On Being An Empath

"EMPATHY IS ABOUT FINDING THE ECHOES OF ANOTHER PERSON, WITHIN YOURSELF"

 – MOHSIN HAMID

Hello beautiful ones,

There is some pretty crazy stuff going on in the world right now.

Whilst we can sometimes feel quite powerless to create change on our own, it's important to know that your role on this planet to make a positive impact is powerful. 

And it starts with empathy. 

Empathy towards other human beings, other species, and towards mother earth is the most potent medicine the planet is desperately in need of.

Empathy is defined as sharing and understanding someones pain and suffering. To be empathetic is to open your heart to share the experience with them whilst offering support.

Being an empath is quite different from feeling empathy. Empaths are hypersensitive when it comes to feeling someones emotions. They mirror the response another human is having and they tend to absorb other people's emotions and energy, therefore considered 'emotional sponges'.

Studies have shown that the main neurological difference within an empath's brain is something called the mirror neuron system, which identifies empaths to have a specialised group of brain cells that enable the mirroring of someone’s emotions. This leaves them feeling another's pain as if it was their own.

Empaths have the strong ability to feel the energy field of other people and their surroundings. And whilst this is an incredible characteristic, they don’t choose when they can turn this on or off. This means 24/7 hypersensitivity to the world around them.

Because empaths absorb other peoples emotions, they can feel emotionally exhausted and energetically drained if they don't learn how to protect their energy.

They can also feel emotional without knowing why they are feeling that way, when they've likely picked up energy from a person or a situation during their day and are carrying it in their body. This tricks them into thinkings it's their own emotion, when really it isn't.

With this hypersensitivity and ability to take on emotions that aren’t theirs, empaths can be prone to depression and anxiety. Because being an empath isn’t an official diagnosis in the medical world, they are commonly mis-diagnosed with depression or anxiety and are given prescription drugs. This indicates that something is wrong with them, when in reality they are just hypersensitive to their environment. 

LIVING IN A MATERIALISTIC, CONSUMER-DRIVEN WORLD AS AN EMPATH 

The organising principles that dominate and structure modern civilisation tell us that we are separate instead of one.

We are also taught that happiness is found externally, not internally.

We are therefore on a never-ending hamster wheel chasing things that we believe are going to make us feel whole and complete.

If we were instead taught from birth that we need nothing to feel whole and complete and that joy and bliss can only radiate from within us, the modern world that we’ve built would collapse, as no one would need to chase money and materialistic objects to fulfill themselves.

But instead, humans continue to seek external happiness, so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer as the separation becomes more prevalent. 

The principles of separation and materialism that we are living by are keeping us from living in accordance with whom we truly are.

They are pulling us away from love.  

They push us directly into the face of fear.

When human beings live from a place of fear, they will do unspeakably destructive things ... nuclear weapons, terrorism, pollution, inequalities and factory farming are just a few of the atrocities we and mother earth are currently facing.

These are fearful actions because they are based on the idea that we need to create separation and hurt the planet in order to sustain our species, when really it just moves us closer towards self-extinction.

Some of the worldly events we are currently facing are pretty terrifying for any human being, although living as an empath can feel like a sensory over-load a lot of the time. 

Anthropologists did a study on a group of chimpanzees in Africa.

They at first believed a handful of the chimps to be depressed, due to the fact that they didn’t eat, play or sleep with the rest of the troop.

What they found was that the chimps weren’t depressed. Instead they were just highly sensitive.

Researchers took the sensitive chimps away from the group to see what would happen, and what they found was that the entire chimpanzee troop had eventually died.

This is because the sensitive chimps were the early warning system. They could discern when storms, earthquakes, predators and other natural disasters were on their way.

Therefore, without the sensitive chimps, the troop could no longer survive.

The chimps in this story are a good representation of the human population. Just because some of the chimps are more susceptible to the pain and destruction going on in the world does not mean there is anything wrong with them.

We need sensitive chimps.

We need sensitive people.

"EMPATHY IS THE MOST POWERFUL HUMAN QUALITY ONE CAN HAVE” 

- DALAI LAMA

Whilst I am saddened to see the state of the planet at the moment, I see the role as empaths and sensitive people being extremely important during this time.

If you resonate with this topic or sense you could be empathic or highly sensitive, below are some ways to protect your energy so you can leverage your empathic nature as your superpower.

1. Grounding Exercises

Learn about grounding yourself. 

Ideally the concept is that when you are feeling bad, you plug back into mother earth which balances out your energy. It gets you in touch with your physical body. When you feel balanced and grounded, you feel good.

Do whatever it is that grounds you most (it’ll be different for everyone).

For me it’s either meditation, being in nature or looking up at the stars and the moon. 

2. Body Scan

If you sense you are carrying dense energy in your body, close you eyes and connect to your breath. Do a body scan and find where the energy you’ve picked up is sitting. For me, it's usually in my chest.

Go through a slow process of giving the energy/emotion a colour, shape, texture, name and anything else you can to visualise to describe the feeling. 

The idea is that by developing this energy/emotions identity, you are giving it conscious attention and therefore moving it out of your unconscious mind. This allows you to go deeper into it which will transform it, and release it from your body. The more unconscious a feeling is, the worse it feels.

3. Spend Some Time Alone

Sometimes as an empath you will need to physically isolate yourself as you will replenish yourself best when on your own. Always make sure you have some scheduled alone time during you week, where you can be in peace and quiet with your own thoughts. 

4. Find Other Empaths for Support

Whilst sometimes it’s best to isolate, it’s important you don’t isolate all the time. Empaths function best when feeling supported by those who understand them.

As loving and supportive family can be, if they don’t understand the characteristics of an empath then it will be pretty hard for them to relate to the way you are feeling some days. There will be days where you feel dark and heavy, for no apparent reason, and a lot of people won't understand why.

There are many empath support groups online. Better yet, start one yourself!

5. Keep Your Internal & External Environments in Order

This means, eating plenty of nourishing healthy food, drinking lots of water and keeping your house or bedroom nice and clean. This will help you to feel centered and calm.

Having a clean and comfortable bedroom is imperative.

You need a sanctuary where you can feel completely safe and at home.

Whilst these simple and practical techniques will help you to feel more centered and protected, you will need to develop your own methods as every person replenishes their energy in a different way.

At times it can feel emotionally burdensome to feel so deeply, trust me I know. I have memories from as early as 3 or 4 years old where I've become physically sick because of an interaction i've observed.

Whilst it can be hard sometimes, you should feel incredibly empowered by your empathic nature. It is a truly beautiful characteristic that you should not want to trade for anything.

Just one of the beautiful bonuses of being an empath is that once you learn how protect yourself, your intuitive feelings will be extremely heightened. This allows you to tune into a very deep level of existence. You will feel more connected to yourself and to the world around you.

This is your superpower, and can offer great healing to yourself, other humans and to the planet.

So go shine, never shame yourself, accept your sensitive nature with gentle-tender-loving-care and know that you are SUCH a beautiful part of humanity.

Watch this video if you would like hear more on this topic.