How do you experiance your empathy?

[Bethra]

To help the new empaths understand their gift I think it might be a good idea if we talk about how we all experiance our gifts. Since we are all inderviduals, the experiance will be different from one person to the next. This said there will be a lot of people who have similar experiances of it.

Personaly I find myself often quite deeply emotionaly effected by other peoples emotions. I am often effected on such a subconsious level that I don't realise I'm being pulled along with the feeling. I am very aware of atmospher in places. In a happy party no matter how down I maybe my spirits will be lifted. When friends suffer I feel their suffering. When someone needs to talk I know. It's an instinctive thing for me. I respond often before I realise I have done. I get a feeling out of the blue that I should call someone up and I act on it. The voice at the other end of the phone says :Oh I'm so glad you called,,," This is my experiance of empathy. I'd love to hear about everyone elses.

[Pesha]

I am emotionally and sometimes physically affected. I have stood next to perfect strangers and felt a woman going into labour once. I get affected at several levels. Mild is usually a calm or not so bad emotion. Giddy is when I am near happiness and feel all tingly inside. Pain, well I huurt in the palce the person hurts. Anger and really strong emotions I have to get away as I feel them strongly. I am strong in my gift. I sometimes hear whispers as well. Anyway that is the short of a much longer story.

BB
DS.


ps. One thing i forgot. I seem to open people up. Folks just want to tell me all about everything within a few moments of meeting me. That is one of the reasons I did psych nursing alot.

[LadyCelt]

If soemone close to me is suffering, I often feel tired. If there are things like the hurricane I feel tired. I feel out of it. They often times feel better so I ownder if that means my prayres/energy go to them and I am wiped out in return. I literlly can feel another's pain, jsut not the same way.

[Bethra]

I am emotionally and sometimes physically affected. I have stood next to perfect strangers and felt a woman going into labour once. I get affected at several levels. Mild is usually a calm or not so bad emotion. Giddy is when I am near happiness and feel all tingly inside. Pain, well I huurt in the palce the person hurts. Anger and really strong emotions I have to get away as I feel them strongly. I am strong in my gift. I sometimes hear whispers as well. Anyway that is the short of a much longer story.

BB
DS.


ps. One thing i forgot. I seem to open people up. Folks just want to tell me all about everything within a few moments of meeting me. That is one of the reasons I did psych nursing alot.

That footnote is something I have found also. I sometimes wonder if I have a flashing neon signe above my head that says "Come tell me your problems" :lol: Even when I worked in a super market on the fruit and vegitable stand I would have little old ladies coming in and pouring their troubles out to me. Random people just wandering up to me a spilling their sorrows out to me on the bus on the way to work. :lol: I laugh about it now since I live a pritty reclusive life at the moment but I think when I get back into the general population it will happen again. I remember being driven quite mad by it all at one point. One day I had an endless stream of people starting with a woman on the bus who sat down next to me and told me about how it was the aniversary of her mothers death that day, and how she was finding it very hard to deal with even though it was a year ago that she had died from cancer. She was in tears halfway into our journey and when we reached our destination she was still crying but thanked me for listerning to her and helping her. I went into work and spent the rest of the day listerning to simliar things from a string of people one after another. Needless to say by the end of the day my mood was more than a little somber. I leanrt that day the need for a very strong sheild and a very thick skin. If it happened again I'd probably still be in a mess at the end of it but maybe I helped a few of them feel their load was a little lighter.

Thank you for shareing your experiance of this with us. I have also on ocasions been physicaly effected by someone elses emotions. It's usualy intense sorrow that hits me and can make me feel sick or empty in my stomach and have a tightening of the chest making my breathing come in short rasping breaths like I'm crying even when I'm not. Oh and yes though I hardly ever cry for myself I am often moved to tears when a close friend is in pain.

[Bethra]

If soemone close to me is suffering, I often feel tired. If there are things like the hurricane I feel tired. I feel out of it. They often times feel better so I ownder if that means my prayres/energy go to them and I am wiped out in return. I literlly can feel another's pain, jsut not the same way.

This energy depletion is also a clasic signe of an empath over extending themselves. Be sure to keep an eye on your own health in these situations. When you are sending energy out you need to make sure you look after yourself and get enough rest. We all tend to forget we aren't super human at times of the greatest need. We forget that we also need energy, we forget to eat right or sleep when we should because we are so focused on helping others. While this is a valiant effort there are few prizes for a marter so always make sure you save some for yourself. Don't extend yourself to the point of exhaustion because you don't know when you might be needed again to jump in and save the world :D

[LadyAriana]

I've noticed that neon sign too! Luckily I've found the dimming mechanism, so when I really don't want to be the 'shoulder', people won't swarm me. I experience my empathy on a liquid level. That is to say that the emotions I feel come over me like water. Happy is warm and light and fast, depressed is cold and heavy, angry is burning hot. I've gotten better about which emotions I let sink in, and which ones I only let on the surface.

Of course, when I'm caught off guard, all bets are off. My best friend knows I'm an empath, and she LOVES to play with it. We'll be walking down the sidewalk, and she'll fall a step behind without me noticing. She'll think of the most anxious thing going on in her life, or giddy, or some sudden excitable emotion. Suddenly I feel like I've gotten zapped and on occasion I have been known to leap into the air and yelp. She's there laughing her butt off.

