The Gift of Empathy

Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine yourself in their place. Essentially, it is putting yourself in someone else’s position and feeling what they are feeling.

You’ve very likely heard many people say that they are an empath. By that they mean that they take on what other people are feeling, which results in them experiencing the depth of pain and despair that others are experiencing. I find it interesting that when referring to oneself as an empath, it always relates with a negative connotation. And so, those who refer to themselves as empaths find their lives very difficult to manage as somehow they are always feeling down, depressed and ill.

Whilst I’m not saying that there aren’t people who are physically affected by other people’s energy, I’m not 100% convinced myself that this makes people an ‘empath’. We are all, as spiritual beings in a physical body, essentially just energy. If you take away the physical body, we are nothing but light energy. And so it stands to reason that when we are in each other’s space, our energies become enmeshed and we pick up some type of energetic feedback from each other, by the mere fact that we’re occupying the same space.

The majority of us are also able to sympathise with others and place ourselves in the shoes of someone else, and in that way, know, or assume to know, how someone is feeling – whether that’s feeling down, depressed or ill. We too are all able to pick up on energies of great positivity. This is evidenced through interactions with others who have just had a wonderful joyful experience or who are in a great space and so the energy that they emanate out into the world, is both positive and contagious! Yet, you don’t hear someone say “I’m an empath, I pick up so easily on other people’s happiness.” I find that interesting… I also ask the question, ‘why is that?”

Being an inspired medium, I am very able to relate on being able to pick up on other’s energies and physically feel how they are feeling. This is even more evident for me for those who have passed, where I feel how they passed. A heart attack will make me feel actual pain in the chest. Something serious like lung cancer or emphysema will make me feel like I can’t breathe and if the spirit being passed with a ventilating tube, I will likely feel like I can’t talk. I have experienced the mindset of someone who has committed suicide as well as feeling how they felt when they passed. I find that very interesting too and I’m not sure how many other mediums pick spirit up in this way, but I have no doubt that there are. Does this make me an empath? I don’t think so. I think it’s just my way of communicating.

Getting back to the title of this article, the gift of empathy… I believe that most people have varying levels of empathy. This is particularly evident where one has already been through what someone else is experiencing. You know how it feels and so it’s easy for you to empathise with them. Does that make you an empath? I’m not sure.

If you are someone to whom empathy comes naturally, I would highly recommend that you see this as something very special that you have been gifted, rather than see it as a curse that you carry with you. I hope that makes sense. Empathy is shown in how much compassion and understanding we can give to another. For me compassion is one of the most important traits that anyone should be cultivating. Through compassion we develop an attitude of non-judgement and through non-judgement, we’re able to give ourselves the gift of empathy.

#empathy #empath #sympathy #compassion #medium