EMPATH....what does it mean to you?..

[norman]

I've been wondering, on and off, over the last couple of days, about the meaning of empath.

I've also been trying to take on board the Nija thing that Shezbeth has recently rocked my boat with.

I don't know, I might be really thick, or I'm just not trying hard enough, but I'm stuck.

So, I want any of you people here to offer your ideas about what empath or emaphic or empathetic really means to you.

Right now, my understanding of empath is something like meaning a state of being able to stand in another's shoes etc. To see and feel things as others do.

What does it mean to you?

[Pluto's Child]

As far as I know (lol) empathy is a relatively new word in the English language, having been imported from the German early last century, & I take it to mean feeling what another feels.

Had a quick look around & found this "30 traits of an Empath (How to know if you’re an Empath)" http://themindunleashed.org/2013/10/30- ... mpath.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jeebus ! I got nearly all of them except carrying weight lol

Excellent excuse for all sorts of things too, "look I really do need that second bottle of wine, I'm an empath"

[Shezbeth]

Well for starters, here's what it doesn't mean:

Naive, credulous, gullible, wishy-washy,... I could go on. Empathetic is a word I would avoid, as it literally contains the word 'pathetic'.

What it DOES mean (IMO):

Sensitive, aware, observant, comprehending, intuitive, and - above all - "like a tack" in the face of deception. This is due to an empath's ability to not only identify with another's professed intent/experience but also (where applicable) their legitimate intent/experience (in the face of a divide between their actions and professed intent). This can often occur where the other may not THEMSELVES be aware of it.

The reason empaths make such excellent healers, counselors, and sometimes teachers is precisely for this reason; not only can they see the other person's point of view, but they can also identify self-deceptions and deliberate (conscious or unconscious) choices and positions which hinder the individual's personal development.

What an empath is NOT is a dupe or a fool; quite the opposite IMO.

[Pluto's Child]

What an empath is NOT is a dupe or a fool; quite the opposite IMO.

Or are you just saying that to dupe us ???

[Shezbeth]

Might you clarify that? I'm not sure if you mean 'Duping a person into not being a dupe', or 'Duping a person into perceiving themselves as not being a dupe when they are'.

Or perhaps you're just making a quip because you haven't anything to say.

P.S. If at any point (past, present, future) I perceived that this forum were a 'ship of fools', I'd waste neither my time nor my 'breath'.

[Pluto's Child]

Might you clarify that? I'm not sure if you mean 'Duping a person into not being a dupe', or 'Duping a person into perceiving themselves as not being a dupe when they are'.

Or perhaps you're just making a quip because you haven't anything to say.

Surely duping someone into not being a dupe makes them into a dupe for being duped & is therefore illogical/ dodgy reasoning

As for the other two questions, your threads about deceit & so forth are the context for my "quip"

[Shezbeth]

So rather than discuss what Empath means, you wish to take issue with aspects to my other threads that you find distasteful. Got it.

[Pluto's Child]

So rather than discuss what Empath means, you wish to take issue with aspects to my other threads that you find distasteful. Got it.

I don't find them distasteful at all, I was just "pulling your leg", don't be so serious

Ok so here's a serious thing about "empathy"; the word is relatively modern, which says to me that we didn't have a use for the word before, English being the mongrel language that it is, we'd have got or made up a word from somewhere....

So, does this mean it's a modern phenomena ?

Have a look at the list on that link I posted above, there could be other reasons for such traits beside being an "indigo" or whatever, I think from what research I've done that these traits are also brought about by having "narcissistic" (using the word in a psychological sense here ) parents, narcissism being something of a burgeoning epidemic in western countries in the last 80 years or so, esp with the arrival of the "baby boomers" born after WW2.

The thing is with these people is that they require their off spring to parent them, as they haven't developed past about six years old emotionally & just have no sense of the feelings & needs of others, and often require their unfortunate children to love them unreservedly whilst giving no love themselves.

This creates many problems in the child, developmental problems of both emotional & psychic types, the "empathy" one being born of having to be one step ahead of the parents emotional needs & the fact that the child is left "wide open" like a baby, because the mother has done little "mothering" ie it's normally the mothers active love that brings a person forth into "being".

Babies are only very partially "here" and they have to be "brought through" & made whole, the energy fields of the infant have to be closed by being wrapped around it like "swaddling" otherwise it is open to all kinds of interference, this interference in later life is felt as "sensitivity" "empathy" and lots of other things too like psychic & mental problems.

This bringing through of the "person" & the solidifying of the aura is something that is done naturally by any healthy loving mother, in the same way as birds know how to build nests.

The fact that this is getting to no longer be the norm in western countries is not an accident or evolution, it is part of a huge psy-op to make people more manipulable & reliant on the state.

Often people with this "empathy" smoke to dampen down the "vibrations" & often turn to drugs or drink for relief, trying to get conscious control over it is of course the imperative, but not at all easy.

