaky aura (seriously bad news for the Empath ).
I had no idea that what we put in our mouths could have such a harmful effect on our all round physical and mental health, as an Empath, until I changed my diet.
The start of my Empath transformation began in 2012 [see post here ], when I started making changes to what I ate.
By removing certain foods, I found life as an Empath became easier and more enjoyable, and my intuition and happiness increased. I was shocked that the wrong diet had had such a negative impact on me.
If you are an Empath and you have suffered for a long time with niggling health problems like allergies or depression, if you struggle spending time around people, or if you experience crushing fatigue or brain fog look at your diet.
Modern diets and lifestyles have taken too many Empaths and Sensitives down. Putting them out of action without them realizing that their diet is preventing them from becoming all they can be.
If you want to see BIG changes in your life, change your diet!
If you have worked on yourself mentally, spiritually and physically and still suffer bouts of Empath fatigue, overwhelm, depression or other physical ailments it is time to address what you eat…
Now is the perfect time to make changes, to start living, not just existing, and get doing what you came here to do, and that can be done through healing the trinity of mind, body and spirit.
There is nothing to lose but everything to gain…
2017 Update: If you are interested in changing your Empath life, this book will help you. Or to check your symptoms click on the link: Empath symptoms.
Hope this helps on your journey!
Until next time,
Diane
If you have found my work to be helpful please consider donating here
Over the years, I have tried and studied numerous types of holistic healing. I have researched the benefits of food and nutrition on physical and mental health, and how it affects Sensitive people. Through this, I have made many incredible discoveries.
One of the biggest realizations I have made from observing life and all my research, is how different each and everyone of us is, even as Empaths.
Sadly, we live in a world where we are all expected to be the same in the way we behave, look, think and live. We are encouraged to have the same goals, expected to respond and benefit from the same educational programmes, nutritional and medical advice. Even in the ‘New Age’ arena it can be a one-size-fits-all and an ‘it worked for me so it should work for you’ approach. But this is not how life works.
Some Empaths need speeding up, some need slowing down, some will benefit from a high protein diet, some a high carbohydrate diet, some need to get out of their heads, some need to get inside their heads, and some need routine and rules, others need space and freedom.
Because we are different in so many ways, the path for us to connect our mind, body and spirit is unique to us. But it is also up to each of us to work at finding what is best for us individually.
We may think we want the easy path but, as you will probably have already discovered in life, the easy path rarely ends up being easy. Great, amazing and valuable lessons can be learnt from enduring difficult and challenging times.
On my early journey of finding balance, as an Empath, I used to believe the answers to my healing lay in the metaphysical. I thought if I made myself more ‘spiritual’ I would better deal with all that I felt and thus become more balanced… I hadn’t taken into consideration that it didn’t matter how many hours I sat in meditation, doing yoga or how many spiritual texts I read, if I was putting poison into my body, no amount of meditation or spiritual awareness was going to balance me.
I made this discovery when I decided to change my diet. And the first change I made was by eliminating wheat… This was the start of an incredible life transformation! I lost weight without trying, I felt happier, my energy changed and I took charge of my Empath traits.
Although wheat is hailed as a health food, it acts like a drug and has been scientifically proven to have a drug-like effect on the brain. Wheat has been linked with hundreds of mental and physical illnesses, Click here to check any of your symptoms against those found to be caused by wheat. and it heightens the more ‘negative’ Empath traits.
Drug-Like Foods and the Empath
Now, although I say we are all different as Empaths and each need differing approaches to find balance, none of us will benefit from consuming drug-like foods.
Why?
Empaths react more to drug-like foods because they are highly reactive. High reactive people taste the bitterness in lemons more than others, feel emotional and physical pain more, go red in the face easier and are affected by drugs and alcohol worse than those who are not highly reactive.
Wheat is not seen or classed as a drug but, as it acts like one, it carries the same energy signature.
Many Empaths are under the impression that most of their mental and physical maladies are caused from absorbing too much negative energy when, in fact, many are caused or worsened by what they consume… especially drug-like food.
No one benefits from eating drug-like foods such as wheat!