[fangedeshana]

Personaly I find myself often quite deeply emotionaly effected by other peoples emotions. I am often effected on such a subconsious level that I don't realise I'm being pulled along with the feeling. I am very aware of atmospher in places. In a happy party no matter how down I maybe my spirits will be lifted. When friends suffer I feel their suffering. When someone needs to talk I know. It's an instinctive thing for me. I respond often before I realise I have done. I get a feeling out of the blue that I should call someone up and I act on it. The voice at the other end of the phone says :Oh I'm so glad you called,,," This is my experiance of empathy. I'd love to hear about everyone elses.

I'm exactly like this. Unfortunately, recently I'm around some angry people currently, and my body doesn't deal well with anger.

My empathy actually influences my spiritual and magical practices too. I'm not a visual person at all, I can only 'feel' things - I 'feel' colours, but never see them, I 'feel' aura, never see them... the same with all energies, with the way certain spirits look... I think because I'm strongly empathic, I'm like a blind person... I might not be able to see, but other senses get boosted. For better, or worse. But usually for the better.

[LadyAriana]

My empathy actually influences my spiritual and magical practices too. I'm not a visual person at all, I can only 'feel' things - I 'feel' colours, but never see them, I 'feel' aura, never see them...

I'm the same way, I 'Feel' magicks around me, or energy flowing, but I can't see them.

[KEishin]

That footnote is something I have found also. I sometimes wonder if I have a flashing neon signe above my head that says "Come tell me your problems" :lol:
I think that that may be a very common thing for empaths. I've certainly seen it it to be very true for me! Just ONCE I'd like to wait in an airport/bus depot/train station/etc and not have perfect strangers start conversations with me about their life issues. It's not that I don't want to listen, but when you're the fifth person to do so in one day . . . I get grumpy. :eyez:

Back to the topic at hand.
For me, my empathy is so much a part of my emotional state, it's often hard to point a finger and "yep, that's empathy." I find myself reacting before I often know why. Many times I've sent someone a message asking how they're doing, and they repond with a variant of "how did you know I was having a bad <insert noun>? "

Due to my background I notice negative emotions faster than positive ones. I feel them as emotions or when strong enough as physical sensations. Anger feels "prickly" and fear is hot flashes, for example. At other times I just "know" things about someone's state. I've had strong emotional moments of my past fill my head, that will match what another person is feeling. Example: I think about my dog that got hit by a car in my childhood while the person near me is grieving for something in their life.

I'm still learning to separate all this stuff out. Some days it's easier than others!

[BrigidMoon]

I do feel what others are feeling, esp those I am connected with personally. However, I can feel the same way with those that I am not connected with as well. (For example, my daughter's teacher etc)
My "unique" empathic gift is that I can feel pain from others. I know when they are sick, I know if my husband has a sore throat - or my daughter - because I get one.

I am drawn to energy suckers. People that want to bitch and moan and not change their lives so they can literally suck all the energy out of your body. It's annoying so I learned sheilding techniques.

I can feel when another emp is "scanning" me. It's weird - but you know all know what I mean by that?

[Branwyn]

I'm exactly like this. Unfortunately, recently I'm around some angry people currently, and my body doesn't deal well with anger.

My empathy actually influences my spiritual and magical practices too. I'm not a visual person at all, I can only 'feel' things - I 'feel' colours, but never see them, I 'feel' aura, never see them... the same with all energies, with the way certain spirits look... I think because I'm strongly empathic, I'm like a blind person... I might not be able to see, but other senses get boosted. For better, or worse. But usually for the better.

That's an interesting thought, one I've never thought about.

I'm incredibly visual. If you describe an apple to me, I can almost really see it in front of me. My empathy runs the gamut between feeling what another is feeling to seeing a memory (a couple times I 'saw' a scene my husband was telling me about a couple of memories with a LOT of emotion attached to them. Each time before he was a quarter way into telling the memory, I was describing the scene, down to the color of the clothing he was wearing).

However, in my healing work, where I conciously use my empathy the most, I only 'feel' things. Auras, illnesses and diseases, etc.

I need to think about that some.

[Branwyn]

I think that that may be a very common thing for empaths. I've certainly seen it it to be very true for me! Just ONCE I'd like to wait in an airport/bus depot/train station/etc and not have perfect strangers start conversations with me about their life issues. It's not that I don't want to listen, but when you're the fifth person to do so in one day . . . I get grumpy. :eyez:



I'm projective as well as receptive, and while I do try to be very careful about what I'm projecting, I've taken to using that as a defense mechanism lately.

If I have to go someplace where somebody is likely to want to talk my ear off, and I just can't deal with being the universal counselor again, I will think a bubble of negative space around myself. It's not a shield, but more of a 'I'm not here, you can't see me, those aren't the 'droids you're looking for' type of thing. It usually works well. If I'm really wanting to be left alone (like when I had to go with the husband to drop his daughter off at the airport, and I had to sit outside in the lobby waiting for him to come back), I'll "form" the negative space into spikes. It doesn't hurt anybody, I'm not putting any emotion into it, but the spikes make people give me a wider berth.

It's not a 100% cure, but at about 85%, it's better than nothing.

