Is it your emotion you are feeling? Or does it belong to someone else?
Learning to differentiate between ‘whose emotion belongs to whom’ certainly proves to be a challenge for an Empath.
Every Empath quickly discovers of their ability to sense the emotional energy in others, but some struggle to distinguish these emotions from their own.
I often get asked questions like: ‘How do I define what I feel in another person?’ or ‘How can I block the emotions coming from others?’
Not understanding what other people’s emotions represent is more common than you might think within the Empath world.
When I was younger (teens and twenties), I did not know I could sense another’s emotions. I thought my own insecurities made me feel uneasy when around certain people. If anyone carried hidden pain, negative energy or anger issues, I felt them as a deep sense of discomfort. Which I wrongly interpreted as being part of my own social hang-ups.
You have probably heard about the emotional freedom technique (EFT), known as Tapping, but did you know it could help balance your Empath emotions?
The premise of EFT is that by tapping certain acupressure/meridian points on the face and body it releases blocked energy and suppressed emotions.
Tapping is also known to help with addictions, chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety and for calming persistent thoughts.
The concept of Tapping was derived from the Eastern medicinal systems of acupuncture and acupressure. Both of which use the body’s meridian points to aid in healing.
It is claimed that by tapping the acupressure points, with your fingertips, it activates your body’s innate healing power.
For those Empaths who dislike meditation this may be an excellent alternative!
The repetitious practice of Tapping is meditative. Any meditative practice, which stills an Empath’s busy mind and calms their emotions, is of value.
Just like meditation, Tapping is a practice one has to build to see the best results. It is said that EFT can calm, and heal, the most powerful of emotions or emotional memories, but it has to be practised regularly.
It is always beneficial for the evolving Empath to try new ways of staying in balance. When you stay in control of your thoughts and emotions, it allows you to live happily and without restriction in your own little corner of the world. And for this reason, it is worth giving EFT a try.
Most Empaths have a strong sense of intuition. It is part of who they are and serves them in many ways.
The Empath’s intuitive antenna is always ‘on,’ sensing what is right or wrong in their world. But understanding how to read these intuitive signals is important if they want to live a more peaceful and happy life… And, to discover how to do this, the Empath should become better acquainted with their gut sensations.
The “feelings” within the gut, or solar plexus region, are coming from what is known as the second brain. The sensations come from the enteric nervous system, a network of neurons lining the gut, and are responsible for the “butterflies” felt in the stomach area.
Science now recognizes what ancient yogis discovered hundreds of years ago: that emotions are influenced by the gut nerves.
Everyone feels excitement fear and nervousness in the gut area, but an Empath feels it so much more.
Meditation is one of the most powerful tools an Empath can use for their personal growth. It strengthens the mind, body and spirit and builds a powerful shield of protection against the energy of others. But that’s not all…
Meditation also opens up the Empath’s intuition like nothing else.
Strong intuition requires clean thinking. And this is where meditation comes in. When you have clarity of thought and a lucid mind, magical things happen.
Not only does meditation build intuition it also reprogrammes the brain into being able to better deal with negativity. This enables you to deal with the onslaught of thoughts, energy and emotions picked up from others.
Negative energy picked up from others can activate negative thoughts in your mind. Negative thoughts create stress within the body which is destructive to health and wellbeing.
Empaths 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 in certain places, where the energy is low-level, and painful memories, anger or ideas of being wronged can be triggered.
This is why some type of meditation is crucial for the Empath to a) help you recognise when thoughts, you are experiencing, have been triggered by external energy, b) switch off from them, and c) develop the ability to stay grounded and detached.
Some Empaths find meditation difficult to get into because of their creative and over-active minds. But the more busy or chaotic your thoughts, the more you need to still them (also, the more we resist something the more we tend to need it).
An overly cluttered, thought-filled mind will do nothing to help you grow or develop your Empath abilities. Thoughts are addictive and the darker ones can lower your mood faster than anything… When the mind is reset, through meditation, you can switch off or disengage from destructive thoughts much easier.
Perseverance is all that is needed.
Starting with a five-minute practice and then building up will reap incredible benefits.
If your thoughts are keeping you up at night and creating unnecessary worry it is probably a good time to start a practise. Regular meditation helps you detach from thoughts, fact!
Transformation may not happen over night, but it does not take long for you to see how a regular meditation practice is totally transformative and a fast-tracked way to developing greater intuition.
To see what amazing transformations are to be had by practicing meditation, set yourself a four-week challenge and allot an amount of time each day to practice.
I find mornings are easiest.
Perhaps get up ten to twenty minutes earlier and start with five minutes meditation then gradually build up.
If you are on a time limit set a gentle alarm. It is amazing how quickly time goes once you are enveloped in your private mind sanctuary.
(The only time meditation is not recommended is if you are suffering deep depression. A moving meditation, such as Ashtanga yoga, may be more beneficial.)