[Old Wolf]

Hi Norman,

Empathy is a natural ability and the beginnings of clairsentience. It's available to everyone but some people are born with it "turned on" similar to the other clairs. For example traditional psychics are born with their "clairvoyant" abilities turned on.

It's literally the ability to feel what another person is feeling. It's not limited by distance or time however tuning into what someone else is feeling in a remote sense requires an act of intent. When the person is in direct contact then the feelings are really "in your face" but the same can be said for people whom are feeling very strong feelings at a distance. The written word can impart feeling as can the recorded spoken word, in particular when expressed in music. Every interaction with another person will usually have an impact on an empath, both positive and negative feelings are shared. The sharing of feelings can also be a two way street with the empath reflecting feelings back to the source, with practice this can benefit the source. When an empath tries to understand what another person is feeling, they just "feel it".

It's a confronting ability that's difficult to deal with. Empaths often isolate themselves from others because the experience can be overwhelming. Large crowds are extremely difficult for them to deal with, especially when the crowds are gathered for no specific shared intent, for example a room with 200 people in small groups all conversing on different topics. Empaths need to learn to separate the feelings of others from their own, identify and understanding boundaries and learn to understand and accept others feelings if they're to live a relatively normal life. Just because an empath can feel what someone else is feeling, it doesn't mean that they'll understand it. Hence "empathy" could be seen moreso as the understanding of other people's feelings rather than the simple natural ability to feel them.

On the positive side, when an empath encounters someone with honest and good intent it's a wonderful renewing feeling that lifts their spirit far more than it would a person unaware of their empathic abilities. There's a whole raft of possible implications that follow on from this.

Kindly.

[Spiritwind]

From my understanding a person can be empathic without being an empath. For me, the realization that there was a word to describe my inner world that didn't imply I was just a mental and emotional basket case was good news. Ever since I was a very small girl, I remember knowing how people were really feeling, and not just see the mask that everyone wears. I didn't know what was wrong with me for a long time, actually. I'm just glad I didn't go to my local mental health practitioner and join the medication for everything bandwagon.

I think the light started to come on for me in my 30's when I really started clearing all the emotional backlog of unhealthy and undealt with emotions, mine, and everyone else's I had picked up on. That gave me a little breathing room to see more clearly. This is when I discovered that when someone, especially close to me, is either having a really bad day, or, even directing a lot of their dissatisfaction with life energy my way, as in, it must all be me that is causing their troubles and unhappiness, I would wake up out of the blue, for no apparent reason, sometimes even wanting to die. I would be a total basket case not knowing what hit me. It was only after multiple times of validation, that every time I felt this way, and there was nothing I could identify in my own life as the cause, did I start to pay more attention to this phenomena.

Fortunately, the more personal clearing I do on a regular basis, and looking to see what I still need to work on in my own psyche and taking responsibility to continue bringing these things into my conscious mind to be looked at, I am able to better identify what is mine, and what isn't. I haven't felt the way I used to feel on a regular basis for a long time now. But, I still sometimes just know when someone close to me is under duress. Oftentimes now I even know who it is. On occasion, it takes a day or two, but I almost always get some kind of confirmation.

Here is another quick example. Last spring I went to a family members house for a holiday gathering, and I found myself suddenly having very critical thoughts about everyone around me. I generally don't think those kind of thoughts, so took note of it. When this happened 2-3 more times, just when I went to their house, I knew something was up. Low and behold, a once happy (or so we all thought) marriage is on the rocks and I found out that the one wanting out has been unhappy and thinking critically about their partner and everything else in their life for, gee, just about the same amount of time I was picking this up.

I am finally starting to see this ability as more of a blessing than a curse, but for a long time I just couldn't tell what was mine and what wasn't. My daughter is the same way. When she was in grade school she would slowly over time start coming home with her shoulders all hunched up, looking like someone returning from battle. She soaked up her own stuff, plus that of everyone around her. After it had built up considerably, I would have energy work done for her to clear it all off, and she would look like a new person. Even the teachers at school would notice. She finds she just can't be around a lot of people even now.

On the plus side, I am learning to pay attention to the images that show up in my mind, realizing that this is one of the ways information, by my subconscious and more expanded self, rather than my outward focused awareness in daily life, communicates with me. And, I am learning to set better boundaries with how I use my energy, because that is another thing I notice that many Empaths do, and that is to want to help save others from their own pain, because an empath feels it almost as strong as the person who is actually experiencing a painful situation. A higher form of empathy, in my mind anyway, is to care enough to let that person have their own experience without feeling the need to rescue. Not every empathic person I know does this, but it is fairly common from my experience.

Plus, one last thing is, for me anyway, a continuing and growing awareness of the aliveness of everything. To me, everything, even seeming inanimate objects, has consciousness of a sort, and holds energy that can be communicated with. Not to be weird, but I even thank the ground that I walk on, and apologize when I kill a mosquito that wants to suck my blood, or start killing flies with the fly swatter when I get too many in the house. I verbally warn them what I am going to do and give them the opportunity to leave. I even apologize when pulling weeds in the garden. Now ya all probably really think I'm nuts, LOL.