Elaine Clayton - The Way of the Empath: How Compassion, Empathy, and Intuition Can Heal Your World

Copyright 2022

by Elaine Clayton

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

Cover design by Kathryn Sky-Peck

Cover illustration by Artemenko Valentyn/Shutterstock

Interior photos/images by Elaine Clayton

Interior by Debby Dutton

Typeset in Adobe Caslon Pro, Kepler Std, and Raleway

Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc.

Charlottesville, VA 22906

Distributed by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

www.redwheelweiser.com

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ISBN: 978-164297-037-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request.

Printed in the United States of America

IBI

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Dad

Empathic sensing is the art of seeing the unseen and welcoming the mysteries of life through psychic events and fun encounters with yourself and others. Living as an empath means embracing the ideal of heart-centered intelligence by attuning to the experiences and well-being of others. Empaths seek to live a life of generosity through sensing and quiet knowing. This intuitive intelligencethis psychic clarityis the hallmark of knowing from the heart, the pinnacle of empathic knowledge.

An empath's life is not an ordinary life. It requires the strength of a lion, because it takes real courage to be empathic. This form of artful living asks that you develop your imagination, your curiosity, and your consciousness in an extraordinary waythat you discover how your perceptions guide and inform you, how they shape you and, at times, challenge you. It encourages you to step into your own innate role as creator and work to bring compassion and an open heart to yourself and others.

In this book, we will explore foundational principles of empathic living and psychic vision as a means to bring healing to the world. Here, we will discover ways to understand empathy, to embody mystical, spiritual, and imaginative insight through creative meditations and playful visualizations. Moreover, we will bring light to ways empaths must protect themselves while living with an open heart. This book offers some fundamental creative visualizations for that purpose as well.

I hope this book will open you to both great zeal and great mirththe sign of true heart-centered intelligencewhile helping you experience and appreciate synchronicity and serendipity. May it serve as a companion as you spin a brilliant heightened awareness full of wonderment and joy, depth of insight, and wild revelations.

I wish all the kind hearts would put their heads together! (Julie Andrews, in the Broadway musical Cinderella)

We are all sentient beings somewhere on an empathic spectrum, feeling our way toward deeper knowing and seeking, toward compassionate understanding and intuitive awareness. Some are born with an innate sensitivity to their surroundings and those in ita proclivity that allows them to feel the presence of life energy in the atmosphere around both people and objects. Empaths sense the unseen, the energy that lies between and within the physical and material. Some develop empathic sensing through life experiences, perhaps by witnessing the suffering of a loved one or possibly through challenges like early childhood traumas that may spark ultra-sensitivity derived from emotional or physical danger. These experiences may cause some to be more compassionate because they have felt so much themselves and are able to see their own experiences reflected in the conditions of others.

This ability to feel what others feelwhether that be silent sorrows or overt expressions of pain derived from extraordinary circumstancesopens the door to a world of potential, of healing. A desire to cultivate a heightened sense of empathy and empathic awareness is a very spiritual and worthy undertaking, one that encourages the imaginal aspects of our creative natures to guide us to a balanced and meaningful life.

The duality of our existence means that we cannot avoid highs and lows in our lives. We all struggle as individuals to thrive despite the challenges we encounter. But we can learn to go through these experiences with a desire to feel them and an aspiration to understand them. With this understanding comes the potential for transformation and a sense of wonderment about the beauty in humanity. When we enhance our relationship with our higher selves by expanding our consciousness, rather than living lives in which we move from one reactionary episode to the next, we make room for deeper empathic connections with others. And we begin to create the life we'd most like to live. As empaths, our heart-centered intelligence helps us sense and understand what others feel as they grapple with their own life experiences, and this has a positive impact on all aspects of life.

I was always really sensitive. My two brothers were older than me and, when I was little, I cried easily if I thought someone was sad or hurt. But my brothers teased me for it.

Natural empaths are sensitives who have a genuine intuitive intelligence that allows them to feel the emotions of others as if those emotions were their own. Because they can easily sense the emotional atmosphere of a person or place, they are susceptible to the emotional, psychological, mental, and physical energy in the people and objects around them, and they must learn to cope with that. Some choose mystical paths and methods to help them cope, because they are generally open to sensing what is not visiblethat is, energy. In fact, all natural empaths have an innate ability to sense spiritual energy, and to be accepting of it and oriented to it.

Empaths don't need practical proof of everything. They don't rely only on material or physical reality for knowledge and meaning. Thus empathswhether their sensitivity is innate or acquiredlive their lives as a quest for the spiritual and a desire for the transcendental. They seek to become mystically attuned, inspired, and healed. Moreover, they work to be a part of the healing of others, often pursuing professions in the healing arts. Because they are sensitive to the emotions of others, they often feel drawn to the unseen mysteries of life-force energy, and ardently seek to transform hardship through their quiet knowing. Empaths feel spiritual, they don't just think it; they are, literally, awe-inspired. Within their own physical being, from head to toe, they welcome spiritual allure. And that, in fact, is how empathy works, for the most part. Empaths feel their way through circumstances and relationships, and then mentally process what those feelings signify.

Life for empaths may seem less practical than for others, because, for them, the ordinary often gives way to elements of wonder, surprise encounters, emotional and spiritual connections, and a sense of mystery. The unseen forces of emotional and mental energy tend to dominate empaths' lives, because they are always on the lookout for moments of gentle appreciation, for spontaneous spiritual connections, and for compassionate exchanges with others. They are always open to elucidations of what, to others, seems ordinary.