Empathy is the ability to read and understand people and be in-tune with or resonate with others, voluntarily or involuntarily of one's empath capacity;
Empaths have the ability to scan another's psyche for thoughts and feelings or for past, present, and future life occurrences; Many empaths are unaware of how this actually works, and have long accepted that they were ìsensitive to others;
Empathy is a feeling of another's true emotions to a point where an empath can relate to that person by sensing true feelings that run deeper than those portrayed on the surface; People commonly put on a show of expression; This is a learned trait of hiding authentic expression in an increasingly demanding society;
An empath can sense the truth behind the cover and will act compassionately to help that person express him/herself, thus making them feel at ease and not so desperately alone; Empaths experience empathy towards family, children, friends, close associates, complete strangers, pets, plants and inanimate objects;
Empathy is not held by time or space; Thus, an empath can feel the emotions of people and things at a distance; Some are empathic towards animals (ie: The Horse Whisperer), to nature, to the planetary system, to mechanical devices or to buildings etc; Others will have a combination of the above;
Empaths are highly sensitive; This is the term commonly used in describing one's abilities (sensitivity) to another's emotions and feelings; Empaths have a deep sense of ìknowingî that accompanies empathy and are often compassionate, considerate, and understanding of others;
There are also varying levels of strength in empaths which may be related to the individualís awareness of self, understanding of the powers of empathy, and/or the acceptance or non-acceptance of empathy by those associated with them, including family and peers; Generally, those who are empathic grow up with these tendencies and do not learn about them until later in life;
Empathy is genetic, inherent in our DNA, and passed from generation to generation; It is studied both by traditional science and alternative healing practitioners;
Empathy has both genetic & spiritual aspects
Empaths often possess the ability to sense others on many different levels; From their position in observing what another is saying, feeling and thinking, they come to understand another; They can become very proficient at reading another person's body language and/or study intently the eye movements; While this in itself is not empathy, it is a side-shoot that comes from being observant of others; In a sense, empaths have a complete communication package;
While there is much we don't yet understand about how empathy works, we do have some information; Everything has an energetic vibration or frequency and an empath is able to sense these vibrations and recognize even the subtlest changes undetectable to the naked eye or the five senses;
Words of expression hold an energetic pattern that originates from the speaker; They have a specific meaning particular to the speaker; Behind that expression is a power or force-field, better known as energy; For example, hate often brings about an intense feeling that immediately accompanies the word; The word hate becomes strengthened with the speaker's feeling; It is that person's feelings (energy) that are picked up by empaths, whether the words are spoken, thought or just felt without verbal or bodily expression;
Empaths are often poets in motion; They are the born writers, singers, and artists with a high degree of creativity and imagination; They are known for many talents as their interests are varied, broad and continual, loving, loyal and humorous; They often have interests in many cultures and view them with a broad-minded perspective; They are mother, father, child, friend, nurse, caregiver, teacher, doctor, sales people;;; to psychic, clairvoyant, healer, etc; (That is not to say that any of these categories are all empaths;) The list is extensive and really unimportant; It is more important to notice that empaths are everywhere--in every culture and throughout the world;
Empaths are often very affectionate in personality and expression, great listeners and counselors (and not just in the professional area); They will find themselves helping others and often putting their own needs aside to do so; In the same breath, they can be much the opposite; They may be quiet, withdrawn from the outside world, loners, depressed, neurotic, and life's daydreamers;
They are most often passionate towards nature and respect its bountiful beauty; One will often find empaths enjoying the outdoors, beaches, walking, etc; Empaths may find themselves continually drawn to nature as a form of release; It is the opportune place to recapture their senses and gain a sense of peace in the hectic lives they may live; The time to get away from it all and unwind with nature becomes essential to the empath; Animals are often dear to the heart of empaths, not as a power object, but as a natural love; It is not uncommon for empaths to have more than one pet in their homes;
Traits of an Empath
Empaths are often quiet and can take a while to handle a compliment for they're more inclined to point out another's positive attributes; They are highly expressive in all areas of emotional connection, and talk openly, and, at times, quite frankly in respect to themselves; They may have few problems talking about their feelings;
However, they can be the exact opposite: reclusive and apparently unresponsive at the best of times; They may even appear ignorant; Some are very good at blocking out others and that's not always a bad thing, at least for the learning empath struggling with a barrage of emotions from others, as well as their own feelings;
Empaths have a tendency to openly feel what is outside of them more so than what is inside of them; This can cause empaths to ignore their own needs; In general an empath is non-violent, non-aggressive and leans more towards being the peacemaker; Any area filled with disharmony creates an uncomfortable feeling in an empath; If they find themselves in the middle of a confrontation, they will endeavor to settle the situation as quickly as possible, if not avoid it all together; If any harsh words are expressed in defending themselves, they will likely resent their lack of self-control, and have a preference to peacefully resolve the problem quickly;