[Brenda]

me and empathy is something that doesn't go together :(
Most of the time, I just feel like an empty can, I don't know which are my feelings anymore.
Certainly when I'm at school, some people are angry, some are sad, some are happy, and then I don't know how I'm supposed to feel, because there are too many things.
So I tend to stay inside, just to avoid people, but even here I'm getting other people's feelings :huh:

[Lunacie]

That's an interesting thought, one I've never thought about.

I'm incredibly visual. If you describe an apple to me, I can almost really see it in front of me. My empathy runs the gamut between feeling what another is feeling to seeing a memory (a couple times I 'saw' a scene my husband was telling me about a couple of memories with a LOT of emotion attached to them. Each time before he was a quarter way into telling the memory, I was describing the scene, down to the color of the clothing he was wearing).

However, in my healing work, where I conciously use my empathy the most, I only 'feel' things. Auras, illnesses and diseases, etc.

I need to think about that some.

*looking thoughtful here*

I did that same thing with my ex a couple of times. I thought I was using a form of distance viewing or something, but yeah, now that I think about it the scenes I was picking up were important emotionally to him and I may have been picking them up on an empathic level. Huh.

[Bethra]

I am always amaized how one simple gift can be experianced in such different ways. :D It's really quite magical all on its own :D

[Teresa]

For me, I can feel others illnesses and emotions and have a strong visual connection with them as well.. Being able to feel the illnesses has helped me with my healing energies. I am 41 years old and sometimes still have a hard time distinguishing others emotions in times of emergency from mine. I work with the public therefore shielding is essential for me. Limiting my amount of time watching TV and intentionally not watching the news are some ways I cope and give myself space.It is important for me to have time to myself daily to replenish and get rejuvenated.

[LadyCelt]

Bethra,

I used to loose much sleep and get overly stressed when concerned aobut thigns and others. Once I didnt sleep much for three days when learning about somethign about a friends brother etc. I still get stressed but not to the same extent. I often feel wiped out after church, but feel my energy may be going to those who need it there and to the Lord. I have worked more and more to control where I am not going too far and hurtin my own state of well being.

[Pesha]

Something I meant to mention before is I see auras. And somedays all I do is see people and colours everywhere.

Please excuse me if I post in a bit of a fragmented way right now. I am becoming quite ill again and therefore scared. I am so tired of being sick. Well anyway, sometimes seeing auras is actually soothing.

BB
DS.

[Lunacie]

I have tried many times to see auras with very limited success. However, if I concentrate and connect with someone I can tell you what color I associate with them. Not quite the same. But by running my hands over someone I can generally tell where their energy is blocked - sometimes I can tell whether the blockage is caused by a physical problem or an emotional problem.

[argento_occhi]

I'm definitely not visual, and my experiences of feeling others' emotions I feel is sort of limited, mainly because I think I learned somewhere along the line (possibly year 7 where I was teased a lot) to hold back and hide what I'm feeling. I'm beginning to suspect this makes me less receptive to emotions, though not always. I was chatting with my best friend one night and she was going through a tough time with one of her friends (who'd tried to kill himself) and that was intense. Maybe it was the long frienship we'd shared, I've known her nearly 15 years or so, but damn did I feel some pain that night.

I don't know why I tend to be able to feel emotion more readily over the net, but I do, especially around her, and I suspect she's a stronger empath than I am. There have been other times, but it's weird feeling emotion over the net. And at school, I was usually the one my friends came to for comfort. I was the mediator, the counsellor, the one who got everyone to talk, even though I never opened up as much as I probably could've. I still don't open up to people I don't know. I'm very guarded in my feelings. I don't want to be hurt. I've been told I'm difficult to read, by friends and my dad. But, then things come along and I find my sheild shattered and it all flows in. It's never been too completely overwhelming, but it has been there, I have felt it before, so I can't deny it doesn't happen to me. *shrugs* I don't know how I manage to shield it out. Maybe it's because I close myself off all by myself. I do know I can usually tell who's on the end of the phone if I know them well enough. It's the energy I get from the phone. Or something.

I do notice I tend to feel emotion more strongly from say watching something on TV or chatting on the net. And with TV, I find it's a reaction to things that not many other poeple would react to. Like, watching a show about crocodile farming and about how they use the leather for bags, shoes, etc. Maybe I'm the only one who feels sorry for the crocodiles. I also hate the idea of crocodile hunting being reintoiduced in the country to help keep numbers down. To me, it's a crime to kill crocs. I hate that I feel so passionate about it, because crocs aren't what you'd normally find people queuing up to save. Like, I can't bear the thought of any crocs being killed, no matter if they're dangerous or not. same with sharks. I hate the thought of shark culling just cos one attacks humans. Like, i've seen them go mad over shark attacks, sending out patrols and stuff just to hunt down a shark that may or may not have attacked/killed a human. Most of the time they don't find them anyway.

*sighs* But this post I think is getting off track. Um, I hope that's all coherent. I've never really thought of myself as empathic. It's only been in the last year or so that I've been able to put words to what I've felt/experienced. Soemthing tells me I'm glad I don't have that huge influx of emotion that I've heard others get. Whatever I'm doing, it appears to be working. Most of the time.

Argent

[LadyAriana]

I can feel when another emp is "scanning" me. It's weird - but you know all know what I mean by that?

Oh yeah, doesn't happen very often though, there seem to be lack of emps in my area....at least that seem to be actively noticable. It does leave a weird feeling though, to me at least, like I've had something just pass right through my skin, and a tingly feeling right behind my ears.

