Many people use empathy without realizing it, especially with close friends and family members. This often occurs as a feeling that a friend is hurt or in trouble. The receiver may also feel stressed because a friend is stressed.

With practice, you can improve your empathic ability. You can begin using it on cue instead of just spontaneously. You can learn to receive detailed emotions and complex situations.

Create an empathic connection by focusing your thoughts on your chosen target.

Create a constant stream of energy connecting you to him or her. Let the connection grow and strengthen, like a web or joined hands holding you together.

Emotions flow through the connection in both directions. The target will feel some of your emotions, and you will feel some of the target's emotions.

Be open to receive images, sounds, and feelings through the link. You may feel the emotions as if they were your own, or they may seem like a movie. They may appear as emotional images or as hunches.

As you receive information, watch for related details and subtle feelings. Watch how the target reacts to his or her emotions. Ask questions to navigate through related emotions. Notice how the feelings change in response to your questions.

To be certain you aren't reading body language, practice when you can not see or hear the target person. Practice at times when you wouldn't otherwise know what mood the person is in. Then ask the person later what his or her mood was at that time, to see if you received feelings accurately.

Controlled, useful empathic navigation can take a while to learn, but it is necessary. The telepathy section explains techniques for navigation in more detail.

Closing the link is just as important as opening it. When you are ready to close the link, visualize it gently drawing apart and closing cleanly.

If you try to remove it too quickly, it may hurt like a suddenly broken relationship. You may even feel it physically near the heart, where empathy connects. Be gentle with empathic links because they represent your relationship with that person. You will both feel what happens to it.