Empath: Curse or Gift?

Being an Empath doesn't mean you only understand what others are going through, it means that you literally feel what others are going through.  You can put yourself in their shoes.

Empathy is one of those curse/gift conundrums.  

When you feel the emotions of other people, sometimes you end up embodying those feelings and become them.  This can create a lot of drama in your life.  Your friends and family may not understand why your mood suddenly shifts.  They may question your emotional stability.  And you may even question your emotional stability.  But this is all part of the process until you fully understand how being an empath can be helpful.

Personally, it took me a couple of decades to understand empathy and learn when and how to use it.

As a gift, empathy can be used in your favor to understand how the people around you are feeling.  It may seem a bit intrusive in the beginning stages but when properly used, empathy has its advantages.

Here are 13 signs of being an empath:

1.You feel the emotions of others

2. You take on the energy of others

3. You can feel the tension in a room before anyone speaks

4. You have a hard time in large crowds

5. You embrace alone time and solitude

6. Media and violence is too overwhelming for you

7. You can easily see things from another persons perspective

8. You are affected by the global collective consciousness

9. You can usually tell when someone is lying

10. Seeing other people suffer deeply affects you

11.  Strangers are drawn to you and trust you

12. You're drawn to holistic healing and natural remedies

13. You're drawn to spiritualism and the metaphysical

You don't have to have all 13 to be an empath.  If you intuitively feel like you are an empath and see some of these traits in yourself, congratulations, you are an empath!

So, how does one use empathy for the good of humanity, or at least the world around them? 

By understanding the 'vibe' of the people around you, it is much easier to know how to be in the space without getting pulled into toxic or negative emotions.

When I was untethered to my abilities, I would get into a room of people and suddenly have a flood of emotions.  I thought I was "crazy" because I was suddenly angry or sad.  I didn't fully understand that I was taking on all the energies around me.  

By sensing and then letting go of the emotions, you can much more easily respond or react to those around you.  Rather than being reactionary, you can be objective.  Rather than create more drama, you can take a step back and realize that the emotions and energies are not yours, and therefore it's more like watching a movie than being the main character.

To allow the emotions to go through you and not in you, imagine yourself like a window screen.  The emotions go through your energetic field but don't stay stuck in it.  Rather they breeze on through.  Here are some more steps you can take to navigate your gift with more ease

This may take some practice but once you get the hang of it you'll be able to spend time with larger crowds and not feel exhausted or overwhelmed.

Once you have that down, walking into a room is more like watching the movie screen (as said above).  You can see things from a detached perspective, understand the energies in the room, and then objectively respond or interact.  This gives you an advantage in that you are now able to be the healer or helper without the exhaustion or drama.  By being in this observation role, you are able to know when someone needs attention or distance.  Another advantage is knowing when someone is angry and not take what they say, out of anger, personally.

Having empathy as your gift takes some learning.  To understand the gift better, try going into situations with the intention of being the observer.  Take the lessons in doses and don't try to help everyone at once.  In time, you will learn who to help and who to let alone.

Ready to learn more about your gift?  Go to Conscious Evolution for more information.