Had the unfortunate luck of running into a psychic vampire (if that term is PC) unprepared. Do NOT suggest it. Imagine having all your energy sucked out of you in one second. Not fun, trust me.

[seekerofknwoledge]

When I first became aware of my empathic abilities, it was mostly with very close friends (and often animals). The experience would vary person to person depending upon how close we were/what was happening to them (for example, when my closest friend was going through some stomach related health issues, I would get the exact same pains even though my body wansn't hurt). I get both emotions and physical, and also that sensation (some people have mentioned) that I needed to call or talk to a certain person (usually I'll dream about them when that's the case).

More recently however, my empathy seems to have blossomed rather quickly. Every once in a while I used to get feelings or impressions from people I wasn't close to, for example people online or random people I saw during the day. Now a day doesn't pass when I don't get impressions of people I've never even talked to. These can sometimes be more dangerous, mostly because the person's afflictions are often worse. For example, I was reading a girl's post about a very traumatizing experience she had (I'm abreviating on the details for privacy's sake, but it involved a huge betrayal of trust from a male friend and some physical injuries) and for the next week or so I adopted her physical injuries. They just materialized on my body, bruises and cuts... I also have trouble with certain students at my school, one in particular who I know is sick (I don't know with what, but I can feel it). The feeling is so overwhelming when I'm around him that I almost always run away to be free of it. It's beyond engulfing, and it can get very scary.

That all makes my empathy sound almost bad, but on the contrary I'm happy that I have this ability to help people.

[LadyCelt]

When the world in general seems bad and not particular people and I get upset, sad, and tired, is that a way of suffering too?

[frigga]

It first started as sudden insights as to how the person I was connectin with lived. I would smell things differently, feel things differently (both physically and mentally), and get a different mind set for about half an hour after an encounter, which I had no control over starting or stopping at the time. It started when I was 8, in third grade, standing in line behind a girl I didn't know. Now I can control it and allow myself to let things come in, or block them. I often get emotions but occationally, if the person is really unguarded, I can actually "see" what's on their mind...very weird for me. It really kicked in after my reiki attunements, I can't look people in the eyes now or I get things no matter how hard I try not to.

[frigga]

I can feel when another emp is "scanning" me. It's weird - but you know all know what I mean by that?
Oh, I totally know what your talking about! I met a pagan chick at my last college and she got all up in my energy trying to size me up! I couldn't stand it. I felt like I was being pressed against a wall even though she was over a foot away. I don't think she was an empath though...

[Pesha]

Here I go fragmenting again sorry. Ok, I can pick up things from people on line. Pain, sadness joy etc. I was going with a man, who was an empath, for a long time. We were so tuned into each other that we could feel each kiss from just being online together.

Tonight I am having a sad night. I just feel low. I will regroup. I am finding having this subforum to be very cathartic. Been faking a good mood all day.

BB
Ds.

[LadyAriana]

Here I go fragmenting again sorry. Ok, I can pick up things from people on line. Pain, sadness joy etc. I was going with a man, who was an empath, for a long time. We were so tuned into each other that we could feel each kiss from just being online together.

Tonight I am having a sad night. I just feel low. I will regroup. I am finding having this subforum to be very cathartic. Been faking a good mood all day.

BB
Ds.

*projects warmth, and contentment and good vibes* And if that doesn't work, how about some swiss chocolate and Italian pastries? :hugz:

[Pesha]

*projects warmth, and contentment and good vibes* And if that doesn't work, how about some swiss chocolate and Italian pastries? :hugz:


Can I have both please!! HUGS and thanks. Thoughts of Toblerone flow through my mind.

BB
DS

[~*Ginger*~]

I've also shown alot of the vibrational effects mentioned above.

For as far back as I can remember.

When someone hurts, I know it, and lots of times, have the physical effects that they are feeling, either at that time, or in telling me some of their problems of long ago.

{once a guy was telling me of his family problems, why he left home what lead to it, and my throat started knotting up on me, I reached for my throat (hurt like nothing before or afterwards of my own, like I had an adam's apple swelling in there! As though it were about to burst.) and he asked me what was wrong, I told him, and he told me that was how it had been for him at that time long ago, and this guy was really a stranger to me, for some reason he felt the need to tell me about it.}

*I also wear the 'tell me your problems' sign. Which is alright most of the time, every once in awhile I feel like, 'oh no, not again'. And then for some reason I feel like I'm being selfish to feel that way*

There are times it actually makes me hurt to see, know, or feel that someone is suffering in some way.

I pick up on the vibrations that are within a place, wether that is their home, or some type of gathering, even places of business.
(sometimes to the point that there seems to be certain smells, not sure how that one works, but it's happened.)

if I've been in a place that has ill/negative feelings running through the place I start feeling that as well, and feel the need to leave.
Though, I do try to bring the feeling of positveness to the place, but lots of times, the other is more overwhelming, and it's best to just leave...

Depression, and anger vibes take a real tole on me.
And I'm ready to run!
Most of the time, just in time to be free of it, but sometimes when i know that in my best interest it is to leave, I've been 'talked into staying' for someone else's own reasons, this is never a good thing for me, and i've learned that lesson well in the last few times...

(sometimes one person is not enough to bring the vibrations to a higher level)

And sometimes I'm trying to figure out my own way of releasing my own depression, anger and hurt.
(just this past summer, I was dropped in the lap of a very kind woman, and she helped me with that more than anyone else ever could have. (((Truest Blessings))) to her, and the deliverer of me to her.)

