Am I an empath?

[shivatar]

Originally Posted by Lerena

I don't see the term 'empath' as insulting. It might be a problem in some ways, but there's nothing wrong with being sensitive. To be honest, the planet needs to have more people that are sensitive in the right way and not overly offended by everything. I'd feel complimented if someone called me an empath. However, I'm not sure how to control my emotions so they're expressed in a more healthy way.

i suppose. when i hear people talk about being an empath, this is totally just my personal experience by the way, they talk about it in a painful way.

perhaps I only have met young empaths who dont have mastery over their abilities yet.

[Lerena]

Update: I feel like I wasn't clear when I created this thread. I want to clarify that I need help with managing my emotions so I am not overwhelmed by what I'm feeling. I can do my own research, but I would also appreciate some in-thread feedback on how I can learn to manage how I feel. Please keep in mind that I am a beginner so I may need more details than the average person. :)

Edit: Actually, I'm a bit confused. I'm not sure what kind of answers I'm looking for. My emotions are a bit overwhelming, but I'm starting to think that maybe it's not possible to get my answers here. It may be something I have to figure out myself, which is kind of annoying but I can't figure out what to say to get my answers. You guys are welcome to keep responding to this thread. I'll keep reading what you all say. However, I'm kind of lost regarding how to keep my emotions from interfering with my life and I'm unsure if this forum can help me. I appreciate everyone's responses so far though.

Originally Posted by Melahin

Listen to Abraham Hicks. Then you'll understand that it is not about controlling your emotions, but about caring about how you feel.

I don't have much experience with that. I normally ignore my emotions in favor of logic, which is a bad thing but not many people have shown me that my emotions are important. I just grew up getting used to being intellectual and now I find it hard to care about my emotions.

Unfortunately, my emotional side is getting much stronger and it's starting to become a problem. I have days where I can't focus on anything because of the strength of my emotions being so overwhelming. It's hard to care about something that interferes with my overall functioning and really I'd find it easier if I wasn't be the only person that cares about how I feel. I have often struggled with how to care about something that no one else thinks is important. I mean, no one is going to outright tell me, "I don't care about how you feel," but it's just the subtle message.

My overall view of how to treat myself has been damaged by not having many people respect my feelings and emotions. I'm not sure how to undo this on my own. I'm tired of doing everything on my own without any assistance whatsoever.

[shivatar]

Originally Posted by Lerena

Update: I feel like I wasn't clear when I created this thread. I want to clarify that I need help with managing my emotions so I am not overwhelmed by what I'm feeling. I can do my own research, but I would also appreciate some in-thread feedback on how I can learn to manage how I feel. Please keep in mind that I am a beginner so I may need more details than the average person. :)

Edit: Actually, I'm a bit confused. I'm not sure what kind of answers I'm looking for. My emotions are a bit overwhelming, but I'm starting to think that maybe it's not possible to get my answers here. It may be something I have to figure out myself, which is kind of annoying but I can't figure out what to say to get my answers. You guys are welcome to keep responding to this thread. I'll keep reading what you all say. However, I'm kind of lost regarding how to keep my emotions from interfering with my life and I'm unsure if this forum can help me. I appreciate everyone's responses so far though.

I don't have much experience with that. I normally ignore my emotions in favor of logic, which is a bad thing but not many people have shown me that my emotions are important. I just grew up getting used to being intellectual and now I find it hard to care about my emotions.

Unfortunately, my emotional side is getting much stronger and it's starting to become a problem. I have days where I can't focus on anything because of the strength of my emotions being so overwhelming. It's hard to care about something that interferes with my overall functioning and really I'd find it easier if I wasn't be the only person that cares about how I feel. I have often struggled with how to care about something that no one else thinks is important. I mean, no one is going to outright tell me, "I don't care about how you feel," but it's just the subtle message.

My overall view of how to treat myself has been damaged by not having many people respect my feelings and emotions. I'm not sure how to undo this on my own. I'm tired of doing everything on my own without any assistance whatsoever.

Emotions are supposted to guide our lives from what I understand.

Are you seeking to still have powerful emotions and develop some clarity and awareness when those emotions arise but before they are acted out?

because ive heard some meditators who practice mindfulness meditation and other types of mindfulness experience very strong emotional regulation. In other words, practicing mindfulness makes your emotions easier to regulate. Easier to see, easier to be aware of, and of course that makes acting in a positive way on them much easier.

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also it's possible that you are not quite empath, but have had your emotions shut off and neglected for too long. now they feel wild and uncontrollable, but in fact they are just very difficult to control because like a starved and beaten dog they have been neglected. All they need is love and compassion.

I'm sorry to use such harsh words, but heres what I think happened. Some other people were less than perfect to you, and after a while you decided instead of letting them hurt you, that you'd just turn off your emotions. It wasn't conscious and it didn't happen all at once, but at some point you realized you did not like that way of being and you changed, but then the emotions were uncontrollable because not being aware of them all the time caused you to miss certain lessons in how to control them.