You may not be aware but wheat has been genetically altered and its protein structure changed. Now, when digested, wheat breaks down into many small proteins that have the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and attach themselves to the opiate receptors of the brain. This has the effect of a narcotic but without the high.
Wheat has been shown to encourage overeating and trigger or worsen mental illnesses.
Not only is wheat destructive to physical health, by its consumption we can damage our energy field (causing leaky aura) and disrupt the balance of the chakras and endocrine glands (glands that produce hormones). The following post explains more on how unbalanced chakras can destroy the Empath.
If you are one who has tried many things to find balance as an Empath, such as: grounding and protective techniques, meditation and spiritual practice and exercise, or if you eat a balanced or vegetarian diet and still struggle with health issues, low moods or depression, look to see if you are including wheat in your diet.
I appreciate others may not have the same benefits as me from wheat elimination. We are all different. But it is worth trying it for at least 4 weeks just to see.
When you remove anything which harms your physical and energy body you naturally evolve. It is said we grow most from that what we give up and not what we acquire (unless it’s peace of mind)
If you want to try going wheat-free or if you want to transform your life as an Empath, The Eating Plan For Empaths and HSPs will take you there. It goes into detail about how certain foods impact you as an Empath and how by changing your diet it can transform your life.
Click on the above link or the picture for more information.
It may sound like a cliché statement to make, but if you change your diet you really can transform your Empath life!
Let me explain more:
Last year, I eliminated wheat from my diet. It is one of the best things I have done for my health and Empath wellbeing. It was through this elimination that I discovered how great a part diet plays on Empath traits, but especially the emotions.
I have already written about the devastating effects wheat has on the body and mind. And, after more in-depth research, I will expand on the reasons behind this and take a look at how wheat and gluten is being linked to many diseases, and how it affects the way Empaths interpret the emotional energy of others.
Every Empath will benefit from removing wheat, and even gluten, from their diet. Especially if they suffer from any kind of depressive illness or if they are introverted to the point of not wanting to venture out into the world.
The wheat you consume today is nothing like your grandparents feasted on. It is now the product of genetic manipulation and these changes began as far back as 1935 when genes for semi-dwarf wheat were first bred.
Dwarfing the wheat genes enabled greater seed production. And, because dwarf wheat only grows to a height of two feet, instead of the usual four, it made it less prone to wind damage.
By the 1970s this semi-dwarf wheat was being successfully farmed in Mexico, India and Pakistan. By 1985 much of the Western world was producing semi-dwarf wheat and by 1997, 81% of the developing world had introduced this crop.
Although the sole intention of genetic crossbreeding of wheat was to give greater yield, thus ending world famine, it changed components of the wheat protein known as gliadin, which caused many problems to the human body.
To try and explain this as un-technically as possible:
Gliadin is a lectin and a part of wheatgerm and gluten. Lectins are proteins that are found within plants and animals; they do the same job of antibodies within the human body, fighting off foreign invaders such as bacteria.
Stomach acid has little effect on lectins – they are virtually indigestible! So, if a person has consumed wheat, the lectins move into the intestines undigested. The intestinal tract knows exactly how to filter waste and extract nourishment; it knows toxins and bacteria from the nutrients our bodies need to feed its cells.
Lectins have the capacity to switch off this filtering system and disturb the intestines ability to act as a filter. The colon then becomes permeable or leaky and allows toxins into the body that have no right to be there.
These toxins wreak havoc on our physical systems and show up in any part of the body as: inflammation of the gut, bowel disease, arthritis, dermatitis, depression, anxiety, acid reflux, asthma, eczema, inflammation of the organs, imbalance in the endocrine system (system which secrete hormones into bloodstream), chronic fatigue, weight gain/loss and joint pain.
But the above ailments are just the tip of the iceberg. And, for the Empath, lectins can heighten all their negative traits and supress the positive.
Depression
Another symptom related to the changes in wheat is the plague of depression that has been on the rise since the mid eighties; coincidentally around the time genetically mutated wheat became abundant and a staple at every meal.
In the 1950s it was estimated that no more than 50 to 100 people out of a million had the need for antidepressants; that figure stands today at 1 in 10!