And I always, always know when someone is staring, or watching me!
always have...

And do pick up on the vibrations, whatever they might be as to 'the why' of this type vibration, sometimes good, sometimes just curiousity, sometimes bad.

I know when someone is interested, even if they don't admit it.

I know when someone holds some type of jealousy, or hateful feelings. (though, I may not understand 'why' they feel this... but sometimes I do, because of the vibes coming from them.)

Heck, I even know when someone is sending vibes my way, even in energy work & candle buring (good or bad).
Sometimes I know exactly 'who', sometimes not...

One thing I've found since being online.
I know when someone has answered a pm, or an email, or answered to something that I've posted on a forum, or I know that I need to log on, since someone has sent me something unexpectedly.

When I was a kid, I stayed in tears most of the time.
basically a loner, developing my loves of painting, reading, writting, and creating some sort of 'feel good' talents.


Wasn't until i got older that I realised 'why'.
And the way I found out was watching an old Star Trek show.
The one of the 'empath', when I saw that show, I knew that's what I was, even though, on the show, the empath was an alien (which honestly sometimes I feel I am).

Of course knowing the 'why' helped, but it wasn't until coming online, that I found the 'how' to distance myself (and that all those feelings and emotions weren't my own), and it's not always easy, sometimes it's also a great built in 'safe gaurd' (i do pick up on the ill vibrations of most, ummm not so savory, ill intentioned men, and stay as far away from them as possible).

[Pesha]

Ginger you darling girl. I always knew you were an empath. Oh I am so happy to see you here. Please come to the Empaths forum often. HUGS!!

BB
DS.

[~*Ginger*~]

Thank you Dragonsinger, I didn't even realise there was such a forum here.
Just looking thru 'the new posts' and found this thread...

Sometimes, I do wonder if having this gift, is one way to help other's.
I mean, do you think that because we 'naturally' have this 'sign of tell me your problems, hurts, and woo's' do you think that maybe by us feeling their feelings ourselves, that in some way, we take those feelings, and such, and by our 'feeling' them kinda ease the pain these people feel?

Could that be possible?
sometimes I like to think that it is possible, that since we feel these things, maybe, it lessens the hurt they carry?

If so, then it may be a bigger blessing, than we realise to be empathic...

[mtpathy]

Ive been practicing a method of "being a sponge" by meditating on the sound of water "clairaudience"
water moves like air,and both move like emotion,no beginning and no ending theres simply flow.
i dont personaly believe in the act of shielding,i personally belive that both good and bad have very
valuable lessons to learn from.

[Pesha]

Thank you Dragonsinger, I didn't even realise there was such a forum here.
Just looking thru 'the new posts' and found this thread...

Sometimes, I do wonder if having this gift, is one way to help other's.
I mean, do you think that because we 'naturally' have this 'sign of tell me your problems, hurts, and woo's' do you think that maybe by us feeling their feelings ourselves, that in some way, we take those feelings, and such, and by our 'feeling' them kinda ease the pain these people feel?

Could that be possible?
sometimes I like to think that it is possible, that since we feel these things, maybe, it lessens the hurt they carry?

If so, then it may be a bigger blessing, than we realise to be empathic...

Sweety to answer all of your Q's, the answer is YES. It is a blessing to be this way. Just always make sure you releaase all that pain and sadness from you or you will get sick.

BB
DS.
*********************************************************************

mtpathy, I find the sponge technique interesting. Absorb and release. Yes quite good.

BB
DS.

[~*Ginger*~]

Sweety to answer all of your Q's, the answer is YES. It is a blessing to be this way. Just always make sure you releaase all that pain and sadness from you or you will get sick.

BB
DS.
See, this releasing of it is what I've just now learned about.
All these years, I've toted alot of it around with me, and it did make me ill, and I stayed in pain much of the time. (of course alot of this pain settled in the places of injury that had been my own.)

I had gotten to the point of hurting so badly that i hated myself, I wanted to hurt other's, and most of all myself, I felt like dying would be the best thing.
Maybe then the physical pain I felt would stop.

When I came online, I continued to do what I've always done, try to make other's feel better, and there by helping myself feel better.

Then one day got to reading around and found someone here who did a long distance reiki on me, and it lifted alot of the pain.
And she told me that I needed to release the pain and illness that I had been carrying around that belonged to other's. As well as my own.

So, I've been trying to do this, and little by little the pain I stayed in continually, started to subside/return to the earth.

i've had several other long distance type healings, the last two have helped alot, and I do feel better, not hurting and achy allll the time, sometimes to the point of not even being able to move, because of the pain.

So, I'm feeling much better, better than I have in a very long while. :nonono:

I'm gonna keep on with those l.d. healings, in hopes that I can become as pain free as I possibly can.

I've also started doing some affrimations (because of lies that were drilled into my head as a child growing up), and they seem to be helping as well.

It was nice to find out that I could release, and be healed by doing these things...

[Xirian]

My empathy affects me physically, usually in my stomach. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes it feels like a very overwhelming rush, and sometimes it's rather mild depending on the situations.

