Do you identify yourself as an Empath?
People who are very receptive to the emotions of others are known as Empaths. They are capable of feeling the emotions or physical symptoms of others even if they themselves are not going through the same situation or events. Because they are also sensitive to noise, smell, and being around people, they are prone to feel overwhelmed in crowds and exhausted in social situations.
Empathy is the ability to understand the way someone else is feeling. Most people who do not have antisocial or narcissistic personality disorders feel empathy on some level. But some people are more empathetic than others, and those very high up on the scale are known as Empaths. It is estimated Empaths account for about 1–4 % of the population (and about 15–20 % of the population is HSP — highly sensitive).
Dr. Orloff, a Psychiatrist and Intuitive Healer working at the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty who identifies as an Empath herself, describes these 10 most common traits of Empaths: highly sensitive, absorb other people’s emotions, introverted, highly intuitive, need alone time, tendency to become overwhelmed in intimate relationships, targets for energy vampires (people who are not very much in touch with themselves and who feed on others, namely for example narcissists), replenished in nature, they have highly tuned senses and are overgivers with huge hearts but sometimes give too much.
Empaths are also a great animal lovers who love to spend time in the nature and who are usually highly creative.
However, depending on where you find yourself to be, it can either serve as your greatest blessing or the greatest struggle. Prior mastering and owning this gift, you can often find yourself feeling exhausted or even depressed for seemingly no reason. Especially after spending some time with certain people or vising specific places. An empath who is out of balance usually feels like their energy is constantly drained because they are not tuning in and they are not giving themselves what they need.
We have overinflanted sense of responsibility for other people and feeling that they need us. That can cause codependency in relationships and it often leaves us feeling exhausted. When we are out of balance, we have a hard time saying no — protecting our boundaries. We tend to spend a lot of time alone or even in isolation to replenish our energies. And much more.
If managed well, it can serve as your superpower. Empaths are one of the best artists, writers, scientists etc. They find it very easy to connect to others and to their feelings and suffering. They are the greatest humanitarians (Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi) etc. Jesus was an ultimate example of an Empath.
They key is to learn how to channel your empathic abilities in a productive and empowering way. You will feel better and on top of that, everybody will benefit out of it.