More than 40 million people worldwide are now taking antidepressants. According to The National Centre for Health Statistics, in America alone, the use of antidepressants increased by 400% between 1988 and 1994 and numbers have continued to escalate since then.
It has been scientifically proven that wheat can change your personality and behaviour!
In tests, wheat was put through the process of digestion. It was found when wheat broke down, during digestion, it did so into many small proteins. These small proteins had the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and bind themselves to the opiate receptors of the brain, having the effect of creating behavioural changes such as paranoia and depression.
The opiate effect of wheat is similar to that of narcotics, but without the pleasurable high and is addictive. So addictive in fact that it will give withdrawal symptoms soon after elimination.
An Empath is sensitive to anything of a narcotic nature. They are also prone to experiencing depression or heightened negative emotions, simply by being around anyone who is suffering. Consuming wheat heightens any negative emotions they experience, both their own and those they pick up.
The last thing an Empath needs is to be brought down by their food. This is why they will benefit from wheat elimination.
To some, the notion of giving up wheat (bread, cakes, pasta and pizza) fills them with dread, even anger, that is just an addiction talking.
Once eliminated from the diet, the desire for wheat foods disappear completely. For some it may take days for others a couple of weeks. However, the addiction will return if wheat is reintroduced, as well as some other nasty effects.
(Update 2017) I believe so much in the power of diet change for an Empath I have written a book about it. If you too want to see big changes in your health and happiness, and I mean changes, why not read The Eating Plan for Empaths & HSPs, it might transform you Empath life!
Living in this heavily populated world, Empaths face many challenges. If it’s not having others’ negativities dumped on them, they get drained of vital energy just by spending too much time in public.
Learning to set energetic boundaries is, of course, a given for those of a Sensitive nature and many Empaths are hardwired into automatically doing this. However, sometimes life just gets in the way.
We all need gentle reminders, from time to time, about what we could be doing to protect ourselves and thus make life more enjoyable. And this is what I hope to present in this guide for the Empath.
For Empaths, wanting to block out all external emotions and energies would, no doubt, be a priority. But it is not always that cut and dry. For one thing, she might have already tried every energy-blocking technique known to man, without any success.
And then there are the questions: why is it Empaths feel and take on what they do, emotionally, is it not for a purpose? In taking on these negative energies are they not helping rid the world of them?
The answer to those question are debatable. But the fact is, all Empaths need to learn to protect themselves from wayward energies, and know how to stay grounded, so they can continue to function in everyday life.
Out and About
When an Empath is alone in people-congested places, they may soak up the highly charged energies no sooner than having stepped over the building’s threshold.
If you are one who finds being in public areas, such as shopping malls and cinemas, unbearable, to the point of avoiding them at all costs, there are some techniques you could try that may help:
Take a Friend: Being with another person acts as a buffer and helps diffuse external energies. This lessens the impact, when spending time in public places. It also serves as a pleasant distraction and takes your mind off what you are feeling.
Chances are, after the shopping trip or outing, you may still feel drained but your experience will have been a much more pleasant one.
If taking a friend, or family member, is not possible find a grounding technique, that works for you, and use it before going out. Below are some you could try:
Power Poses: A power pose is generally anything that opens up the body. They can be as simple as opening up one’s arms wide (so your body is in the shape of a cross) and taking long, slow breaths through the nose. Holding a gentle smile is further empowering.
If you are familiar with yoga, a Starfish pose (standing with wide legs and arms) is ideal, as is a Warrior pose with open arms.
Holding the power pose for a couple of minutes before leaving home, or entering an energy-hostile environment, serves in uplifting and expanding one’s energy field. This is opposed to how an Empath often goes out into the world, wanting to feel small and invisible.
Grounding visualizations: These could be anything from visualising roots coming from your feet, grounding you to the earth, to mentally building a halo of white light around your body and expanding it with your breath.
Take a couple of minutes to quieten the mind before attempting.
Affirmations: Positive mini-declarations repeated in the mind can serve in being uplifting, empowering and protective. Statements such as: ‘I am empowered ‘or ‘I am in control’, instantly, and positively, change your mind-set, and your vibration, and thus make you better equipped to handle excessive energies.