[jennifer21570]

I do feel what others are feeling, esp those I am connected with personally. However, I can feel the same way with those that I am not connected with as well. (For example, my daughter's teacher etc)
My "unique" empathic gift is that I can feel pain from others. I know when they are sick, I know if my husband has a sore throat - or my daughter - because I get one.

I am drawn to energy suckers. People that want to bitch and moan and not change their lives so they can literally suck all the energy out of your body. It's annoying so I learned sheilding techniques.

I can feel when another emp is "scanning" me. It's weird - but you know all know what I mean by that?


I seem to draw these type of people too. Right now, everyone in my life is draining me!
_catroll_ I understand what you mean by "scanning"...it is a strange feeling.

[Raintreewolf]

My empathy affects me physically, usually in my stomach. Sometimes it's painful, sometimes it feels like a very overwhelming rush, and sometimes it's rather mild depending on the situations.


This is very similar to my experiences...though it is a general lower chakra thing for me....it has caused me to menstrate out of the blue...even flash floods of it if some-one is grabbing me like someone afraid of drowning grabs you and ends up trying to drown you with them.....Geesh...I reall, really have had such a touch time with empathetic/psychic stuff. Moods effect me lots...peoples fear too. Mentally? mentally I get and empathic thing as well but it is with mentally ill people...my head will feel like it is going to split and ahces horribly in a spot...and I go...ahhh...multi personality....Shcitzophrenia ( sp?) though shitzpphrenics will actually give you a jolt of massive amounts of energy and they can project energy a you easily...and you feel almost like too much water on the brain....

But for the most part it is in my abdomon....which also effects not only my female organs but intestines as well.....

I can not stand it to tell you the truth and I also do not wanna do it anymore. So, actually I have gotten very good at shutting it out so much so, that I think I'm now going through early menapause. Plants and animals never steal my center like people will....so they do not effect me and I can be open to them....but people.... :twitch: LOL...they may not have my center but they can have some wisdom :fpipesmok from me...but then I draw the line....For me...I think this is starting to define a whole new level of compassion for me. If that makes any sense.

[Raintreewolf]

I can feel when another emp is "scanning" me. It's weird - but you know all know what I mean by that?

Hah hah hah...yup!

[LittlePerson]

My immediate boss who sits in the cubicle to the front of mine is bi-polar and I can tell when she is anxious or depressed because I get very restless too. I find it difficult to focus and to "tune" her out. I find if she is anxious I'm anxious and I have an anxiety disorder so this really does not help. And I also know that being around her or my own mother when they are anxious or worried that I end up feeling sapped of energy. It's all rather frustrating at times.

Oh, and this week my boss is on vacation and not only is it now nice and quiet around here (cause she can talk a storm) I also feel so much more peaceful.

[Silver Water]

I can almost always tell when someone is in a bad mood, sometimes even why they are. I don't try to, I'll just be a couple of feet away from them and know. I don't have to be near to the person, if it something major and I know them well. Like a close friend or family member. Ofttimes my mood will change to reflect theirs, which makes it a lot harder for me to help them with their problem like I want to. It unnerves some of them that I know what they're feeling, but then it unnerves me that I can't keep my emotions in check when I'm near to another person who is experiencing a strong emotion.

With people like my mother or other close family members, I can tell when something is seriously wrong even if we're far apart. Like once I was at my father's and suddenly I felt overwhelmed by fear, and then relief. The next day I found out that mum had only just avoided colliding with a semi-truck at the same exact time.

So that's how I experience it, without even trying. I'd like to learn how to control it though. That way I can maybe find a way to 'turn it off' when I really need to.

And I love Ginger's idea that us experiencing other's emotions may help lessen the burden of them. If that is true then feeling other's anger, pain and sadness might well be worth it after all.

[~*Ginger*~]

I can't keep my emotions in check when I'm near to another person who is experiencing a strong emotion.
I stand in this line as well...
And, it makes me wonder if at times when I feel things so intensly, do other's pick this up from me as well.

Can we be as strong a 'transmitter' as we are a 'receiver'?

[Pesha]

Yes Ginger. You can effect others around you. Alot of us are both receptors and transmitters. I sometimes have to stay away from people if I am having a bad day. My sheilds sometimes can get weak and I do not want to accidentally broadcast something bad from me to others. It happens so don't get upset by this knowledge. Just take it and use it wisely. Like when you go into a room with sad and/or angry people and you broadcast calm and happy feeling. so it is a good thing too.

BB
DS.

[Lunacie]

I had a thought concerning shielding while I was at work last night. Shielding is passive, it's putting the problem into a box instead of doing something about it. I still become a hermit when I feel crappy because I know that what I'm putting out is what I'll get back (what goes around comes around), but I've been working on clearing the gunk when I'm not at home and I notice that I feel crappy.

I just run my hands over my aura from the top of my head down to my toes, sweeping together all the crap and crud and gunk into one butt-ugly clump and then tossing it out to the Universe or dropping it deep into Mother Earth. Either way it gets transformed into something much better and cleaner. I recently learned how to use my hands to pull all that gunk out of my heart chakra (or solar plexus or throat chakra, wherever), roll it into a ball and again toss it to the Universe or the Earth to be changed and renewed.

Okay, it doesn't change the situation I'm feeling so crappy about, but when I'm not experiencing such intense feelings about the situation, I can think about what I can do to change things. Or sometimes, decide that there's nothing I can do so I can turn the matter over to the gods to handle.

