More and more people are self-proclaimed empaths these days. Being sensitive is one thing, but being a true empath is another. It’s important to differentiate so we can know the best way to protect and take care of ourselves.
We just want to say that though the world may paint sensitivity as a weakness, we think it’s a superpower. It doesn’t necessarily make life easier, but highly sensitive individuals may experience the world in vivid color, all the time. At moments, this is overwhelming, and even distracting or invasive, but so often it feeds creativity and a nurturing nature.
Empaths, on the other hand, don’t have a choice of when they get to flex their empathy muscles. They are permeable to emotions and experiences whether they choose to be in the moment or not. Here are eight signs you may be an empath.
The vibe is real to you, and important.
When you enter a room, do you feel an energy shift? Maybe it’s beautiful, maybe it’s giddy, fun, fantastic. Sometimes it’s dark. You may enter a space that is filled with sunshine, plants, and nice furniture, but the occupants of that space, physical entities or even spiritual, are not happy. You’re incredibly receptive to a vibe that a physical space holds, and you have an intense urge to leave, ASAP, if it doesn’t align with you.
You take on other’s emotions as if they were your own.
A friend of yours is going through a deep depression. Maybe they had a hard breakup or a passing of a family member. Most people feel empathy, and their heart goes out to them. They hug them, cook them a meal, check in on them. But if you’re an empath, you may enter a state of depression right along with them. Maybe it’s a bit more diluted, but being around them makes you feel low, unmotivated, and uninspired.
You feel tension release immensely from a salt bath.
It is said that the negative ions in salts such as Epsom mineral salts or pink Himalayan salt can cleanse negative energy due to its positive ions. While this is not scientifically proven, the same way science can’t claim that burning sage clears away bad energy, it’s a great way to detoxify the body. Many empaths swear by salt baths as a form of negative energy purification, and if you feel immediately more buoyant and more yourself after a salt bath, it may be a clear indicator.
You can see how someone arrived at a feeling or experience without having to “put yourself in their shoes.”
When in an argument or discussion with a friend, family member, or lover, you’re usually quick to understand and apologize. That is because it’s very easy for you to see how they arrived at their experience of you, and that makes it easier for you to get out of your own need to be right and have a genuine, well-rounded perspective.
Friends always come to you for advice, reason, or support.
Whenever a friend is struggling, you’re the very first person they call. In fact, it happens so often that it can be overwhelming to pencil it all in. You want to be there for them, and you always are. But you don’t just have sympathy for these friends; you take on their emotions as if they were your own. You sit with them, process them, lose sleep over them, and ruminate, which often makes you the best advice-giver because you’re a separate individual, now sharing their same experience and offering how you would cope. It’s beautiful, and it’s exhausting.
You have emotional reactions to sweetness and intimacy.
Sometimes, falling in love is almost too much for you to handle. You’re busy feeling your own deep feelings for your other person, while also absorbing all of the love that they are feeling toward you. It’s like being in love, times two! You might tear up during tender moments, and after sexual intimacy or loving declarations. The right lover won’t care; they’ll think it’s sweet.
Alone time is incredibly restorative to you.
Because you absorb other people’s energy and emotions, time alone can be genuine quiet for your mind, heart, and soul. You can sit with your own feelings and not be bombarded by the noise of others’ lives, because everyone else’s energy affects you so much.
You can spot a lie a mile away.
You don’t need to identify tics to know when someone is lying. You can feel their nervous energy, and you can see how they have acted around the subject in question. It’s a tricky position to be in but can be a powerful indicator in relationships, both professional and personal.
Being an empath may seem overwhelming, but just like sensitivity, it can be thought of as a power and not a weakness. Embrace this strength by using it in your professional life. Find a role that allows you to nurture others so that your energetic forces are serving you on a daily basis, instead of distracting you. Take this energy and use it to create, whether that’s writing, art, makeup, cooking, gardening, or so much more. It’s a beautiful thing to be so multicolored in the realm of auras.
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