Empaths and thier "powers" fiction or reality?

I know you said you meditate, I usually go to a quiet room, have a good cry then a nap. That usually cleanses me for a while.

I cry during deep meditation sessions when I run into some hidden emotions that need to clear. It's healing. Sometimes I tune into the collective consciousness of the world and I can't stop but to feel pain for all the negative that our mother earth is taking onto her. I hear and feel her screaming in agony, and tears just keep flowing, and I feel this lump in my throat and pain in my heart. Then I send lots of love, and imagine me hugging her..

reply to post by justgeneric


I know what you mean, it can be quite draining. My ex fiance was sort an "energy vampire" as Purple put it earlier. Suffered from some sort of anxiety disorder I've forgotten the name of and I could never make her happy no matter how much I tried. Truth is I don't really know that she could be happy. If she could be happy, I honestly don't know how. I was too stubborn to give up on her and after two years she gave up on me and left me while I was gone for a weekend. At first I was sort of crushed after putting forth all of that emotional effort and strain, but after a time I became grateful for the freedom. I didn't realize at the time just how draining and bad for me she really was.

reply to post by PsyMike91


I've experienced the phone vibration thing as well but I do not think that is unique to empaths. It is just unique to people who use cell phones on vibrate all the time. Google search ghost vibration.

Urban Dictionary Definition

I have empathic abilities....
I can walk into a home or place and pick up on "energies"....if it was a happy place or angry or even depressing and it will affect me for several hours if I let it.
I pick up on peoples energy too , it can really make me like sybil if I'm not careful...some people are toxic to me and I become agitated or too hyper , sometimes so down that I feel like all hope is lost , since a few times of that I back off if I start feeling any indication this will happen.

I am no longer super-aware like I used to be. I mostly ignore it , I believe everyone is able to do this...it's just natural , an instinct.

reply to post by JohnCreed777


when it comes to energy and emotions...and understanding yourself...and others this is really a personal journey that you will choose to take or not take....when you are seeing things within your own reality and experiencing them....do you go within or without?

It's the real deal. I know this because I'm an empath myself and there's many of them out there. It's not a 'special power' either, it's what most would call the sixth sense. I'm deaf and hard of hearing, and my sixth sense gradually increased as I got older. I'm most of the time able to know what people are feeling, being honest, or if they actually really care about what they are talking about with another person.

Hell, I even shocked my own psychiatrist when I told him 'What's the rush? Do you treat all your patience this way, in a way you just want to get the job done and over with? Psychiatrist are suppose to be understanding and caring and you just seem like a sociopath, or hell maybe even a psychopath'

He then looked at me and smiled, asked how did I know that and I told him about my situation. Not too long after that he started to get interested in me too.

Originally posted by Annee

Originally posted by PurpleVortex
I have been an empath all my life, and didn't know about it until recently 2 years ago when I started researching about my issue of feeling anxious and depressed for no reason when I'm in the crowd or watching

Move to the middle of nowhere - - like I did.

I still get "messages" - - but I'm not constantly bombarded by everyone else's energies all the time.

I have to turn off electronics sometimes too.

It's real. I'm married to one. He needs to have a place where he can be away and separate from people, although he loves people and is very social. He doesn't do funerals often, and when he goes to one, he pays the price for days. He soaks up other peoples' emotions and feels them as his own. They run alongside his personal ones. He can feel perfectly happy, but panicking and afraid alongside. It took him years to get that it was someone else's stuff.

His problem is that he can pick up these emotions over great distances. He doesn't even need to know the person. Sometimes all that triggers it is seeing a photo of someone going through strong emotional issues. Once, all it took was a glimpse of a tiny Facebook profile pic of a total stranger on a page of a friend. He had simply posted a "hi" sort of message, but my husband was SLAMMED by choking feelings of intense grief, anger, resentment and hopelessness. This was so intense, he couldn't tell me about it for around 15 minutes. He couldn't trust himself to speak. He has learned to contact the person as soon as he identifies who it is. Sometimes, this takes a while for him to figure out whose pain he is getting. This time, there was no doubt...

The man, by his own admission, was suicidal that night. And he was feeling all the things my husband picked up. They communicated most of the rest of the night by email. He was in Indonesia and there was a language issue, but somehow when they got to the morning, the crisis was over for this guy. My husband took around a week to recover and shake the feeling of trauma.