[Xirian]

This is very similar to my experiences...though it is a general lower chakra thing for me....it has caused me to menstrate out of the blue...even flash floods of it if some-one is grabbing me like someone afraid of drowning grabs you and ends up trying to drown you with them.....Geesh...I reall, really have had such a touch time with empathetic/psychic stuff. Moods effect me lots...peoples fear too. Mentally? mentally I get and empathic thing as well but it is with mentally ill people...my head will feel like it is going to split and ahces horribly in a spot...and I go...ahhh...multi personality....Shcitzophrenia ( sp?) though shitzpphrenics will actually give you a jolt of massive amounts of energy and they can project energy a you easily...and you feel almost like too much water on the brain....

But for the most part it is in my abdomon....which also effects not only my female organs but intestines as well.....

Wow!!! You seem to have it worse than I do. When I was younger it affected me more, simply because it was something we weren't supposed to talk about. But I've never had it affect my periods, as far as I know.

Interesting.

[Kalika]

I shield most of the time to block the majority out.

But, when I open up, I tend to feel exactly what the person is feeling... as though it were my own emotion. Anger is the strongest for me...

At first, I didn't understand that it was not me that was having these feelings... that I was picking them up elsewhere. Once I learned to distinguish between the two, it became a much easier burden to bear... and one that I can now open and close at will - except when extremely tired.

[Kalika]

I stand in this line as well...
And, it makes me wonder if at times when I feel things so intensly, do other's pick this up from me as well.

Can we be as strong a 'transmitter' as we are a 'receiver'?

Yes, though not everyone always is. :)

You can effectively shield both ways, or one way only, depending on which you prefer. Over time, it'll become "second nature" to shield, if you make a habit of practicing.

[LadyCelt]

my dad has been ill lately. and, I've been tired and just wiped out of energy and also more sore. a couple nights ago my legs, espeicaly y knees hurt more than usual. I have knee probs but his probs are with his legs so maybe I was literally feeling some of his pain.

[tears_of_ashes]

There are days where I feel a very little bit of what a person is feeling, yet, there are days where I walk through the city and feel 20-30 people's emotions all at once! I feel their problems from a 3rd person type of view though....watching their pain/pleasures if you will! I can't really explain yet as I am still a novice myself but this is just briefly how I feel with things.

I sometimes also feel like crying at times if someone is really upset. But I have this wierd feeling that it is not the person I'm focusing on that I'm 'reading', but a close one to them? :collapse:

[LadyCelt]

can hearing be part of empathy?

I can really har conversations in restaurants and things. sometiems I feel like Earshot, I think was the name of the episode, in Buffy. It can consume me of heraing so much talking and so many people.

[argento_occhi]

I have noticed that my empathy doesn't usually kick in unless I'm emotional myself, like if I'm angry or stressed, or feeling sad or something. If I'm feeling pretty normal, I don't feel others emotions as much. It's like, I need to be emotional to become receptive, and that doesn't happen very often. I like to think I'm a fairly well adjusted individual, and pretty calm most of the time. I know though that when I get angry, I seems to open me u to my empathy. And it's more of a slow, burning anger rather than a quick explosion that does it, too.

I noticed it yesterday on the way to uni. I'd left in a pretty good mood, but I'd seen this poster on the trains and that had made me angry (I won't go into details, it'll derail this thread and you'll end up with a political rant on your hands). That anger I could feel in my chest, it didn't go away. So, I got to class, and about 15 minutes later, when our lecturer came and started setting up all these hominoid skulls, suddenly the emotions just came at me. I mean, there was my own emotion attached to seeing those skulls, but there was others too.

My Human Evolution class has been very eventful, spiritually and emotionally, but I guess you would see why. Having never done anything on human evolution, I found everything interesting. Seeing the primates and the hominids and getting all this emotion from them. And a sense of connection to them as well. There have been times in class when i've been near crying because I'm so overwhelmed with emotion, not only mine but others as well. I don't know why. They all seem relatively ok, but yeah, that class gets very emotional for me. I've never had a class like that before.

And I'm not sure why I'm writing in here, excpet possibly a need so share this and see if I'm the only one who has this sort of trigger. See, right now, I'm relatively calm, so there's no extra emotion. Once it gets triggered, it all just comes at me, and I become extra sensitive to it.

I suppose I'm still learning about all this empathy stuff. I'd never really considered myself an empath at all until recently with a few separate experiences I couldn't explain any other way. Anyway, thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Argent

[Gypsy flower]

part of the reason I stay away from crowds is because I get so uhh well I guess the word is overwhelmed, not just mentally but at times physically, things come to me out of the blue and I look around to try to see where it came from and I can usually pick them out then I decide if I want to approach them or not:steppy:

there are so many sad, hurt, scared etc. people out there!

[sweetfairy]

me i feel drained and will get horrible headaches when there is too many emotions around me.
or sometimes i get pulled in and its like i almost become the other person..
but when it over whelms me i discconnect myself...like i step outside of myself and watch me from a distance.
i dont like crowds loud noise or bright lights,, its like getting slammed with lighting over and over .. the bright lights have this vibration that they give off taht goes thorugh me,, ugg
but when i am around postive energy from a person or even a child..
it soothes me ... and that makes me so much calmer and can deal with life easier.. if i can explain this right..

[Lunacie]

Is it just the florescent lights that make you feel that way? They do make a buzz kind of noise.