Find one that works for you, suitable for the time and place.
Music therapy: Taking your music and earphones is a huge help when out and about. Listening to music you love creates an inner-expansion. It uplifts your energy and creates a protective ‘bliss bubble’ around you. This energy expansion enables you to glide through public-places seemingly unaffected.
It is best to get into the ‘music zone’ before entering a peopled place.
Breath-work: There are many grounding and mind quietening methods available, such as meditation, that need a committed, daily practise to reap the full benefits. However, the breathing methods, included in the post below are meditative techniques and can be done in a hurry or when one is feeling out of sorts.
You may need to play around with different breathing techniques to find one which works for you. They can be used before entering or whilst in a busy place.
Please see this post for various breathing techniques.
Bedtime
If you are one who doesn’t like sleep-snuggling, or having to sleep close to your partner in bed, no matter how much you love them, you are not alone.
Having sleeping-space is essential for the Empath.
Most Empaths loathe having anyone get in their ‘energy-space’, day or night, but as sleep-time is crucial for recharging, it is even more important they are allowed it.
If you share a bed, and it is not possible for you to have your own bedroom, opt for the largest size bed available, if space permits.
If you still struggle sleeping near your partner or wake-up feeling drained, use one of the above grounding techniques and adapt them to bedtime mode.
Eating
Know your food and how it affects you. Listen to what your body is telling you about what is and isn’t right for you. If, for example, you have a nagging feeling that dairy is causing you to have an allergic reaction, you could try the 30 day exclusion challenge, to see if it is.
This involves abstaining from all dairy (or whatever you suspect does not agree with you, be it chocolate, tomatoes, alcohol or GMOs) for 30 days. After that time, gradually introduce it back into your diet. If you have a big reaction to it, you know you are intolerant, allergic or energetically incompatible and are best removing it from your diet.
Over a period of about 15 years, I’ve tried many eating and exercise plans. I have tried and trained in many holistic therapies and healing, and researched the benefits of nutrients. I always believed that the answers to my healing lay in the metaphysical, and if I made myself more ‘spiritual’ I would find life easier… I hadn’t taken into consideration that it didn’t matter how many hours I sat in meditation or doing yoga, or how many spiritual texts I read, if I was putting poison into my physical body, no amount of meditation or spiritual awareness was going to balance me.
Of everything I have tried over the years, holistically, spiritually and energetically, the most profound changes happened to me when I changed my diet!
I have written about benefits of changing the diet before (and will do again, and again), but as I consider it to be one of the best things you can do to aid physical healing and spiritual growth, especially for Empaths, I will keep spreading the word.
We may all be very different, with different spiritual, nutritional and physical requirements, but none of us will benefit from taking drugs or eating drug-like food…
Because they tend to be highly reactive, Empaths react more to drug-like foods than those not of a Sensitive nature. High reactive people taste the bitterness in lemons more than others, feel emotional and physical pain more, go red in the face easier and are affected by certain foods, drugs and alcohol worse than those who are not highly reactive.
High reactives are responsive to different vibrations of energy. Everything is energy vibrating at different frequencies and that includes what we eat and drink: the faster the vibration, the higher the frequency. Empaths are negatively affected by anything of a low vibration. Certain foods, drugs and alcohol all have a low vibrational energy and bring the Empath down fast.
If you suspect your diet is impacting your health, and Empath ways, and are keen to learn of all the negative ways your diet can impact Empath life click here.
It is also wise to take note how your food is prepared. Food made in an angry or unhappy environment will carry that energy and thus show up within you.
Most Empaths benefit from having mainly homemade food, so they know exactly what energy goes into their meals.
Socializing and Stimulants
Unfortunately, any kind of stimulant (alcohol, drugs, etc.) only serve in weakening the Empath (as they do any other human). Under the influence, it may feel like external energies are blocked but unfortunately this is not the case. They still seep in and still need to be dealt with.
When in company, other people’s emotions may show up in the Empath as aggression or an overly dominant ego on the evening of consumption or as a physical and emotional hangover from hell the day after.