I find the best way to meditate is with an erect spine, either sitting in a straight-backed chair or in a comfy cross-legged or kneeling position on the floor. Keeping the spine straight and upright allows the energy to flow up and down and the breath to be calm.
There are some who will say lying down is a perfectly acceptable way to meditate, which it is, but it is too easy to fall asleep when lying down and the opportunity to consciously quieten the mind is lost. Just make sure you feel comfortable before you start.
If you find meditation difficult it may be a good idea to try a guided meditation. There are hundreds to choose from on YouTube. I have included a couple, just to get you started (using earphones is beneficial with the guided meditations).
Before you start any guided meditation make sure you are compatible with the narrator’s voice. If you do not find the voice soothing then you may get irritated by it during the meditation, which is a distraction. Oh, and make sure you won’t be disturbed.
Contrary to the title of this post, I am not suggesting that Empaths are in fact covert introvert narcissists. The title was just to grab your attention.
The reason being, last week an article came to my attention that made me stop in my tracks and was the cause for a lengthy conversation with myself about the traits of an introvert narcissist, and how they could be confused with the traits of an Empath.
As you read on you will understand why I felt the need to write this post.
There is much written about Empaths and narcissists and the toxic relationships that can result from these encounters. But I have had many comments on my site (which I don’t publish if they are overly negative or attacking) comparing Empaths to narcissists and this is why I would like to discuss the subject.
Narcissism is defined as a psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation and incredibly high self-esteem with a distinct lack of empathy.
The origin of narcissism stems from the myth of Narcissus, the youth from ancient Greece who fell in love with his own reflection in the water, only to drown in the process.
We have all experienced it, being around someone who has either taken an instant dislike to us, or a bizarre resentment suddenly appears in those we have known for some time.
There may be no clear reason for this change in their behaviour. No matter whether they try to hide their feelings or not, an Empath can sense their loathing and it does not feel good!
Someone taking a dislike to another is a completely normal and acceptable part of life. We are all different and there will always be some people we do not get along with, whether Sensitive or not.
What is often baffling to the Empath is why some people act in an animostic way towards them, when they know they are a likeable and trustworthy person.Continue reading →
Many people struggle finding their life purpose, especially the Empaths.
Feeling confused as to whether we are walking the ‘right occupational path’ is all too common for the Sensitive. There are many reasons for this, but the way the world makes us ‘feel’ certainly contributes to this confusion.
Because we get exhausted, depressed or overstimulated by spending too much time around others, it leads to feelings of unfulfillment, which we often blame on our chosen profession.
This sense of unfulfillment may push us towards trying many different vocations, in the hope it will put us on the path to our ‘true’ life-purpose.
Empaths are hardwired into learning, gaining knowledge and wisdom. We have active imaginations and look for ways to stimulate our creative mind. We may believe we like trying out new jobs because we have yet to find a career that is a fit, but there could also be another reason…
Not sure if you are an Empath or Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)?
Would you like to find out?
Let’s have a look at their definitions:
The definition of an Empath is a person who is capable of feeling the emotions of those around them despite the fact they are not going through the same situation.
The definition of a HSP is a person who processes sensory data much more deeply than others. They are oversensitive to aspects of their environment. For instance, HSPs may dislike harsh bright lighting, they get irritated by loud background noise or find they cannot wear certain materials.
Although the definitions above are brief, they could be misleading, in the suggestion that a HSP has only heightened senses and an Empath feels only the emotions of others; when in fact, there is so very much more to their traits.
For example, the Empath and HSP may both:
Sense other people’s moods
Project their emotions, feelings and thoughts onto others
Experience profound synchronicities
Have heightened senses
Feel emotions and pain very deeply
Get hurt easily
Become quickly over-stimulated
Become easily drained when in social situations
Have an awareness of subtleties around them that others don’t.
The definitions between the two are so similar that some may question as to which camp they belong.
So, to give you a better idea, we will look at some questions that will help you determine if you are an Empath or HSP.
We will first look at the Highly Sensitive Person. Saying yes to most of the following questions is a strong indication that you are a HSP:
Are you aware of subtleties in your environment?
Do other people’s moods affect you?
Are you sensitive to pain?
Do you need to withdraw, if you are having a busy day?
Are you sensitive to the effects of caffeine?
Are you easily overwhelmed by strong smells, bright lights or loud noises?
Do you have a rich and complex inner life?
Are you conscientious?
Do you startle easily?
Are you aware how to make others feel more comfortable?
Do you get frustrated if you are made to do too many things at once?
Do you avoid watching violence on TV or in films?
Do you become uncomfortable when a lot is going on around you?
Do you avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations?
It is getting ever closer to that dreaded time of year… Christmas!
For some, Christmas is a much loved time. I wish I could make the same claim. For many reasons, the festive season is one my least favourite times of year.
When I was a younger (child to mid-twenties), I loved everything about Christmas. But as the years passed the month of December became harder for me to cope with.