I'm a Supersensitive... clothing, loud or erratic or annoying sounds, bright lights. When I'm driving some headlights make my eyes hurt and give me a headache. I really try not to think about it or the noise the fan makes in the hard drive can give me the shudders.

[Phenyxxfire]

What gift? This empath thing has brought me nothing but pain and loneliness.

My exhusband is an extremely powerful transmitting empath who used his abilities as a weapon. No matter where I tried to hide, he would force his emotions onto me and into my head until I would just start screaming out of control. Until I realized what he was doing, I thought I was going insane. It was a horrible kind of empathic rape that left me shredded and emotionally violated. I divorced him almost 7 years ago. I'm recovering but strong emotions can still feel like a band saw cutting through my skull.

It's only been this year that I've had any luck shielding out other people's emotions but they can still overwhelm me if I'm not careful. I can't tell you how many times I've wished I were head-blind. If I weren't an empath he wouldn't have been able to violate me like that. If I weren't an empath I wouldn't reflect back to people what they don't want to see and maybe I'd have some friends instead of drivng everyone away.

I hate being an empath. I hate not being able to tell which emotions are mine and which are coming from the outside. I have to isolate myself and spend most of my time at home because I never know when I'm going to get blindsided by some pissed off stranger.

I just want it to go away so I can have a normal life.

[Lunacie]

There really is a good side to being an empath - especially if you're interested in being a healer of any sort. I'm sorry your ex was such a bully (which is putting it mildly), but people who can actually do what he did are rare, thankfully. You're a very strong person ... a weaker one would have been driven insane by what he did over time. But naturally it will take time as well to recover and get back into your "own space". :rubhead:

[sweetfairy]

Is it just the florescent lights that make you feel that way? They do make a buzz kind of noise.


no i know what you mean about the buzz noise.. :p lol.. that like mosqitos kinda buzzing sound...
its all lights that affect me .. its a weird kinda vibration almost like a electriacal current going you..

[Aleannah]

wow...as I'm sitting here thinking about how I know if it's empathy or my own feelings, I am finding it difficult to differentiate between the two. If I am consciously trying to "feel" someone, then I kow it's empathy...if I'm okay one minute and then all of a sudden, I'm not...I know it's empathy. But, there are times that I feel certain emotions and I'm really not sure which it is...I can sense the energy in a room as soon as I walk into it, and I can tell you who is upset in that room immediately...but, I am also very observant of people - so, is that a result of my empathy, or is it the other way around? Like someone else said in an earlier post, they hear whispers...so do I...but I don't know if it's the empathy, or is it another thing altogether? I can sense emotions very strongly on the internet, which people think I'm absolutely nuts, but people tend to emote strongly sitting in front of their computer, thinking no one is watching/feeling them. If I'm not careful, I am automatically "pulled" to sites where major trauma is occurring...such as the Columbine shootings and 9/11...I was there emotionally, and couldn't do anything. Took me months to get the voices out of my head after 9/11...I can't watch video or anything - it brings it all back.

I guess the answer to the question of how do we experience our empathy, one physical trait is the knot in my stomach, sometimes headaches, just "knowing", I don't "see" very well, but I "feel" and "hear". I don't know if that helps at all or not.

If this post seemed to ramble, I apologize...it's almost as though I didn't write it...anyone else have this problem? :lol:

[Rainbow]

I feel the most powerful difference when it comes to very depressing moments. For example, I was walking behind a man and his friend. His cellphone rang, and he answered it. In a few seconds, while he was pausing, I felt this absolute awful feeling and felt the need to cry. After he hung up he told his friend that his best friend had just died in a car accident. That was a pivotal, awful moment for me. I wound up ducking out to go cry somewhere else. Lately I've been turning all those feelings "inward." Somebody who knows me can tell when I have one, though, because I look like I'm on the verge of crying and then suddenly all the emotion leaves me. Later, when I'm not in public, I let it out.

I also have problems with the news and historical photos and accounts, I can't control them as well for some reason. I don't know why, because it feels worse when it's a person right next to me, but the news and photographs make it come out faster. The thing is, I decided not to just stop watching, but instead I use it to motivate me to do something about it. It hurts, but at least I feel human.

[Pesha]

I have problems when i am in public and begin to pick ujp stuff. I tend to come home quickly and grab a piece of wood to release the energies I don't want. What I really hate is when people are fighting and I get all herky jerky and can't get away fast enough.

[braska_mmc]

ill never forget when i was hit by a bus because of one mans need to kill him self, i was lucky it only hit one side of me but i walked out in frount of it on the side walk and didnt even know it untill i was at the dr saying "i just got hit by a bus i think i need some help"

my gift runs just about like a non stop train, im allways feeling what others are feeling, in a shopping center its insane, every one is in my head, it is kinda like beeing everywere at the same time.

i can feel the emotion behind just about everything from an add in tv, a hand made peace of juelry, even the posts on this computer, to my friends, family and commpleat strangers,

if im lucky i also get the though behind the emotion, for example the man and the bus, i knew he wonted to kill himself because he was gay and cheated on his wafe with her brother.... but i never knew him, it was my empathy.

i colour coad emotions, and find out how they feel, like the 7 stages of the emotion each feels diffrent, and they feel diffrent with every person, but all have the same traites, so i know what stage there at and what emotion they are with out to mutch difficulties.