Esther Greene - The Enlightened Empath: Your Guide to Understanding Your Gift, Finding and Keeping Love, and Achieving Happiness

B eing an empath means that you are someone who is affected by other peoples energies, and that you have the ability to intuitively feel and perceive others inner thoughts and emotions. An empaths life is involuntarily and often unconsciously influenced by others thoughts, moods, desires, and wishes. Put otherwise, an empath is a person who is so sensitive to the emotional energy of those around them that they absorb other peoples emotions and then experience those emotions as if they were their own. As a result, empathic people tend to experience energetic overload in the form of anxiety, fatigue, and depression.

Being an empath and being a High Sensitive Person (HSP) are similar but not the same. Empaths are able to perceive more than just emotionsthey also appear to be able to perceive other peoples physical sensations and even spiritual energies. However, like the traits associated with HSPs, the openness of empaths is not something that can be turned off. They are always open to sense and process others emotions and energies and very often take on those emotions and energies themselves. In fact, its common for empaths to suffer from chronic fatigue and unexplained daily aches and pains imposed on them by outside influences. Empaths tend to be non-violent, non-aggressive and more likely to serve as a peacemaker rather than a troublemaker. Any disharmony creates an uncomfortable feeling in an empath. If they find themselves in the middle of a tense situation or confrontation, they will do their best to help settle the situation as quickly as possible.

As you might imagine, empaths are typically very compassionate, loving, and insightful people, and exist across all races, ethnicities, genders, nationalities, and socioeconomic backgrounds. No one know how an empath acquires the ability to perceive and experience other peoples emotions. In fact, it appears to be a trait certain people are simply born with. Of course, all human beings possess the ability to feel and interpret other peoples energy, but empaths have an ability that reaches a new level of perceptiveness. You might say that empaths are born without those protective layers that keep most of us disconnected from other peoples energies and emotions.

Some people believe there are loose types of empath within the broad definition. Emotional empaths pick up on emotion energies. For them, shopping during Black Friday, for example, would be overwhelming. A physical empath picks up on the physical ailments of other people. In a hospital, or with an ill partner, they might start getting nauseous or a headache or something similar. Animal empaths feel the emotions of animals, feeling trapped or stressed walking near a zoo. If you're a global empath, you pick up on the feelings of humans across the planet, rather than just a specific person. Even if you don't watch the news, you'd feel the stress of a global catastrophean earthquake in another country might cause you to feel alone or anxious. An Earth empath will feel feelings or sensations that relate to the planet's energy. If a major earthquake is coming, they'll feel it beforehand with muscle spasms, headaches, or stress that passes once the event has taken place. Most empaths are generally thought to be emotional or physical empaths; however, they can be a mix of any or all of those types.

It is only fairly recently that the term empath has come into being. However, the understanding that the world and its inhabitants (including human beings, animals, plants, and even inanimate objects) carry certain energies is rooted in ancient indigenous beliefs. As the West becomes more aware of and interested in principles related to mysticism (such as those of the New Age movement), the notion that the world and everything in it carries certain energies that interact with each other has become more widely accepted and mainstream. This is great news for empathsas the principles underlying empaths abilities become more normalized, more resources will be devoted to understanding these abilities and integrating them into society.

So are you an empath? And how can you know?

While theres no foolproof way to identify yourself or someone else as an empath, taking the quiz on the next page and reflecting on the results is a good start.

Quiz: Are you an empath?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Have I ever been labeled as too emotional or overly sensitive?
2. If a friend is upset or happy, do I start to feel those emotions too, as if they were my own?
3. Do I fear becoming engulfed by intimate relationships?
4. Are my feelings easily hurt?
5. Do I often overeat to cope with emotional stress?
6. Do I get emotionally drained by crowds and require time alone to revive?
7. Do I tend to prefer taking my own car places, so that I can depart at whatever time I please?
8. Do noises, smells, and excessive or overly loud conversation cause me anxiety?
9. If you answered yes to 3 or 4 of these questions, you may well be an empath. This is great news, because you possess an ability that most people dont have. The fact that you are seeking information and advice related to this ability is further great news, because it means that you are determined to take charge of your emotions and to not let them drown you. Being an empath is an incredible gift, but you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to take care of yourself and your well-being.

B eing an empath is not the same as being a person who feels compassion or empathy for someone who is hurting. Instead, an empath feels things as strongly as if they were their own feelings. Empaths tend to openly feel those things outside of them more so than the things inside of them. This often causes empaths to ignore their own needs. In other words, empaths are identified by the way they feel other people's "stuff" as if it's their own. Many empaths never actually become aware that they are empaths because they assume the physical ailments, feelings, thoughts, and emotions they experience are their own, not someone elses. As you can imagine, this can be very harmful if unchecked, because it can lead to the life of an empath being unconsciously and uncontrollably influenced by others' thoughts, moods, desires, and wishes.

Because of the nature of an empaths abilities and personality, complete strangers will want to unload on empaths about personal things as if, on a subconscious level, that person realizes the empath will listen with compassion and understanding. This, over time, becomes exhausting for empaths, particularly if they dont realize what is going on. When an empath is unaware of their abilities, they are likely to walk through life absorbing negative energies. This leads to very strong unexplainable emotions, including anxiety and depression. It also leads to feelings of extreme fatigue and burnout that no one, not even the empath, can understand. But when an empath is awake and aware of their abilities, they can learn to protect their energy and use their gifts to affirmatively and intentionally tap into how others are feeling. They can then, in turn, provide better care and compassion, find creative solutions for complex problems, and be a better friend, partner, colleague, and parent. Until an empath understands themselves as someone who has a unique set of energetic and emotional needs, they will feel constantly overwhelmed and confused about their emotional states and where those emotions are coming from.