You may have heard of the term EMPATH being thrown around many times or may not have. I’m guessing you have if you are reading this blog, but I’ll explain in my own words as best I can for those who may not know.
An empath is someone who feels emotions deeply, someone who is literally a walking lie detector and knows instantly when someone is lying to them due to many things, and having a high level of intuition.
Empaths can also feel others’ emotions, and when I say others, I mean animals as well as humans. In fact, what you may notice is that if you are an empath, children and animals are drawn to you as they can feel and recognise your compassionate nature.
It is so important for empaths to become self-aware about knowing your own energy and when you are feeling someone else’s energy. When you do notice you are feeling someone else’s emotions and they are not of a positive nature, you can simply ask in your mind for them to be given back with love and light as they’re not yours to hold onto or take on.
Many empaths get sucked in with this and believe that their gifts are actually a curse; I know I did at one point until I learnt the above trick. As empaths, it’s crucial to become mindful of our emotions and others’, and to not be fully consumed and take them all on, because they are not all our responsibility to take on.
We are able to know when we are talking to those whose gifts are awakened within them through a knowing of familiarity – feeling like we’ve have known one another for years; talking to one another is so easy and effortless, like being with an old friend.
Empaths are generally great listeners and healers which is partly the reason why so many people feel so comfortable opening up and speaking about personal matters and are drawn to empaths like magnets.
Empaths generally don’t like being in big crowds with loud noise (the background chatter) as it can be overwhelming. We are generally more sensitive to our surroundings due to all our senses being quite high, not just sight, taste, touch, sound, smell, but also our EMF (or auric field as some refer to it as). Because of these things, empaths need to take timeout more than others, like spending time in nature (near a beach in my case) and can sometimes be confused with being a HSP (highly sensitive person) or can be placed on the autism spectrum.
Sometimes empaths can feel misunderstood as children and can be labelled as a HSP (highly sensitive person), ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and many other labels due to lack of understanding. It is important to learn about this side of things to be able to understand the ‘self’ more. This enables you to be able to help yourself by thinking of these feelings in a more diverse way, and utilising them as unique gifts instead.
Empaths can easily get distracted and generally don’t like confrontation or watching the news because we can feel the suffering and negative emotions – this is because everything is energy.
Empaths generally prefer to have deep and meaningful conversations as opposed to what is known as small talk.
I am an empath or, in scientific terms, a sentient being, which everyone here on earth is. Some are not as aware and awake around their potential gifts. You see, we use our senses as human Beings to process things.
Could I, as a child, have been a HSP (highly sensitive person) and so be more sensitive to what was going on? At the age of 36, I knew the word I was looking for was empath to describe in words what I was experiencing.
Empathy and emotional responses can be felt deeply by an Empath. I can vouch for this as I can physically feel, in my body, positive and negative emotions.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE – (my theory) HSPs / Empaths use this as their intelligence and may find it more difficult to rationalise and use logic until learning more about themselves and learning techniques and tools to flip it healthily. The Heart takes in emotions before the brain filters the world and negative emotions can be stored in the body, such as trauma/stress, which causes physical illness if we don’t take care of ourselves and take time out to rest/rejuvenate and restart.
6th sense adds connection to spirit dimensions, healing, cell rejuvenation and the Higher Self (soul).
When we get support, we feel heard and valued (especially at a young age up), who wouldn’t?
Over-protectiveness does NOT help – as in being mollycoddled. Or the complete opposite way – as in being dominated and controlled, which usually comes out of fear and can have a huge impact.
Nurturing is the best way forward, to allow (and be guided and let growth come through) self-development to take place. Balance is key and by no means is anyone perfect, we all learn from our mistakes/challenges and grow from them.
Going into fight/flight/freeze/fawn is easier sometimes due to trauma as a child, although adults are more prone to this as the amygdala kicks in (reptilian brain). Due to having a deeper curve in our self-growth and healing journey, awakening through the ascension of spirituality brings self-awareness and a higher conscious level on your life’s path.
Environment is key – no drama! Surround yourself with radiators and not drains!
Empaths have a need to balance social connection and self-care time in order to thrive (self-experience).
They make good self-employed people as they have unique ideas that are generally outside-the-box way of thinking and doing and are highly creative in many ways. They need an outlet for the creativity whether it’s in the form of creative art, speaking out their personal truths, being creative around the things they love most, and more.
Empaths generally don’t fit and forge their own path to lead and follow. Empaths are taught to Belong instead. People like Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein were intuitively in tune with the universe as lead innovators. A lot of the time we can act like mirrors for others to take lessons from, which they are not always aware of first of all, until becoming consciously aware of triggers being reflected back to them.
When feeling like something has triggered you and you consciously have no idea what it is, STOP… breathe, name the emotion(s) that are surfacing and ask yourself, “What can I learn to be able to let go of any negative emotions easily and effortlessly”. Allow the first thought to come forward, listen to it as it is your unconscious mind communicating with you. Yes, I know we have been taught that it’s crazy to speak to ourselves, yet our unconscious mind will answer you when you ask it direct questions. If it makes it easier, write it all down on a piece of paper, this is what I do sometimes because when you take your thoughts outside of your head, you’re able to make more sense out of it and it brings self-awareness in the process.
Allow yourself to feel the emotions and to process what is coming up. Too many times we try and run away from ourselves yet we can’t as we are with ourselves one-hundred percent of the time. So, wouldn’t it be easier to deal with something and not allow it to build up?
When the answer becomes clear around what the trigger is, move to the next stage and ask how can I resolve xyz to be able to move forward and find a solution? Take assertive action and repeat when other triggers surface.
This takes some practice but it will rewire the neurons in the brain and will eventually become automatic.
For example, this helps when a part of someone is being presented to you, such as someone telling you what to do (like a command that triggers an old wound from an old relationship where you were controlled and/or dominated by someone, which instantly puts your barriers up instead of communicating and using boundaries).
Ask yourself, what emotion(s) are surfacing and name them?
Ask yourself, “what can I learn from this situation to be able to let go of any negative emotions easily and effortlessly?”
Allow yourself to feel the emotions surfacing and listen to the first thing that pops into your mind as the answer.
Next, ask yourself, how can I resolve the situation? As this will engage the logical part of the brain with the answer and solution needed.
After going through this process, you will also gain a sense of empathy, not just for yourself, but for those involved too.
Empaths craft a career to suit them with what they enjoy and what lights them up with passion and purpose, which is why many choose the path of being an entrepreneur. They also make great leaders. As always, take what resonates with you.