If you don’t like the idea of giving up your favourite tipple, or social life, try using grounding techniques before an evening out and drink lots of water throughout the evening. Water has both a cleansing and grounding effect. Also include lots of alkalizing foods in your diet. By keeping your body in a more alkaline state it helps keep Empath balance and prevents alcohol doing as much damage.
Friends
The longer the Empath has known a friend, the more impact the friend can have on their energy. As you would imagine this could be a good or bad thing, depending on the relationship.
Knowing how to navigate your friendships serves in offering healthier and happier relationships.
Friends’ energy and how it affects those of a Sensitive nature will change along with their age and life circumstances. If down or depressed, a friend can unintentionally take the Empath down with them.
In theses cases one has to learn to emotionally unplug. One can still listen and be there, but in a detached way.
Also, be very wary of an unwanted energy drain.
We all know people who drain energy, otherwise known as the ‘Energy Vampires’, but when a friend, who isn’t normally a drainer, is experiencing a tough time their energy-sucking tentacles may seek out an instant uplift from anywhere they can get it. (Please see here, here, here for more ways to stay protected).
To avoid being a friend’s ‘energy-replacement-meal’, watch for any drain and where it is coming from. It is normally be from one of four of the main energy centres (chakras): sacral (below belly), solar plexus (mid belly), heart (heart area) or throat (front of throat) and it may be felt by a pull or ache in that area.
Wherever you feel the drain, cover that area immediately with your hands or arms. It is not by chance that we cross our arms over our stomach or chest in social situations; we are subconsciously stopping an energy-drain.
Empaths tend to be very faithful to their friends and keep them in their life for the long-haul. For this reason, it is a good idea to choose friends wisely.
For the Empath finding their calling or vocation can be a challenge of epic proportions.
Living a lie, through having to pretend they like doing a job which they don’t, or sell a product they do not believe in, is nothing short of torture for the Empath.
As eighty percent of the workforce do not enjoy their job, this does not make for an energy-efficient or happy working environment (another obstacle for the Empath).
If you listen, your Internal Guidance System will continuously present you with vocational options, perhaps as interests or passions.
If searching for your dream job, or just a new direction in life, here are some questions that may ignite the answer:
What are your passions?
What do you love to do?
What do you believe in?
What would you wake up excited to do each day?
What can you not live without doing?
What engages you?
What interest keeps coming back to you?
If you could change the world for the better, how would you do it?
Roadblocks
Roadblocks are what stop you going down your desired or chosen route in life. They can be seen through sickness, redundancy, depression, loss of money and social status or non-starting projects. They can unexpectedly pop up out of nowhere, take you off your current journey and bring your life to a standstill or send you off in a new direction.
When encountering roadblocks it may seem like they are purely an unfair punishment, but this comes down to your perspective. They are normally presented as a detour and a way to make changes to your life’s journey when refusing to listen to your IGS.
This detour may involve a long and winding scenic-route, which also happens to be an uncomfortable, seemingly never-ending, bumpy road. But again, this is down to your perspective.
You have a choice: you can get wrapped up in the inconvenience and discomfort of the long ‘scenic-route’, focusing only on that, or you can concentrate on the ever-changing landscape as it passes and be grateful for being given a chance to change.
Everything presented to us in life is a gift, even roadblocks, and are something to learn and grow from… if only you allow yourselves to see it.
Exercise
Exercise is essential to an Empath’s wellbeing. It works both the physical and energetic bodies, and helps clear stagnant or negative energy.
Sadly, we live in a society that promotes a ‘no-pain-no-gain’ philosophy towards exercise and a focus on sculpting the muscles instead of healing the body and mind. Exercise should be fun and liberating, not torturous or painful (unless you enjoy that ).
There are many ways to exercise and it doesn’t have to be costly or complicated. It can be as simple as turning on some funky music and shaking your hips around the kitchen. Dancing when no one is watching is unbelievably uplifting and you get to make your own moves with the beat of the music.
Running or walking in nature, freestyle dance, where there are no rules, or one of the many forms of yoga, are some of the best forms of exercise for the Empath. These could be done alone at home, and there is no need for a gym membership.
Swimming in the sea, or a lake, would also be great, if you’re fortunate enough to have one nearby.