That's just one example. There are others.

Yeah, empaths are real.

Okay, I am not real familiar with the use of "empath" as a label, from what I have read here, it seems to be refering to what I personally have refered to as "highly sensitive".

I have some suspicions that it is something that we either develop to more or lesser extent, depending upon our education and experiences.
Though I have seen some theories connecting it with a biological and genetic trait.

But in trying to understand this (as I experience it myself) I found what seems to be a correlation with life experience- people who had reason, as children, to develop their "antenna" to picking up the emotions and physiological states of others.
Like having a parent with an illness like diabetes or epilepsy, depression or schizophrenia, alcoholism or violence, in which the child's survival instinct calls for him/her to get very tuned in to subtle changes in their body and emotions that give signs of impending crises.

This seems to just develop a highly sensitive reception that continues through life to recieve so much information from the environment and others that it can be overwhelming in some circumstances.

Now, I separate that ability from a "power"- to be able to pick up such subtle information is one thing.....
(it can even be a serious handicap)
To be able to USE that information consciously towards any intents and goals, is another!

That is where I like to refer to "emotional intelligence"; not as something one is born with (as we tend to think of IQ) but as something we learn and develop- to master emotion.

To master ones emotions is to become able to master emotions of others around us, as we are all influenced by the physiological states of beings around us, whether we are aware of it or not!
'To Master" something does not mean "to oppress" it. We are talking the ability to canalize and focus and change.

I found the practice of horsemanship a valuable path for developing this, as horses are very sensitive animals, and do not repress the emotional changes that happen in them- they can be a bio-feedback machine of sorts!
They will reflect the emotional changes you cause within yourself in real time.

Humans pick up the same physiologically, but their intellect is able to deny and oppress, or sublimate the emotions to make them less obvious. Standing next to someone with inner rage can make them pick it up (hormonal production which mirrors heart rate and blood pressure changes, for example) and instead of just immediately acting that out, they will intellectualize and rationalize- look around for something to be mad about and claim to be the cause of the emotion.

When you become highly aware of your own emotional changes, you can watch your own influence upon others and watch them do this type of thing.

Can that be used for negative intents? It could. I have known some who manipulate others this way, but most times it is not with conscious awareness.
Those I've met who are on a path of conscious awareness of this usually find ways to use it that are more beneficial- in healing, leadership, group cooperation and diplomacy, communication across languages and cultures, for example......

When I read the OP, I just moved on. I didnt want to "get involved".

I was first accused of being an Empath in my 20's. I had no clue what that meant. Then heard it a second time a few years later. When I went looking for info, all I found was Energy Vampires. That sounded predatory and I was offended by the accusations, and moved on.

When I became a Paramedic, I found I had a knack for picking up BS stories quickly. I also would have shadow pain when a patient described to me what they were going thru.

Then I happened upon a person that ultimately became my mentor in this dept. It was enlightening. Also very relieving to find that my Empathic abilities had stretched back to childhood. My whole life I've had emotions that came from nowhere, seemed physically bigger than me and disappeared as fast as they came.

It's real. It hurts. It's disturbing at times.

I cant tell you if I have given others emotions. I would guess, if it does happen, it would be those that are either weak willed and search for that ever elusive Something they're missing inside themselves.

I don't know if I'm an empath but this is a good description of what I used to go through as a child; that is, until I learned how to guard myself.

Crystals are considered the aura chameleons of the color spectrum, (i.e., they are strong mirror images of others). They reflect both the positive and negative qualities found in each of us, rarely taking on a "true" life color of their own. They constantly absorb energy from anything and everyone around them, making them the clearest and purest forms of energy healers available to humankind. They resonate at very high energetic frequency levels, which causes them to take upon the energy of others, therefore it can be detrimental for crystals to be exposed to large crowds for long periods of time.

Something like that.

I can usually tell what others feel but it's observation and intuition other than any special power..........

i have always been able to read people, i guess what you mean is different?

I'm a real Jedi.... minus a cool lightsaber and abilities to move objects with my mind.

Other than that, Jedi abilities are pretty real.

Empathic ability, able to see possible futures, in tune with the grid (the Force), extra sensory perceptions... all those things can be achievable in this life. The Darkside is also as real as it gets, if you all haven't noticed. Look around at the world of politics and pharmaceuticals.

