Are you an Empath?
Photo: Kostya Kisleyko/Flickr
Asking a person how they know they are psychic can be a bit like asking someone how they knew they were in love the first time. The answers are elusive and tend to be different for everyone. Throw in the fact that many people who possess the less well known psychic gifts have no idea they even are psychic and getting answers becomes the impossible challenge.
So, rather than focusing on how someone knows if they are clairsentient or telekinetic - because, obviously, you know if you know things without explanation or can make things across the room move with only the power of your mind - let us turn our attention to those less Hollywood hyped abilities and first focus on some of the basic ways to know if you're an Empath.
1. You cannot bear to be around those grieving or in emotional distress
Now, of course, no one enjoys being at funerals or seeing their close friends endure emotional pain. If you did enjoy watching them suffer, would they really still be your friend? Anyway, this goes beyond all that. The reason you cannot stand to be around those in pain is because you seem to take on their pain and experience their grief as your own. With no firm reason to be feeling this, you may have been labeled too sensitive or emotionally unstable.
2. You cry at movies, or perhaps even television commercials
Ladies, this does not include that special time once a month when a kid snapping bubble gum can set you off; this has to do with an Empath taking on the sorrow of the characters in the movie or the actors portraying the events in the commercial. For Empaths, even the nightly news has been known to inflict mental suffering because, unlike movies, these are real people suffering being shown.
One caveat...To a degree, we all can experience emotional release during movies. It's a natural part of being human. Falling prey to the whims of Hollywood alone does not make you an Empath. It is when the emotional distress you experience lasts well after those around you have recovered from it that this becomes a factor.
3. You find yourself pulled into the drama of others
Yes, this may well sound like what many of us experience during our school years, but it can later become a tell tale symptom of Empaths. Have you ever seen a friend dealing with a situation that has nothing to do with you? You think it's terrible, but you vow to stay out of it. But then, they tell you about it and you seem to well up with anger or hurt at the injustice of it all and, next thing you know, you're right in the middle of someone else's fight. While this could be the sign of someone looking for drama in their life, it could also be the sign of an Empath.
4. You seem to know precisely when to water your plants
Nope, this isn't a joke. Many Empaths report being highly in tune with nature, including their household plants. If you have the gift of being able to keep any sort of plant in good health, you just might be an Empath.
5. Animals and small children are drawn to you
This one may be up for a bit of debate, but animals and young children have been known to possess a kind of sixth sense about people. Because Empaths understand the feelings and emotions of others, they can related to those that are unable to express themselves by conventional means. Think of the Dog Whisperer here.
6. Spiders, rodents and other pests leave you alone
Some Empaths have been known to be so in tuned with nature that their abilities extend to various common pests. While it is unknown by what means they are able to communicate with the Empath, they seem to understand that they are not welcome within their home and stay away.
7. You can tell others, even those you have just met, about their various ailments
This ability can display itself in a number of ways. Perhaps you feel an ache in your shoulder when you get around an athlete. Maybe you can smell sickness surrounding a person in the days leading up to the onset of their cold symptoms. Maybe it's something else. While it could be a lucky guess, there are Empaths who are so highly sensitive to others that they can take on their symptoms before even becoming aware of it.
Now, please don't think that because a family of rats isn't living in your kitchen that you possess empathic abilities. Any one of these signs alone, or even with a few others, can still have perfectly logical, medical explanations. These are but a few areas to take a closer look at if you are already thinking you may be an Empath.
Comments
Okay y'all...that's my list of 7 Empath signs, but by no means is it an exhaustive list. What else do you think should be on here?
Jen
Dallas Psychic Gifts Examiner
1. cannot leave your house because you are appalled with the fake society where no one is real. the world seems like the twilight zone.
2. watching tv is like a weird vacation to an alien zoo AND the crazy subliminal messages they put in everything make you feel especially weird.
3. strangers tell you there biggest personal problems whether you want them to or not and you help them with ease even if your own life is a complete disaster.
4. everyone seems to be psychopathic compared to you.
5. you attract energy vampires
6 you can "hear" animals and plants
7. no one believes you are real
8. you take on others' personalities when you are around them even if they are less than agreeable.
9. your family does not relate or know what to do with your crazy depressions from the accumulations of foreign emotions absorbed and you are not taken seriously.
10.you KNOW when people are lying to you and if you get lied to enough by the same people, you will begin to think you are paranoid that you are crazy and cannot trust your feelings.
i could go on.
i'm very depressed. no one understands. i cannot leave my house anymore. everyone thinks i'm nuts. i used to be pathologically lonely but now i have accepted that i will not meet anyone like me and i am fine with that. i no longer seek human companionship. frankly i am glad i do not anymore, the search was exhausting and detrimental to my health.
empathy does not have to be this pathetic though. i just happen to be one of the unlucky ones.
