Hopefully I'm just jumping to the wrong conclusion. The conclusion I'm jumping to is that my empathy may be trying to come back. It's been four years since I had to deal with it. I was never especially good at shielding and now I'm woefully out of practice. I can't help feeling a bit vulnerable in this state. It's possible that I'm wrong; that it ( Read more... )

I am less ( Read more... )

Prostitues or Healers. There seems to be no middle ground in the concept of empathy. People either believe that all empaths are incredibly altruistic and have been put on this earth to heal all physical and emotional ills or they see it merely as a potential benefit in a sexual relationship. There is so much space between these two extremes that it ( Read more... )

Yesterday I was speaking with someone I only see about once a month. Since the last time I'd talked to him, he'd injured himself pretty badly while playing baseball. We talked about it for awhile. He had a good sense of humor about the whole thing. I wasn't consciously thinking about it but I wasn't really picking up any discomfort while he was ( Read more... )

After nine years, I finally told the Pastor at the church I used to attend about the unusual experience I had there.

He was very open-minded about it and saw it as a positive thing which was really nice because, years ago, I talked to one of the other pastors at that church who completely dismissed my experience.

Pluses of the meeting:
1. He accepted ( Read more... )

I can't tell if it's empathy or pms, but I've been unable to stop feeling sad and crying ever since I talked to my landlord earlier today. His wife died on Wednesday and he is deeply grieving. I keep trying to pull myself together and shake it off but I'm having a hard time of it. It really doesn't help when there's no one around to talk to.

I'm ( Read more... )

The museum was pretty slow last Friday. The only people who came in were three 14 year old boys (why they were wandering around broadway alone at 9pm on a Friday night is a good question that I'll leave for someone else to figure out).

Chantalle was predicting what they will be when they grow up. She kept getting DJ or something musical for the kid ( Read more... )

Friday I went to the museum. Chantalle has started coming back so it's more fun for me to go now that I have someone to talk to. There were only four or five people there asking questions but apparently it was my night for validation. One woman had questions about being empathic and it was like a little 'aha, I've finally found someone like me!' ( Read more... )

Yay Science!

Have you ever heard of mirror neurons? They were discovered in the brains of monkeys in the 1990's and they actually explain the science behind how empathy works. Essentially "monkey see, monkey do" is true. Whenever we witness someone doing anything, our brain turns the action (or emotion or sensation) into what it would be like to ( Read more... )

Healing, compassion and empathy are not synonymous terms even though so many people tend to use them that way. Empathy is the ability to feel another person's pain, compassion is the desire to relieve that pain, and healing is the ability to do so.

I think it is safe to say that I'm not overly compassionate. I can also say that I don't use healing ( Read more... )