A gym-class is not always the best environment for the Empath, especially if it has a very ego-driven or body-conscious atmosphere and adorned by lots of mirrors.
Some Empaths pick up negative residual energy left on mirrors. If there have been many insecure, or body conscious, people gazing into gym-mirrors (or mirrors in clothes shops, etc.) an Empath may feel the lingering energy of these insecurities and take them on as their own.
Relationships
For the Empath, relationships often prove to be a complicated area of life. But also very rewarding when they find a compatible mate (who very likely won’t be an Empath but may still be sensitive).
Empaths are a greatly misunderstood bunch. If they seem aloof or disconnected (after suffering Empath overwhelm) it may take a while for their detachment, and need for time alone, not to be taken personally by a prospective partner.
When one is romantically connected to another, it can make the energetic connection complicated.
Reading someone, who holds no emotional ties, comes quite easily for the Empath. However, when there is a strong emotional bind it can distort one’s ability to read energies clearly. This can lead to confusion and frustration, especially in the early building, days of a relationship and even further down the road.
Not everyone is as inclined to be as honest as an Empath; especially if they have grown-up or worked in an environment where lying is ‘quietly’ seen as acceptable (it is surprising how often this is the case). This is a huge bugbear for the Empath because they feel the energy of a lie, but not always what the lie is. In some cases, this leads to paranoia which in turn leads to ungrounded accusations and arguments.
A whole book could be dedicated to the relationship highs and lows of an Empath and how to handle every situation (see The Empath Awakening for more on Empath relationships). But in brief, it’s safe to say that the best way to be in any relationship is honest (unless the truth will cause unnecessary pain) and never be afraid to show your True-Self.
It’s always good to remember that every relationship, no matter how brief, offers valuable lessons. Even toxic relationships, filled with strife and arguments, can show areas of life that need to be worked on or improved.
Comfort Zone
Allowing yourself to step from your comfort zone, on a daily basis, allows for growth in all areas of your life. It enables you to face your fears and, in facing them, it gives you a greater capacity to deal with any negative emotions you meet.
When we stay comfortable, we stay small and don’t expand. As the saying goes:
‘If it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you!’
– Fred Devito
Stepping from the comfort zone can be done by going further than you would like during exercise, by making a phone-call you’ve been putting off for months, by telling someone you love them, or anything that makes you squirm but which you know you should do.
Getting Out of Your Head
Thoughts can be destructive to your health and wellbeing, especially when they are negative and repetitive. Empaths tend to spend a lot of time in their heads, which is great when thoughts are creative, happy or enlightening. But spend too much time around certain people, or places, and those happy thoughts can quickly turn into painful memories, anger or notions of being wronged or unfairly treated by another.
You may not realise those irrational thoughts, that are on a perpetual time-loop, were ignited by being around certain others, as they don’t always kick in till a day or two after exposure.
So, how do you stop them? It’s not easy but it can be done. The best techniques involves externalising your awareness or by distracting the mind.
Externalising Awareness: One of the best ways to get out of the head is to focus your awareness outside of yourself, using a meditative technique called mindfulness.
This can be done almost anywhere and involves focusing on something outside of your mind. You could gaze at a flickering candle or pay close attention to your scenery as you pass it by (obviously not to be done whilst driving).
If you like walking in nature look up at the trees and notice all you can about the bark, branches and leaves, see the different cloud formations in the sky or inspect the wild flowers growing within the foliage.
Thought Distraction: When your thoughts are on negative-overdrive, doing activities which allow you to indulge them is not advisable. You need to distract yourself. One of the quickest ways to do this is by stepping out of your comfort zone.
When your mind becomes preoccupied by anything which causes discomfort it stops engaging dark or repetitive thoughts. A few minutes exercising usually does the trick:
If you practise yoga do a pose you find challenging or which requires stamina or concentration, such as the Plank, Warrior, Tree or Crow.
Do some on the spot exercise: march, jog, star jumps, twist jumps, etc.
Just be wary of injury before doing any on the spot exercise. When your muscles, or joints, are cold they are not as pliable and are more prone to injury. Start slowly and build up the intensity.