How about not understanding some of the emotions you may have,or not having an explanation for them? Like, suddenly you get mad and have no idea why. I'll still never forget the butterflies I got when the MTV chick called ya! Or feeling EXTREAMLY worried about Jay from him not sleeping and driving for so long. That was really weird! I had 666 characters left so I had to keep typing, hehe!
Hmm...Maybe that was just you getting pulled into my drama? :P
But seriously, that's a good one. I think that's where I meant to go with point #1, but I was too tired and the article (I was sensing) was running long. I've done so much writing on Empaths, I can't remember where I've written what. :s
You're too funny. You know you could have just added an extra !! and it wouldn't have been 666 anymore, Miss Superstitious! :P
I should get my last name changed soon....anyways, You're so right. It was more fun blabing why I needed to write more, haha :)
I should probably add a last name so peeps know it's me and not some other random Jen. :P
And I figured. Blab on!
Jen,
It's Lisa from PCI... except not anymore. Had no idea you too were an examiner or that you wrote psychic articles... I thought your thing was weddings? Anyway, like the work and feel free to come over and check out my stuff, although I haven't updated the examiner stuff in a really long time.
Let me know how you are!
lisa
Hey....I'm only 12....but, the thing is i think and I'm certain im an empath, i just need you to maybe comfirm my assumptions...Well, i have done reasearch on this, and im positive this is what i am. Please ca you maybe comfirm this or something?
When i'm near groups of people this happens in school all the time and when im out with groups of friends and people. I feel im under alot of preassure and i got depressed by it, its over whelming, and when i come home im so tired and drained and i just need to be away form people so i just get into my opjs and goto my room alone and relax tere for hours.
People often come to me with their problems, and i help them alot im very sympathetic for everything, Homeless people, animals, seeing people struggle kills me i just want to go run up and hug them and tell them everytghing will be alright, just help them , its heart breaking for me and i often cry or try not too. This happens ALOT with movies and adverts. And books too.
I
I often find my self in Drama's because the thought and feeling of injustic angers me because its on fair on the person that lost and i usually get into fights with it.
When i watch tv/movies/adverts and there sad i often have mood swings when watching them, sometimes i get really angry because something unfair happened and if its sad id end up crying tears, if its happy it will put me in a good mood for a long while and if its scary ill never get it off my mind and i will have a phobia about it for weeks,
I follow my gut feelings alot and sometimes i feel things sense things, i have a good sense of right or wrong and when ii sense something dangerous, like i got a very strong feeling at night in my room yesterday which scared me and i worried all night, its weird,
i often have break dowsn alot with the preassure and depression from this, i dont show it though, i stay strong for my family and friends but i just expload inside and i think all of these horrible thoughts about
horrible thoughts horrible mean thoughts about myself that make me feel like crap and then after a while i relax and then i feel like an idiot. This happens alot, and sometimes if im in a group like a drama group or a club and everyones hyper i get really really hyper and excited and i dont know why and i cant calm down, i try but i cant.
So theres my little assumption things, oh yeah theres alot more but can we maybe work form that, do you think that i am one? Or am i just crazy over sensitive person? Please rely ASAP! thanks :) x
Pixie - Unfortunately, I can't confirm much from that. You might be an Empath...or you might be going through normal 12 year old puberty stuff.
But I can confirm that you're not crazy - at least from the information you've given. ;) Try this: Next time you know you're going to be around a group of people, spend some quiet time imagining a bubble of white light around you. Visualize only positive energy/emotions being able to enter the bubble, but all the negative stuff just bounces off it. (I know, hard to visualize, but try anyway.) It may not work for you at first because it's not really an exact science and takes some practice. But before you stop your visualization, tell yourself that even if you aren't thinking about it, your bubble (shield) is still there.
Let me know if that helps at all.
Sorry I'm not able to give definitive answers,
Jen
Hey Lisa.
Yeah, it's not really something I advertise at work because of all the negative stuff that comes to mind when people think of psychics...usually. I do write wedding stuff because I know a ton about the industry, but I'm more passionate about this for sure - when I get time to update, of course. ;)
I'll have to make a point to come check you out. :D
Hey! Today in school i tried the bubble thing and it worked! The preassure and head aches were disseapearing but they were still there but they warent as bad. I was more calm and i could concentrate on my thouhts, and yeah about the 12 years old hormoans and stuff i did consider that, that was my actual solution to all of this stuff, until i was searching and i came across empath, then i read the signs for it and i remembered all the things in the past events and things that happened and that leads up to noow and there all signs of them. so i was pretty sure. Im not sure maybe it is maybe it aint but anyway thanks for your help anyway =]
Pixie - Yay! I'm so glad it worked. If you keep working at it then I think you'll be able to make your headaches go away for the most part. Like I said before, it just takes a little practice. You can also use crystal quartz to help you block out other people's emotions.
