Empathy
Over the holiday season, I became more and more curious about something a friend told me. She said that I was an empath, and though I wasn't so ready to accept the statement at first, some books and paraphernalia on the topic slowly convinced me that there may be truth in it. The reason why I'm a little hesitant to completely believe it, even at this point that a number of "symptoms" have been ticked off the list, is partially because of how "psychic" it sounds. I feel like people wouldn't believe me if I told them (or maybe I'm just picking up their initial feeling, hehe).
The more I looked into the topic of what it means to be an empath, the more I see that there are two sides to this gift (some sources labelled it as a curse). One side is that it's a psychological skill, or often in-born skill that one develops later on in life; another side is that it's a psychic gift, and of a lower level skill set for "sensing". Some psychics who have an acute sense empathy can even use it to talk to spirits or sense the presence of other "creatures" in a place.
Of these two characteristics, I'm more inclined to believe the psychological skill side of it. Some symptoms which I feel are very true, and now that I've become more aware of it, more items on the "symptom list" have checked off. Some basic symptoms which I agreed to might be true for others who may not necessarily be empaths. These qualities are:
- A want to be alone often, especially after being in a crowd
- sudden, strong feelings which have no logical explanation
- feeling drained in areas with a lot of people, especially strangers
I figured that these are qualities which introverts might also have, since they are better with one-on-one settings and tend to stay away from parties unless they know that friends will be there. Lately, though, another symptoms have been confirmed:
- getting sick or feeling a sickness which someone else has
in which case, one has to ask the person nearby if they're feeling this way. This is because it helps to know what another person is feeling from what you are feeling (in the case of empaths). And the two times that I confirmed this were:
1. Last week, my sister in law got a tummy ache. We couldn't determine what she might have eaten, but she was the only one who got this sickness. That evening though, I got it too and it lasted until the next morning and I had to be absent from work. By evening, it was gone as well even if I didn't take any medicine.
2. When a good friend of mine and I were having dinner, she was very emotional (in a good, happy, overwhelmed way) about her recent success. I was listening to her story, but she had to stop every now and then because of how moved she was with the turn of events. Suddenly, I felt dizzy. I mean, really, the-world-is-spinning-all-over-the-place kind of dizzy and I had to check if there was an earthquake. Then I asked her if she was dizzy, and she said she was dizzy with all the thoughts. Soon after, the dizziness left.
Is this enough evidence? I just wonder if my attention on it has also made it a heightened sense... my only worry is if I'm hyping it up and it wasn't true after all. But in any case, let's see how things go and hopefully I can keep writing about this empath thing. :)
The more I looked into the topic of what it means to be an empath, the more I see that there are two sides to this gift (some sources labelled it as a curse). One side is that it's a psychological skill, or often in-born skill that one develops later on in life; another side is that it's a psychic gift, and of a lower level skill set for "sensing". Some psychics who have an acute sense empathy can even use it to talk to spirits or sense the presence of other "creatures" in a place.
Of these two characteristics, I'm more inclined to believe the psychological skill side of it. Some symptoms which I feel are very true, and now that I've become more aware of it, more items on the "symptom list" have checked off. Some basic symptoms which I agreed to might be true for others who may not necessarily be empaths. These qualities are:
- A want to be alone often, especially after being in a crowd
- sudden, strong feelings which have no logical explanation
- feeling drained in areas with a lot of people, especially strangers
I figured that these are qualities which introverts might also have, since they are better with one-on-one settings and tend to stay away from parties unless they know that friends will be there. Lately, though, another symptoms have been confirmed:
- getting sick or feeling a sickness which someone else has
in which case, one has to ask the person nearby if they're feeling this way. This is because it helps to know what another person is feeling from what you are feeling (in the case of empaths). And the two times that I confirmed this were:
1. Last week, my sister in law got a tummy ache. We couldn't determine what she might have eaten, but she was the only one who got this sickness. That evening though, I got it too and it lasted until the next morning and I had to be absent from work. By evening, it was gone as well even if I didn't take any medicine.
2. When a good friend of mine and I were having dinner, she was very emotional (in a good, happy, overwhelmed way) about her recent success. I was listening to her story, but she had to stop every now and then because of how moved she was with the turn of events. Suddenly, I felt dizzy. I mean, really, the-world-is-spinning-all-over-the-place kind of dizzy and I had to check if there was an earthquake. Then I asked her if she was dizzy, and she said she was dizzy with all the thoughts. Soon after, the dizziness left.
Is this enough evidence? I just wonder if my attention on it has also made it a heightened sense... my only worry is if I'm hyping it up and it wasn't true after all. But in any case, let's see how things go and hopefully I can keep writing about this empath thing. :)