how to remove empathy

[leo482]

i really want it to go away. i feel like i am crazy sometimes. maybe i am just crazy not empathic.i wish i do not have these intruding emotions that are just confusing and hard to grasp because they come in from all directions, many at a time, when im in crowded places. its making me confused and conflicted.
its wearing me down, and cluttering my mind. i feel so worn out and tired half way through the day until i get home and get my peace and quiet. i also hate knowing what someone is feeling.
how do i remove this? is this just human nature? or like mirror neurons or something? or maybe im just suffering from chronic lethargy?

[Cunae]

Is there a way to control the empathic ability, instead of removing it? I am curious to see what the answers will be... ah, once the rest of the world wakes up!

[Lunacie]

We've had many discussions about this issue over in the Empathic Bunker forum. Linkie in my signature below...

Some people advocate putting up heavy duty shield to prevent us from feeling what other people are feelings, but this can backfire and prevent us from feeling anything, even good feelings like happiness and love.

I think we need to practice using good boundaries, and meditate so we become more aware of our own feelings. That way when we pick up on feelings from other people we may be able to transform them into something more positive and return them - or we may be able to let them slide off our aura/shield and be absorbed by Mother Earth.

I have gotten better at these techniques over the years, but when I'm not feeling well or I'm overloaded by negative stuff in my own life, anything I pick up is attracted to the negative stuff I already have and multiplies it. Which sucks of course. Then it's time to cleanse my aura/shield and do some healing work (usually Reiki) on myself.

Come on over to the Empathic Bunker and check out what some of the other Empaths have had to say.

[skilly-nilly]

Try to avoid crowded places.

Practice distinguishing between your feelings and others' and then practice dumping other people's feelings without actually experiencing them (a slippery-shield visualization can work... or a bug-zapper one):

Unwanted Empathy

This is not mine,
Let it stay yours.
I am not anodyne;
I shut my doors!

[Stormbeard]

Don't kill your empathy. It's what seperates you from animals.

Open your floodgates, feel EVERYTHING. Let it wash over you like a river breaking loose from a dam.

There is order in chaos.

[WitchJezebel]

I don't discuss my empathic abilities with anyone except my closest friends so only a few people even know - I keep up serious shields in public places, crowded rooms and any place where I don't know people and I'll remove them when I'm with friends. If I'm having an off day due to illness or stress, it's harder to keep up.

I'll be honest, I've never heard of empathic ability 'going away', even if you want it to. You can't even really ignore it, but you can control it.

[Son of Goddess]

I had this 'ability' a few years back, then it suddenly "disappeared" to put it simply. I have no idea what happened... It was certainly interesting at that time, the experiences were quite fascinating, but yeah I have no idea how it seemingly disappeared, strange really.

[BearDancing]

as above.....I find the proccess of knowing yourself the most important.....and then being aware of the others feelings and knowing they are not yours....ground yourself and release them to Mother Earth....at first I did not know what was going on...when I would feel some elses I thought it was mine and somehow found a way to apply it to myself....Whoooo huge mistake...but I did not know better and I did not even know I was empathic.....now that I know what is mine or not...I just release all that is not mine.....

I know how insane it can make you.....learn to ground yourself and let the energies flow through you....

[Skylar]

Agreed! :thumbsup:

And it is a gift, even though it may feel like a curse at times.
It takes gaining control of it and understanding when emotions are others and not your own.

Like the others said, ground yourself, shield yourself, and you should be alright :)

~ May your heart and mind find peace~

**HUGS**

[riftdrifter]

I've been told to use an egg shaped shield of blue all around you. . . try to visualize it around you as you meditate/ concentrate on a blank mind fill the area inside with your chakras root to crown then pull up an emotion of your own and focus on it take deep breaths through your nose out your mouth and relax. seems to work well even in the mall. If I'm wrong some one please correct me.

[Astara Seague]

why would you want to remove it...
just control it..
much easier and better for you:thumbsup:

[Lunacie]

I've been told to use an egg shaped shield of blue all around you. . . try to visualize it around you as you meditate/ concentrate on a blank mind fill the area inside with your chakras root to crown then pull up an emotion of your own and focus on it take deep breaths through your nose out your mouth and relax. seems to work well even in the mall. If I'm wrong some one please correct me.

I have not tried that one but it sounds good. Now, where can I go today to give it a trial? (The emotion is relief that my granddaughter who has missed school all week finally went back this morning... late.)

[KC Destroyer of Worlds]

I've never been able to "remove" my ability. But it got a lot easier to handle once I started paying attention to my body.

If I could feel the emotion and my body reacted, (sweaty palms, faster beating heart, tightened chest) I knew it was coming from me. When I was feeling something with just my head, I knew it was coming from outside of me and I could ignore it.

Hope this helps.

[brymble]

In the master practioner seminar of my NLP training, we learned a technique called "cross-pacing". As an out-of-control empath with a consulting practice that would by its very nature require me to be aware of an extremely attentive to other people's emotional states (and frequently, the "negative" ones that need changing) it was the single most important technique I have ever learned. It instantly changed my life for the better.

The "key" to ones emotional state is the breath. Many empaths who take on the emotional states of those around them are unconsciously matching their breathing patterns. In order to develop and maintain rapport with other people, for purposes of consultation, conversation, or just having to peacefully co-exist in the same space, cross-pacing allows you to consciously match their breathing pattern in another way, while allowing you to maintain your own distinct emotional space through establishing your own breathing rhythm.