Hi Jen, loved this article! Printed it and emailed it and put the link on my blog wwwwordsfromwillow@blogspot.com
Question...I've tried about every sheilding technique known to man...and most of the time, nothing works. What am I missing?
Hey Willow.
I tried to check out your blog, but nothing was there. :(
When you say you've tried all the shielding techniques, do you mean you've tried them once or twice and moved on to something else? If that's the case then that's your problem. It takes a lot of work for some people (me included!) to really get it down. I also found that it became a lot easier once I started working with crystals. Oddly enough, one of my beings I channeled actually gave me some pretty spot on advice about what I needed to do (specific to me) to make my shield more effective.
All of these signs apply to me but, I don't think I'm an Empath
Hi, I have always been 'the' one who often ends up resolving issues with friends and family members. I like being able to really get a vibe and understanding of both (or all) sides of a story. I am 22 now, when i was younger it seemed that i was always told that i would be a teacher or care taker, I would have fun with small children and giving them activities. I dont want to sound big headed, but i have always been the favorite big cousin. From kindergarden through to highschool, i seemed to always be friends with people who my core group of friends did know at all, becasue they may not have been 'cool'. In younger years i would be put into groups and at camp; rooms, with "problem kids" for example a girl who had FAS and was often made fun of at school often confided in me and i was told on many occasions that i was intentionally paired with these kids becasue i had empathy. I am not a baby by any means, infact i usually as i said, am the one people come to for resolution, but i do
cont...I often do tear up from the most simplest of things,such as commercials or even a picture. I have had a bf for almost 6 years now and we are not a overdramatic couple at all. But when it comes to the urge to intervien and help people understand their own emotions, i cant help but do it. I again, dont want to sound big headed, but i honestly feel that i have a deep understanding of situations almost immediatly. I have always stuck up for my friends and been very unshy to openly share an opinion, but in the last few years i feel that many of these intuitions have been slowing down. I am in university now and am very shy to take part in discussions and havnt really been putting myself out there as much. I do feel very acomplished with travel, hobbies and i have such a great group of friends that i am very close with. But i feel an axiety or lack of confidence when it comes to really making it happen career-wise. I am a fine art major and minoring in family studies, sociology
and anthropology, so very fundamentally human based passions. And as i said being a teacher was something I was specifically tolf i would suit, and i thought that after taking timne off to travel and gain experience, i would 'know'. But i dont. I am so curious about how and what i can do that can give me an art aspect and allow me to keep this other part of me, that i couldnt really put my finger on, hence the three minors, i think maybe i am an empath. And i am sorry to sound rude, but i am not even sure exactly what that is if anything... I understand empathy and how maybe some more than others have the ability to feel empathy. But i cant help but feel that there IS a difference between feeling empathy for a moment or period of time, compared to using your list to grasp the hollistic flood of the feeling or gift and how it may look in everyday life. Sooo, if you actually read my whole life story here, thank you. I am wondering what your general comments or thoughts are in response.
I wish my abilities helped me to do the spider thing!
Can empaths sense things like if a friend ask them wat should they do to get a girl can empaths sense wat exactly would work even when the barely know the chick?
Hi Jen,
interesting topic. I had been wondering for years, why most of the time when I am with people experiencing strong emotions, I feel like I am one with them, felt like i am experiencing the same kind of emotion and totally understand how they felt. Most of the time, when i am not my positive self i usually isolate myself for i cannot contain the emotion the people around me are influencing me..My only concern is sometimes when I have my strong emotions of my own and have hidden thoughts--it weirds me out when the other person seems like to know my thoughts. He/she echoes the voices/thoughts in my mind..Another thing (though this seldom happen) the sympathy pain, when my sister came home with LBM i had to bring her to the hospital while experiencing the same symptoms..when a colleague started sneezing and having colds, seconds after ill be in a worst state, but the good thing is it doesnt last after a day.. It has never crossed my mind before that I could be an empath until i've come across tis topic while browsing the net. Could it be possible that I am an empath? My sister used to kid me that if others telepathic power --where they read minds-- mind is the opposite because i reveal my thoughts to other people without me expressing it.
What do you think?
Jen would just like to add that my parents believed since I was a child that I have this orthopedic healing power (which I always oppose and will tell them you are quiet supertitious guys--coz i actually hate having to massage/hilot someone's injury/fracture)..Everytime somebody in the family had fractures i am always tasked to massage the area, and by pure luck maybe they got healed. I can also grow any plants, anything I planted just grow...
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