Empaths are sensitive to TV, videos, movies, news and broadcasts; Violence or emotional dramas depicting shocking scenes of physical or emotional pain inflicted on adults, children or animals can bring an empath easily to tears; At times, they may feel physically ill or choke back the tears; Some empaths will struggle to comprehend any such cruelty, and will have grave difficulty in expressing themselves in the face of another's ignorance, closed-mindedness and obvious lack of compassion; They simply cannot justify the suffering they feel and see;
People of all walks of life and animals are attracted to the warmth and genuine compassion of empaths; Regardless of whether others are aware of one being empathic, people are drawn to them as a metal object is to a magnet! They are like beacons of light;
Even complete strangers find it easy to talk to empaths about the most personal things, and before they know it, they have poured out their hearts and souls without intending to do so consciously; It is as though on a sub-conscious level that person knows instinctively that empaths would listen with compassionate understanding;
Here are the listeners of life; Empaths are often problem solvers, thinkers, and studiers of many things; As far as empaths are concerned, where a problem is, so too is the answer; They often will search until they find one--if only for peace of mind;
Listening to the Heart
by Gina Lake
You listen to the Heart with something other than your ears; You listen with your awareness; What are you aware of now? You listen for (pay attention to) what is present now and arising now in the moment; You give your attention to what is, which may include a thought, but you don’t give your attention away to that thought; You notice it and then you notice what else is present; The Heart will communicate to you in this moment; What it has to say will be already present in the moment or arising in the moment; If you are busy thinking, you will miss its subtle, nonverbal communication because your attention will be elsewhere;
Compared to thoughts, the Heart communicates softly and unobtrusively; It doesn’t shout at you to get your attention; It doesn’t scare you or bully you or flatter you to get your attention; It just speaks the truth, and when you hear its truth, you know it because it rings true; But often, what it says gets lost in the noise of the mind; You experience it, not as words, but as energy: You sense your energy expanding, which feels joyful; you feel spontaneously moved to do something, which feels exciting; or you feel a sudden ah-ha, and some understanding or knowing clicks into place;
All of these subtle sensations and inner experiences are easy for the mind to discount and dismiss, but they are the secret to your happiness and fulfillment; They are the key that can free you from the unhappiness of the ego and open up a world of fulfillment and contentment; These subtle, simple, seemingly insignificant sensations are more important than any thought, desire, fantasy, or dream in bringing you the happiness you long for;
The trick is that you have to be listening for these sensations and inner experiences, and once you catch them, you have to be true to them; Catching them is not so easy because there are so many distractions, not just thoughts, but activities, responsibilities, and other people’s voices and opinions;
Anything can easily take you away from noticing what is most important to your happiness, so you have to commit yourself to paying attention to this more subtle side of life; If you don’t, you will automatically return to paying attention to your thoughts and the thoughts of others because that’s what you are programmed to do; To find happiness, you have to go against the programming that causes you to pay attention to the mind and pay attention to something else instead, something that isn’t as easy to hear as the mind;
Commitment to listening to the Heart is crucial; Getting good at picking up the Heart’s communications takes practice, so first you have to commit to practicing this; To make this commitment, you have to be convinced that it’s worth it; Not everyone is ready to see this; But at some point in your evolution, you do clearly see that the egoic mind is the imposter self, and that it doesn’t know anything about how to be happy; You not only want to stop the suffering caused by the egoic mind but you want to experience the Truth; If you really want the Truth more than you want your thoughts, desires, self image, opinions, fears, fantasies, memories, and dreams, then you will be willing to look—really look—at what else is present here;
What is it that has been living your life? Who are you?
When you really look, you see that you are not as tangible as you thought; Who you are is more subtle than thought and certainly more subtle than your body; Who you are is more of an experience, or an experiencing of life, than a thing; You are the subtle experience of no-thingness, the experience of awareness of all thing-ness; You are the listening and the Heart; It turns out that the Heart and listening are the same thing; The Heart, itself, is not a thing, but really awareness of every thing; This Awareness is intelligent, but it’s not a thing or a being that is separate from what it is aware of; The egoic mind paints a picture of separation that isn’t true; It creates the illusion of separation and perpetuates it with thought; Without thought, there is only oneness, and this Oneness is Aware but it is not a thing;
This Awareness —your Heart�?knows exactly what will fulfill you in this lifetime, and what will fulfill you in this lifetime is not the same thing as what will fulfill someone else or what fulfilled you in another lifetime; What will fulfill you in this lifetime is entirely unique from any other experience you have ever had or will ever have; So, you can’t look to the mind or to others to tell you what will fulfill you; Only you know, or rather, only your Heart knows;
excerpt from - Living Your Destiny:
How to Live the Life that Is Meant for You
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© Gina Lake
radicalhappiness.com
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