Without fail, every year, at the end of November or beginning of December I would start to feel low and my energy dropped. I would feel as though I was coming down with a bug and would get tense or harassed. Then on or around December 28th I would strangely go back to feeling better.
In my mind I would always find a reason: being extra busy at work, having a busy social life, eating unhealthily, drinking too much alcohol, not having enough sunlight, not doing enough exercise, etc…
Over the years I tried many different approaches to make December more bearable: I made changes to my diet, exercised, stopped going out, stopped drinking alcohol, went on a sunshine breaks… But, no matter what I tried I still felt awful come December.
And then it suddenly dawned on me… what I was feeling wasn’t ‘my stuff’ at all, but everyone else’s.
Have you happened to notice recently that when you are in a really good place, maybe doing something that makes you feel happy and uplifted, you find yourself thrown off centre and being pulled down into a darker place?
You may receive a phone call, text or email off one of those people in your life who act as a trauma trigger, or a family member, who always manages to push your buttons, shows up.
Do you think this is by chance?
Those of us who have been working diligently on self-development, through balancing the mind, body or spirit, will have seen many, many positive changes in recent times. Our vibration is continually rising; our intuition has increased, as has our ability to manifest, and our moments of blissful clarity are getting bigger and better. We are becoming heart centred. Yet, despite this, we can still be pulled down into a low vibrating space. Continue reading →
It is said that the ‘father of medicine,’ Hippocrates, was among the first to discover the magical healing qualities of sea salt, after noticing how quickly seawater healed wounded fishermen’s hands.
Salt has been given much bad press over the years and probably for good reason. The refined table salt that most of the Western world has consumed, and which is in all processed foods, is nothing short of toxic to the body. It causes many health problems. But it’s a different story with organic rock or sea salt.
Not only is organic rock or sea salt a great medicinal healer, it is also deeply purifying energetically. It has the power to draw out and dissolve negative energies from the emotional and physical body. This is especially helpful if your day involves interacting with others, where too often, as an Empath, you absorb stressed or anxious energy.
Unrefined salt, from the sea or rock, is an amazing grounding and energy clearing tool that can be safely and effectively used daily, inside and outside the body.
Many Empaths find themselves drawn to crystals and tumble stones at some point on their journey.
They have this draw for many reasons: Maybe it’s for the crystal’s beauty, texture or colour.
But more often than not, the Empath’s intuition guides them towards certain crystals for the powerful healing vibrations they emit.
There are hundreds of types of crystals, all with countless healing properties. But the stone that, in my opinion, every Empath should keep with them, as part of their grounding and energy protecting arsenal, is Haematite.
Haematite is a very powerful stone that has many incredible qualities. It is known as the grounding stone of grounding stones and has powerful protective and mirroring properties.
Haematite has the ability to both balance your energy and raise your vibration: lifting you up energetically whilst keeping you grounded. And the one thing all Empaths need is to stay grounded! Continue reading →
You may have noticed I have written a lot about protection, healing or grounding methods, for the Empath, in recent times, and there is a very good reason for this.
There are some major changes/shifts going on that are affecting everyone on many levels. These changes are bringing about emotional disruptions and negative thought patterns.
Generally, when there are major energy shifts, Empaths, and anyone of a Sensitive nature, gets energetically clobbered from all directions.
If you feel like you are going seriously cuckoo, with all the emotions you are processing, it is probably a good time to pull out your ‘protective-tools arsenal’ and start experimenting with different techniques. Especially, if you have a daily protection ritual that isn’t working so well. Continue reading →
You may have heard of ‘smudging’ but are not quite sure what it is or how it can help you as an Empath.
So what is smudging?
Basically, smudging is the practice of burning of herbs and using the smoke to remove negative energy from people, places or objects.
For the Empath, smudging can be a great tool. It is a quick and easy method to help remove negative energies picked up when being out and about in ‘peopled places’ or just to clear one’s energy field.
Smudging has been used for centuries all over the world. Today it is mainly associated with Native North Americans who use it in their healing ceremonies. However, many other countries burn herbs for cleansing:
In India they use incense, in Chinese acupuncture Mugwort is used, in Africa varied herbs are burnt, even the Christian Church burn herbs in their ceremonies. And although many of these actions have become ritualized, their basis stemmed from using smoke to remove negative energy. Continue reading →
One of the most frequently asked questions by those on the path of awakening is: What is my purpose as an Empath?
I know only too well how frustrating it is to have this question burning unanswered within. It is also frustrating to have this incredible gift and not know what it is for or what to do with it.
Many Empaths feel they should be helping others. But because they get overwhelmed, by spending too much time around people, they don’t know how that would be possible.
It is an inbred trait for Empaths to want to be of service. And, it is often the case that the more an Empath has suffered the more they want to save others from enduring the same pain. They may look for certain vocations that will help make this possible. Continue reading →
The title was just to grab your attention.
Not sure if you are an Empath or Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)?
Empaths Empowered 