Originally posted by JohnCreed777
On one website I read that empaths are said to feel others emotions and interpret them. Then on another sight I read about, empathic manipulation. According to the source, this is when an empath manipulates either their emotions or someone else' and can use it as power, it also said that its very dangerous. To me personally this sounds a bit far fetched. However as I said i'd like to hear both sides. I've seen some "evidence" on youtube but it's as you might guess, inconclusive. Its usually some kid in a video game shirt scrunching his face like he's constipated. I mean no offense.

Everyone has feelings and everyone is empathic to those feelings. Everyone.

Some are just more aware of their own feelings more then others.

Emotional manipulation is kinda only half correct.
Its actually Emotional Direction or Emotional Re-Direction.

You probably will not find a True "Empathic" on Youtube .. we dont work that way.

Give me time to put my thoughts together so I can better explain how this Trinity works..

JG.

All people should be empath
would make such a nice world

Originally posted by JohnCreed777

Are there any 'empaths' here on ats? If so what can you tell me? If not id like to hear your side too.
Thank, your time is much appreciated.

Actually there are many empath's on ATS.

Being empathic is merely following one's feeling and acknowledging our inner intuition. Everyone has it, but many deny, or completely over-ride it with logic and the help of social indoctrination from birth.

The classic examples of this is: Have you ever felt like you should go to a certain event, or place and it turns out when you go something great happens?

Or when you think of a certain person and the phone rings 1 second later and it's that person.

From my personal experience if we listen to our intuitions, empathic abilities will happen naturally, and will get stronger as time progresses. Also the synchronicities in life will increase exponentially.

reply to post by Realtruth


it becomes a good lie detector to

reply to post by JohnCreed777


Hi John.

You have some very good questions, and I'll give you some answers based on my own experience. I'm one of the resident paranormal gurus (for lack of a better term), and I, myself, am an empath.

This particular gift runs in my family, so it was no big surprise when I started getting inklings of empathy. When I was younger I couldn't stand being in crowds for very long because of all the emotional energy in the air. I could feel the full spectrum of emotions within a few minutes' time. I went from being extremely extroverted to extremely introverted for a long time because of this. When I figured out what was going on, it was easier to manage. Today, I can walk into a crowded bar and tell you how people are feeling from all the way across the room. My friends think it's a game.

I liken being an empath to being a Windows computer that is always susceptible to viruses. I see emotions creeping in as a computer virus. I know when they come in now, and I know that they aren't mine. I can choose to embrace them, or choose to purge them. Nine times out of ten, I choose to purge them. I don't like other people's emotional waste.

Being an empath has helped greatly in my profession as a teacher. I can just tell when a kid is off that day, and I can work with them accordingly. It has hindered me in my personal life because I feel the deeper level of emotions, not the mask that people wear, and I second-guess myself as to the interest level of a potential mate. The deeper level might be there, but the mask is what will make the final decision.


I hope that helped a bit.



-TS

I'm a pretty well grounded individual (at least I think I am). I don't believe in ghosts, or spirits or alien visitation, abduction or intervention. I don't believe in bigfoot, Loch Ness monster...I don't believe in fortune tellers or any of that hooey.

That being said, I consider myself somewhat empathetic. Not because of some hocus pocus pyschic nonsense, but because I am an observer of people. I can look at someone's face and eyes and I can pretty much know what they are feeling inside. It's also true, because of this, I tend to avoid large crowds of people. I loathe going to the mall.

I end up getting so down and depressed from being around miserable people that it effects my own attitudes and feelings and I'd prefer to not go there. I have had people say "but that's a gift" and my jury is still out on that. On one hand, it does help to be consoling to someone in an emotional or traumatic event but on the other hand it is rarely something I look forward to experiencing on a regular basis...more like "enduring".

Originally posted by Ben81
All people should be empath
would make such a nice world

All people should be themselves and not put up a fake personification.

Some of us can see right through to the inner core of people.

Those are the ones that can not look you in the eyes ( they are naked to us ) .. we are mirrors.

Kinda like your avatar .. looks cool on outside .. but the inside represents something opposite. ( or is it the other way around ). But the duality is there ..

JG.

Wow. So many of my own thoughts expressed here. I thought I was alone or a little bit crazy. I realized this ability as child. I grew up in an abusive home and "learned" to read emotions to avoid danger. This ability saved me from many dangers ie. rape, beatings. Much more complicated than that, but that is how it began as I remember.