Conclusion
As we are all here on our own journey with learning experiences unique to us, not all the tips and advice offered here will be helpful to everyone. But until you try them for yourself you will not know what works or what doesn’t.
As an Empath, you may have come into life purely to gain experience of feeling others’ emotions. And because of this, it is important to remember that just because one Sensitive has learnt how to deal with external energies and you haven’t, even after trying every technique in the book, doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong or being punished. It may simply mean you have not yet achieved a certain lesson from a certain experience.
It could also be that you are capable of enduring more hardships in life and your mountains are higher and harder to climb than most and in turn you will be learning more.
Hope this helps on your Empath journey.
Until next time…
Diane
Do you want to transform your Empath life in the most amazing way and enjoy complete emotional freedom? If the answer is yes, then this book is for You. Click here for more information.
If you are an Empath, you will know, only too well, how easy it is to pick up coughs, colds and other ailments off those we spend time with.
Empaths often get twice as many ailments as those who do not pick up the energy of others. So, why is that?
An out of balance Empath, especially one who has absorbed the stresses of others, as well as having their own to deal with, need only briefly be in the presence of someone with the beginnings of a sniffle to pick up a full-blown dose. Of which, the ensuing symptoms tend to be worse than the original carrier.
The problem is, many Empaths are not aware of their own imbalances. Some become so used to feeling ‘out-of-sorts’, after picking up stress from others, they do not notice their body becoming weaker and their immune system less resilient.
I have discovered the best way to stay in balance, as an Empath, is to have all bases covered. And what I mean by that is to take care of our physical, mental and energetic bodies (body, mind and spirit).
In this post I am focusing on balance of the body (immune system) in the way of supplements.
Heard of the saying: ‘like attracts like’ or ‘like increases like?’ Well, it works in all areas of life. Generally those who regularly pick up the negative emotions of others, often feel like crap. When you feel crap you want to eat crap: fast food, stodgy and sugary food. Basically the type of food that has little in the way of nutritional value. So you feel rubbish, eat rubbish, feel more rubbish… and get no nutrients.
Nutrients are our safeguard against illness because they help keep the immune system strong.
I came to realise, first-hand, the importance of supplements, through unintentional trial and error over the years. In my haphazard approach to taking vitamins and minerals (taking them for 6 months then non for the next), I found that when taking supplements I had far less immune-system-related illnesses than when not taking them.
There is much controversy over the effectiveness of supplements, especially synthetic ones, and whether they actually work. Many experts argue that a healthy, balanced diet is all we need for optimum nutrition levels. But, even with the healthiest of diets, do we really know how nutritiously balanced our food is?
It is known that our soil is no longer rich in minerals, as it once was, which ultimately affects the mineral content of the fruit and vegetables grown in it. The ripe and brightly coloured fruits on our supermarket shelves may have travelled half-way around the world, and are already months old, before they get to our kitchens. Meaning a much lower vitamin count than if delivered to the supermarkets within hours of being harvested.
It is easy to get reliable information on the web regarding supplements and their benefits. And it is well worth doing the research.
Depending on your areas of weakness will depend on which supplement you should be taking, but I have found the following to be a good all-round elixir:
A good multi-vitamin and mineral.
Extra Vitamin C and Zinc (especially if you get many colds).
Omega 3, found, for example, in fish oils or organic coconut oil (a diet consisting of a ratio 3-1 of Omega 6 to Omega 3 is a good balance. However, the average Western diet consists of a ratio of about 15-1 or more, through the high usage of vegetable oils in processed foods).
A good Multi-B vitamin.
Acidophilus (especially if you suffer from a sensitive digestive tract).
Digestive Enzymes (to be taken with meals) which help break down food and extract the nutrients. Especially beneficial to those who suffer with indigestion or low stomach acid.
Magnesium Many people are deficient in magnesium. This mineral is especially beneficial to anyone suffering anxiety, muscle aches or constipation.
If you have any underlying health conditions, speak to a health practitioner before using supplements.
I write these posts with the intention of helping Empaths help themselves. But we need to take responsibility for self. What works for one won’t always work for another. So in that respect take what feels right to you and discard the rest. Empaths tend to get that ‘gut feeling’ (the knowing) when something is not right.
