For as long as I can remember, I have always been deeply empathic. I had no idea how deep until one of those ‘realizations’ hit me like a baseball bat.
Many years ago, a student arrived for his guitar lesson, saying that he had suffered from a stomachache all day. After making sure that he did not need medical attention, and that his parents knew about this, we enjoyed playing his favourite music and he left feeling better.
But now, I had the stomachache.
And I knew for certain, it wasn’t mine!
How on earth had that happened?
There was nothing in anything I had learned up to this point that explained how such a thing was possible. I also realized that I had probably always been doing this, but was completely unaware of it.
Now I was aware! And I had a big problem. I had to figure out what was my own stuff and what I had soaked up from somebody else. Most days I felt like a sponge!
A large percentage of the human population is born with or is developing deep empathic abilities. Like it or not, there can be serious physical, emotional, mental and spiritual symptoms to this ‘ability.’
So, fast-forward to March 2011. The devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency have captured most of the world’s attention and emotions because of the immediacy of the information. Especially that sent over social media.
110312-N-0000X-003 SENDAI, Japan (March 12, 2011) An SH-60B helicopter assigned to the Chargers of Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS) 14 from Naval Air Facility Atsugi flies over the city of Sendai to deliver more than 1,500 pounds of food to survivors.(U.S. Navy photo/Released)
This event also has many of the sensitive empaths around the world reeling. A few days after the earthquake and tsunami, as I was getting ready to go to bed, I felt a huge explosion in my body. This was followed by an unbelievable wave of deep sadness. I wrote down the time and when I checked the newspaper the next morning, it stated that there had been a major explosion at the nuclear plant. At the time I had written down the night before!!
It took me days of my own personal emotional meltdown to process that experience out of my body.
It seems that every time I chat with a friend lately, our conversation begins to turn to difficulty in managing sensitivity to what is going on not only in their own lives, in their circle but what is going on in the world in general. Particularly with the increased sensitivity and empathy so many people are experiencing.
The medical community even has a term for this sensitivity – compassion fatigue. Deeply empathic nurses and doctors who serve people with traumatic and serious injuries, will take their patients’ conditions on, creating symptoms not unlike post-traumatic stress disorder.
Since my baseball bat ‘realization’ many years ago, I have been collecting as many tools as I can get my hands on to help me manage this empathic sensitivity. Since I know that I am not the only one struggling with this, I am sure that many others are also trying to figure out how to deal with this.
Have I stopped being a sponge? No. Actually, I have become more of a sponge. That is, the empathy deepened as I learned more about it. I am grateful that the understanding, skills and tools that I had been learning usually keep things in balance.
But it is getting harder.
There has been a lot of information flowing lately about humanity’s growth in consciousness. What nobody seems to be addressing is that there are physical symptoms associated with the expansion of awareness.
With the deep connection that has been created through the internet and social media, we really see and feel what others are experiencing. We are deepening our sense of connection with each other.
Growth in awareness or consciousness expands empathic ability among other things. Some of the accompanying symptoms are puzzling and some of them downright distressing.
What is empathy?
Dictionary.com describes it as: “Identification with and understanding of another’s situation, feelings, and motives. The attribution of one’s own feelings to an object.”
What is an empath?
“An Empath is someone who tends to be hypersensitive to the emotions and emotional states of others. But in saying this it does not mean an Empath will actually be empathic/empathetic toward others. It simply means they are more sensitive to the emotional undercurrents that surround them than other people.”
From: empathicperspectives.blogspot.com/2010/06/what-is-empath.html
What are some of the symptoms those with deep empathic levels can experience?
This is a partial list of the symptoms discussed in the website link below.
empathicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/03/symptoms-of-empathy.html
- Acute senses – i.e. sense of smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing etc.
- Acute awareness of the feelings of those around them and feeling deeply for those in pain or suffering
- Often easily hurt
- Avoidance of conflict where possible preferring to keep things harmonious
- Easily startled by noise
- Easily moved to tears because of deep feeling
- Nervous in crowded situations
- People feel safe around them and able to talk to them easily. Even complete strangers will talk to them about personal things without consciously intending to do so
- Animals and children love and are attracted to them
- Easily affected by the weather
- Their greatest gift is to perceive with the heart
- They are usually a blessing to be around as they are nurturing and caring
- Music and harmony are very important to them. They can lose themselves completely while listening to music that resonates with them.
The website listed above also has quizzes to help you find out more about your own experience of empathy and lots of good information.
I was ecstatic when the Calgary Herald published an article July 21, 2008 by Albert Nerenberg, which was all about empathy and the scientific discovery of what is believed to be the physical basis of empathy – mirror cells. Here is a link to the article: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=e8252002-5374-40cf-b365-9b2734905bb1&p=1
Psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Orloff, is an empath who uses her ability to help her patients. She has several published articles and videos to help those who are deeply empathic. You can find more information about her at www.drjudithorloff.com.
Sound is one of the most powerful tools you can use to help manage a deep empathic sensitivity. I use it daily to help keep me centered and clear.