Tools for the Empath

The best helpful tool for an empath is knowing that you are one. And knowing that everyone else is too, to some degree or another. All humans are empathic in some way, and I think humans are wired to be sensitive, but we generally feel these things outside of our body. The definition of empath I am using here is someone who feels things in their body as if they were their own. Some of us were able to ignore or even dampen down our empath talent when we were younger and in overwhelming environments.  But as we start on the path of healing and spiritual work, often our empath abilities come back on line. When we discover what our empath specialty is, we’ve discovered our super-power for being in the world. 

You may intuitively know what kind of empath you are already. There are three main types; physical, emotional and mental, and yes, a person can be more than one type, and even all three.

A physical empath feels other people’s physical symptoms and conditions in their body. I’m a physical empath. Once I was traveling with a friend who was starting to feel flu-like symptoms but didn’t mention it. I had been starting to feel sick as well, and a little while later when she told me how she was feeling, my symptoms disappeared instantly. I realized I had just been feeling the symptoms she felt. They weren’t mine.

An emotional empath feels the emotions that other people are experiencing. This can be really weird to experience when out of the blue a strong emotion comes over you that has nothing to do with what you were thinking or doing. You may know when you are feeling the emotions of someone close to you, especially if they are experiencing strong emotions near you, but did you realize that you can pick up generalized emotions from your community, and even the collective? A common emotion that empaths pick up on from the collective is generalized anxiety. This is the diffused energy of fear that many people have due to the chaotic state of the world we now live in, compounded by the stress on our bodies from environmental and technological (radiation, EMF’s, etc.) pollution. Many people, especially children and teenagers, suffer from anxiety right now, and I am guessing that a lot of it is not even theirs, they are empathing it. The younger generations are coming in with super-strong empath abilities.

A mental or psychic empath can have other people’s thoughts pop into their heads. This may seem like intuition or being extremely perceptive, it can feel as a “knowing”. These empaths can often discern the character of someone they just met, and often know if someone is being truthful or not. This can put them in cognitive dissonance if they are hearing a person say one thing, but they “know” they are thinking the opposite.

These experiences can feel overwhelming and put you off balance, especially if you have not considered the fact that you may be an empath. As a healer, I tend to consider it a super-power, but being an empath in today’s world can also be difficult, as we are having to interact daily with large groups of people in schools, work and social situations.

How do you distinguish  between what you might be picking up from others and what are actually your feelings, emotions or thoughts? Simply ask yourself “Is it mine?” If it is not yours, the intensity of what you are experiencing will lessen slightly. If it does lessen, then ask that question again, and again. It will lessen slightly each time you ask until it is gone. If it doesn’t change at all, what you are experiencing is yours. This is the most valuable and basic tool an empath can have. I know from experience that it’s so basic we can forget to use it when we need it!

If you are a strong empath and are sensitive to the point where being in crowds or buildings full of people are stressful for you, then boundary work is a great help.  Set the intention to have a buffer around you to keep from picking up other people’s stuff. You can imagine a silver bubble of light or fine silver fabric mesh around your energy body, extending about one and half feet from your body all around you. Or you can ask the spirit of animal helpers to engage with you that have traits that might help in the situation, like hedgehog forming a prickly buffer around you that helps break up incoming energies. You can also picture your guardian angel standing behind you enclosing you within their protective wings.

As humanity evolves into its awakening, our empath senses are heightening. This will no doubt help us to open our hearts to heal our ancient human core wounds of victimhood and separation. But as we work our way towards that, learning how to manage our boundaries will also teach us about the sacredness of self-care and self-love.