Are you an empath?
Empaths feel everything. Here is what that actually means, why it costs you so much, and how to work with a constitution built this way instead of against it.
Prefer to read? The full article is below.
First, the numbers
Only about 1 to 2% of the population would be categorized as an empath. A good 20% would be considered highly sensitive. Every empath is automatically a hypersensitive, but not all hypersensitives are empaths.
That distinction matters, and it is the part most people get wrong about themselves. Highly sensitive people register more of what is happening around them. Empaths register more of what is happening, full stop — including things that are not in the room.
You have more antennas
Empaths have more receptor sites. More antennas. That means more exposure to information, energies and frequencies. There is another sense organ present in us besides touch, taste, smell and sight — one that most people simply do not have switched on.
Receiving that extra information takes a great deal of processing power, energetically and physically. That is why we see so much exhaustion in empaths. You are digesting two to ten times more information than the people around you, using the same body and the same twenty-four hours.
Our antennas also are not relegated to the local environment. That is one of the main differences between a hypersensitive and an empath. A highly sensitive person feels the room. An empath receives information from non-local sources — different timelines, parallel universes, distant places — and often has no idea where the feeling came from.
Inside an empath is stored many treasures and many gifts.
As long as we know our operating system and how to work with it, how to fuel it properly, then it is not a constant unpleasant experience of chronic fatigue, exhaustion, overwhelm and confusion. The sensitivity is not the problem. Running it without instructions is.
Eight signs you are an empath
How many of these do you recognize?
1. Heightened five senses
Sound, smell, taste, touch — and visual disorder. Clutter is disruptive, not just untidy.
2. You absorb your surroundings
We absorb the energies of the objects around us as well as the energies of the people around us — and not just their emotions. Their physical symptoms come with it.
3. Crowds cost you
A lot more information to work through and process and digest. A few close friends over a thousand strangers.
4. Boundaries are hard
Empaths are quite permeable, and as a result there are a lot of issues with boundaries.
5. Strong intuition
When you pick up on the energies behind people's words, you know more than what is spoken or unspoken. It gives most empaths an uncanny ability to detect dishonesty.
6. Creativity and healing
Access to information that isn't available to the majority of humanity — which makes great artists, creatives and healers.
7. You take on others' pain
Others dump their emotional difficulties onto the empath. They feel relief; you are left to clean it up.
8. You need nature
Nature is where we cleanse and purify disharmonious energies. Nature is perfection. It is ordered.
How to thrive as an empath
Not coping. Not managing. Actually thriving!
Recharge on purpose
We are like a computer. It needs to be plugged in and the battery charged up so it can be used. Find your source of batteries, and know it may change from one season to the next. What refuelled you last winter may do nothing for you this spring.
Protect your solitude
Weave alone time into the day and really protect that time. It is yours. This is not selfishness — it is maintenance on the instrument you use to do everything else.
Get to the land
Your recharge comes from Mother Earth. Schedule the walk or the hike once or twice a week and do not dismiss it as less important than the rest of your calendar. Nature is where we cleanse and purify disharmonious energies.
Fuel the machinery
Be well hydrated, eat whole foods, move your body. If the machinery is compromised it cannot keep up with the volume of information coming in, and you never get ahead.
Practice boundaries
In your schedule and in your relationships — literal boundaries with people as well as energetic ones. Empaths are permeable by design, which means boundaries have to be chosen rather than assumed.
Make a sacred space
Somewhere in your home that is ordered, beautiful and yours. Visual disorder is disruptive to an empath, so one room that is genuinely settled does more for you than you would expect.
None of this is complicated. It is just deliberate. The empaths who thrive are not the ones who learned to feel less. They are the ones who built a life that accounts for how much they feel.
Your sensitivity is a superpower
While being an empath can feel overwhelming at times, it is actually an incredible gift. Your heightened sensitivity gives you access to profound wisdom and insights that others might miss.
You have an innate ability to understand complex situations, help others heal, and contribute to the world in meaningful ways. Being an empath is not just about sensitivity — it is about accessing incredible wisdom and insight that can enrich your life and the lives of everyone around you.
Rise & Thrive
A community built for empaths and sensitive women, with the workshops, meditations and monthly blends to work with your constitution rather than against it.
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