If someone around you is experiencing intense emotion, and you need to protect yourself without isolating yourself, take a moment to consciously observe the rhythm of their breathing. Then match the pattern by doing something else - tapping, nodding, swivelling in your chair, watever. At the same time, consciously notice the rhythm of your own breathing, and deliberately slow it down or speed it up so that it doesn't match the other person's.

I can't begin to describe how liberating it feels! You still have access to helpful impressions of their emotional state without taking it on yourself. When it was time for me to practice this exercise taking my turn in the practioner's chair during training, it was the first time ever I had felt truly free of other people's emotional sludge without cutting myself off from them entirely! Please, practice cross-pacing every chance you get. It's the most amazing feeling, you don't have to avoid human contact to keep yourself free of other people's untidy energy.

[Kaliel]

Wear citrine, grab yourself an orb of Jet, and when in crowds, you can either withdraw the ability, almost like you're a turtle going into your shell.

The citrine will repel negative energies coming your way very well, so well in fact you'll never wanna take it off . . . the jet will clear anything you've felt over a long period of time and gety ou back to being yourself.

[Lunacie]

Wear citrine, grab yourself an orb of Jet, and when in crowds, you can either withdraw the ability, almost like you're a turtle going into your shell.

The citrine will repel negative energies coming your way very well, so well in fact you'll never wanna take it off . . . the jet will clear anything you've felt over a long period of time and gety ou back to being yourself.

I wore citrine for several years but didn't feel like it ever made any difference. Never tried jet, but hematite helped. I just needed something else to balance out the grounding energies of the hematite because it made me toooo grounded.

[Johnathan Brisby]

i really want it to go away. i feel like i am crazy sometimes. maybe i am just crazy not empathic.i wish i do not have these intruding emotions that are just confusing and hard to grasp because they come in from all directions, many at a time, when im in crowded places. its making me confused and conflicted.
its wearing me down, and cluttering my mind. i feel so worn out and tired half way through the day until i get home and get my peace and quiet. i also hate knowing what someone is feeling.
how do i remove this? is this just human nature? or like mirror neurons or something? or maybe im just suffering from chronic lethargy?

work out-- the stronger the body and mind, the stronger the core energy and shield.

[riftdrifter]

for more visual thinkers try a lotus shield white light spiraling outward away from yourself in those extreme occasions as each petal is overcome with outside emotions another takes its place or look at traditional pictures of the aura in Buddhist Hindu belief.
Seems to work -peace

[~*Sacred*~]

Yes.

I "removed" mine for about 2 - 3 years (just now getting it back in full swing). I went through a lot of emotional trauma when I was pregnant with my first daughter. After one blow-out mess I ran home (ok, waddled/ran..). I laid in bed and bawled my eyes out - I did not and could not emotionally handle feeling this certain person's pain anymore, it was killing me. I was pregnant and I was scared for the health of my daughter with me being under that kind of emotional trauma/stress. I remember willing these "crazy feelings" (I didn't know I was an empath or what was going on) to go away, I had had it, I was done with it, it needed to stop because I was going insane.

After my daughter was born I became aware of what being an empath was - I thought it was a term from Charmed, really cheesy so I thought the Pagans talking about it were idiots (sorry...) - and realized that I was an empath and that I had blocked all my abilities that day.

They've slowly been coming back the past year, especially lately (thus, why I'm here right now).

[riftdrifter]

feel it as water around you then be in your own tranquil ocean of inner peace vibe yourself . . . - reality is not what it appears to be . ..
draw in with your nose hold and exhale breathe out what you feel . . . be heard.

[Sera Kenina]

i really want it to go away. i feel like i am crazy sometimes. maybe i am just crazy not empathic.i wish i do not have these intruding emotions that are just confusing and hard to grasp because they come in from all directions, many at a time, when im in crowded places. its making me confused and conflicted.
its wearing me down, and cluttering my mind. i feel so worn out and tired half way through the day until i get home and get my peace and quiet. i also hate knowing what someone is feeling.
how do i remove this? is this just human nature? or like mirror neurons or something? or maybe im just suffering from chronic lethargy?
I'm really sorry, but I have never heard of a way to get rid of it. Only to deal with it and live with it. You aren't crazy. This is what is normal for you, you just need to learn ways to deal with it.

And I know about the crowds. They are the absolute worst aren't they? I don't know how much you know about empathy, so I am going to add a link to a website I have found useful:

http://paganandproudofit.com/empath.html

Blessed Be

[Sera Kenina]

Thats pretty interesting. I noticed this about citrine, my grandmother gave me a bracelet with citrine stones in it, thats when I first noticed. It made such a difference. Haven't tried jet before.

[Lunacie]

I'm really sorry, but I have never heard of a way to get rid of it. Only to deal with it and live with it. You aren't crazy. This is what is normal for you, you just need to learn ways to deal with it.

And I know about the crowds. They are the absolute worst aren't they? I don't know how much you know about empathy, so I am going to add a link to a website I have found useful:

http://paganandproudofit.com/empath.html

Blessed Be

:wave: Hello Sera, welcome to MW and welcome to the Bunker. It's always good to hear from another Empath, to hear their experiences and what they've found helpful in dealing with all this. That's a great site you've linked to, thanks. Hope to visit with you more here in the Empath forum and all around MW.

[Tigerlily]

This is an old thread but I'm bumping it anyway.

Awesome information. I'm empathetic and get incredibly overwhelmed by it all. There is some amazing information in this thread. Thanks everyone!