Also, if you want to learn more about how changing your diet can transform your life as an Empath click here
Or if you would like to support me and my work please donate here.
Click on the picture opposite if you want to discover how your diet affects your Empath life and how, by making some simple changes, you can transform your life.
Empaths tend to be hardwired for learning and are often on the lookout for new ways to help them find balance. By discovering your unique dosha type it could be that last piece of the puzzle you were looking for.
I have long been an advocate of the healing powers of yoga on the body and mind. So much so, I trained as a yoga teacher.
A part of my yoga teacher-training was devoted to the study of Ayurveda: an ancient healing practice and sister science to yoga, in which we discovered how our body constitutions, known as the doshas, affect our lives.
The meaning of Ayurveda roughly translates to ‘the science of life’. Its aim is to bring balance and health to both body and mind. This is achieved through various Ayurvedic methods. But one essential element is discovering what our dosha type is.
Each individual dosha type determines how and what we should eat, what type of exercise is more beneficial, it even determines our temperments and the emotions we are more prone to experience. Each of which can affect how we show up in the world as Empaths!
It is said we are all born with one basic constitution (dosha) which are known as either: Kapha, Pitta, or Vata.
80% of us are born with one primary dosha and the other 20% will have a dual-dosha or even tri-doshic type.
Dependant on your type will depend on what you experience in life and even what diet you should consume:
For example, a Kapha type who:
Tends to be on the heavier side
Dislikes the cold
Puts weight on easily
Is sluggish
Can have oily skin
Suffers with excess mucus
Tends to be laid back
A diet consisting of lower-fat, low-sugar, no-wheat products and plenty of spicy food is recommended.
A diet consisting of sweet, warm, moist and oily foods is recommended (not processed food though).
Pitta types tend to be:
Medium size and weight
Can eat a lot without weight-gain
Often suffers with thinning or fine hair
Are good decision makers
Can be short-tempered
Witty and often outspoken
Have high energy levels
Foods good to balance pitta are coconut oil, olive oil, rice, barley, oats, sweet fruits, asparagus, cucumber, courgette, cooling herbs and spices, and organic chicken
What Works for One Type Doesn’t Work for Another
It goes against the grain of what the Western world promotes, in that the same healthy diet is beneficial to all.
A food which is incredibly healthy for one dosha type, may not be so good for another.
I have included a link further down for you to discover your own unique dosha type.
So how does this information help an Empath?
Finding your dosha certainly won’t take away your Empath woes. But when we discover what is best for our individual doshas it is another step towards overall balance.
Empaths take on so much and can spend much of the time feeling exhausted just from dealing with external energy. But if we know that we have balanced our body, mind and spirit through eating, drinking and exercising according to our type it will make life easier and happier.
Also by finding your dosha type it will help you understand to which emotions you are more prone. Which will ultimately help you navigate your way through life!
These days we can not afford to get ourselves any more out of balance than we already are. If we are not physically in shape and are not doing what is best for our type then it leaves us vulnerable.
If you would like to uncover many more amazing ways to find balance as an Empath Click here
If you are keen to discover your unique dosha type you can visit:
Chopra Dosha Quiz A questionnaire which will determine which type you are.
When answering the questions it is best to cast your mind back to late childhood and early adulthood, because this is when you were most likely your true dosha type: before you got imbalanced from a stressful lifestyle, wrong diet and exercise et-cetera.
There is a wealth of information on both websites about your dosha type and what foods to eat, or to avoid, to balance it/them. You can also discover how much exercise is beneficial to your type and whether eating your food hot or cold should be a consideration.
If you get chance, visit an Ayurvedic practitioner who will give you a reliable diagnosis of your dosha type.
For the Empath, having a variety of quick-fix-pick-me-ups is vital for their continuous health and happiness.
Mind = thoughts, ego and emotions
Over the years, I have tried and studied numerous types of holistic healing. I have researched the benefits of food and nutrition on physical and mental health, and how it affects Sensitive people. Through this, I have made many incredible discoveries.
Empaths Empowered 