Also you should avoid expecting it to be easy. Wrestling with emotions is more difficult than having a staring contest with a grizzly bear, because fear and anxiety are emotions, but so is love! and fear is quite easy to conquer when compared to love. Bottom line, don't expect getting a handle on your emotions to be easy and you will be more likely to continue when the going gets tough.

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I would bet to say that it's only a temporary problem. Either you will find a reason to enjoy having strong emotions, or you will shrivel back inward and neglect the emotions again.

I suggest you push through, like an athlete who has sore muscles and knows they will grow stronger. Your recent experiences with strong emotions are giving you a kind of emotional sore muscle, all you need to do is keep pushing forward and get through that soreness. At all costs do not fall back into comfort and avoiding things just because they are difficult or challenging.

Humans adapt, it's what we evolved to do. You will too.

[Melahin]

Originally Posted by Lerena

I'm tired of doing everything on my own without any assistance whatsoever.

Here is the deal, there is nothing you need to undo. What is going on is that you have been living in the contrast of what you don't want out of life, in that your desire for how you desire to feel is becoming so strong that you no longer can ignore it.

This gets you in conflict with how you think / feel others think / feel about you in regards to how you desire to think / feel. This can only be changed by practicing having focus on how you desire to feel regardless of the situation you are in. As you gently but surely change momentum in the direction of how you desire to feel, then so will the momentum of your life change towards how you desire it to be. First you feel it, then you become it. So practice caring about feeling good, great, amazing, joyful and so on, and in time your belief in all the wonderful things in life will align with your desire of life being wonderful, and then your life will become wonderful simply because that is how you feel from the inside out.

Start meditating 15 minutes in the morning. Any thoughts that does not align with how you desire to feel you let go as they come. And then as all the inspired thoughts start to arrive, and in time they will more frequently and abundantly, then you just soak in the amazement of how great it feels to be tapped on to the appreciation of how wonderful life is.

From here keep the momentum of feeling great for as long as you can. Meditate or do something else that brings you in a great mood if you feel the tide turn.

Meditate once more before you go to bed if you feel a need for it, since you wake up in the vicinity of how you felt when you fell asleep. Meditation is a practice that should turn into a practice of appreciation; when you have practiced the latter for so long that it is your dominant way of being, then you will find that you'll probably no longer (or barely) need to meditate anymore.

Hope this helps in any way

[Lerena]

Originally Posted by shivatar

also it's possible that you are not quite empath, but have had your emotions shut off and neglected for too long. now they feel wild and uncontrollable, but in fact they are just very difficult to control because like a starved and beaten dog they have been neglected. All they need is love and compassion.

This could be true. At first that's even what I thought. My emotions started to be this way last year and they don't seem to be lightening up, but I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. I'm just not sure why they're still so intense after well over a year. It's kind of difficult to ignore them when they're in my face all the time. I just hope the problem really is temporary like you said.

Originally Posted by Melahin

Meditation is a practice that should turn into a practice of appreciation; when you have practiced the latter for so long that it is your dominant way of being, then you will find that you'll probably no longer (or barely) need to meditate anymore.

Thank you for your tips. I've always struggled to meditate. I end up falling asleep after a certain amount of time, but I'm hoping that one day I will try to meditate and I won't end up sleeping. It just hasn't happened yet.

[Melahin]

Originally Posted by Lerena

Thank you for your tips. I've always struggled to meditate. I end up falling asleep after a certain amount of time, but I'm hoping that one day I will try to meditate and I won't end up sleeping. It just hasn't happened yet.

How do you feel when you wake up after these experiences? Like how do you feel before you focus that you fell asleep when you think you shouldn't have. When in fact it might have been exactly what you needed, and thus you should feel great that this was how it turned out

Also, your emotions won't lighten up before you change your focus to a practice that is more light on yourself. Have you tried yoga as a practice of appreciation?

[vespa68]

Originally Posted by Clover

All good advice. I just want to throw an a term for kicks if your interested to explore. "Clairsentience" it refers to perceiving information by a "feeling" within the whole body, without any outer stimuli related to the feeling or information. I am sure it could essentially fall into empathy in some form.

Empathy is about the emotions and clairesentience is picking up energy. These are the 2 most important when healing people. I also get very clear Clairaudience which is important for more details.

[shivatar]

The only way my emotions stablized is when I turned into them and accepted them as good things.

I'm not sure if my emotions ran away from me because I told myself having such strong positive emotions all the time was a "manic" and "crazy" thing to do.

or because I adapted to the new positive level and now it takes an even stronger positive stimulus to make me feel happy.

oh well, either way I'm pretty even keel these days. Those old lightning bolts of emotion would be like the best drug in the world to me these days, I'm so emotionally sturdy though I'd have to win the lotto to feel such joy.

[Lerena]

Originally Posted by Melahin

Have you tried yoga as a practice of appreciation?

I have an interest in attending yoga classes. My mom and I were going to take yoga together, but I haven't heard anything about this recently.

[Melahin]

Originally Posted by Lerena

I have an interest in attending yoga classes. My mom and I were going to take yoga together, but I haven't heard anything about this recently.

I love Strala Yoga because it guides you to care about how you feel, lingering where it feels good, moving with ease and other amazing stuff. Have you thought about trying some online videos maybe?