Physical pain from empathy

[gravitysrainbow]

I need some help with my empathic abilities. It has gotten to the point where I don't just feel other people's emotions, but these feelings can manifest physically. On a typical day, I can manage what I've absorbed as long as I have enough time alone. If I become too busy and I'm constantly surrounded by people, I start feeling smothered and bombarded.

Yesterday I attended a funeral and left feeling nauseated and weak. There was so much pressure in my head that my vision became blurry. These are the same physical symptoms that manifest when I'm around extremely negative or anxious people at work as well.

I've tried imagining myself surrounded by protective light, I've tried breathing exercises, and I've tried removing the light and affirming that I am only responsible for my own feelings. I am still absorbing the negativity though.

I don't understand why I can't seem to protect myself. Is it a problem with my chakras or the way I'm perceiving things? I need a new perspective that'll help me realize that I have the power and control to avoid negative energy absorption. Advice or information would be greatly appreciated! I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired lol.

Thanks!

[Lynn]

Hello

Grounding helps and simple protection barriers can help. Funerals are the worst for me and I avoid them when I can and its understood why. As a Medium and am Empath I get it all. I get it full on with all 5 senses. The living and the non living.

Many times its a matter of acceptance that this is how things are going to be and embracing that one can face this. Your not alone here.

Two things that I use daily first waking and at bedtime seems to help me cope with it all. I have used these since they were given to me at the age of 16 when I was going to take my life. I did not put much faith in them honestly at the time but I see over all those years it has helped. I am now 51 years old and I still struggle with things but too I know I can survive it all.
Simple one is to imagine a seed in your hand and to
have it grow.

Take a seed
Place it in the ground
Water the seed
feel a tiny root shoot start to grow into the ground
feel more and more roots grow into the ground
feeling that connection to the Earth
feel the Sun on the ground
feel a tiny shoot pressing up through the ground
as the roots grow down and connect to the Earth the shoot grows up into the Sunlight
Slowly you grow a tree, the trunk, the branches, the leaves
The roots grow strong to hold you to the Earth
The branches reach up and out into the Sunlight
your grounded but free to explore

Bubble Technique
The most basic technique for protecting oneself is to simply imagine yourself inside a ball of white light that turns away any energy before it can touch you. When you visualize this ball of light around you, you want tom make sure it appears opaque and solid inside your mind’s eye. This bubble should be extended about a foot above your head and at least 6 inches below your feet. Rest assured that even after you come out of your concentrated state, this bubble will move with you without hindrance. Any vibrations that touch it will simply pass over and around your shield like the wind moving around a mountain. You need to hold the image of an impenetrable force field in your mind for at least a good solid minute or two, before returning to your everyday life.

[revmac]

i don't have much advice as i experience very similar issues. i need to work on my shielding and grounding more as my awareness grows.

yesterday i got caught off guard. a man had a panic attack at a gas station on the other side of the pump and i nearly puked on my car.

while pumping gas i looked up and noticed a sheriff sitting in his car in the parking lot. it was very intimidating. i immediately got a horrible feeling deep in my gut. it has been a looooong time since i felt this. it was the beginning of an anxiety attack. with in seconds a blackness was climbing up into my stomach and i thought i was going to puke on my car.

I stood there frozen thinking "What did I do? He must be here for me." I was racking my brain trying to figure out what i had done. "What could i have possibly done to get this treatment? I have done nothing wrong so whatever it is..." all the sudden a voice said "No, he followed me here." I looked around and no one was there. so i took a step back and looked around the pump and a guy was standing there white as a sheet. he went on "He's not here for you, he followed me here. I made a fast corner leaving my house and he gonna get me." the poor guy was so scared.

i was really confused for a second.

I looked him in the eye and told him everything would work out fine. "Just do like me and get in your car and drive away like nothing happened." he said "Okay man thanks."

i got in my car and drove away. as i pulled onto the road i realized i felt like a million dollars.

seemed once i helped him down i was fine again.

Dear Gravitysrainbow,

I'm an emotional empath myself and can only imagine how it must feel for being a physical empath like yourself.

I can't even leave my house without shielding myself first. What works best for me is the bubble technique Lynn described, you can also imagine mirrors on the outside of the bubble so that all the negative energy reflects back to the sender. Or you can even imagine tall brick walls and a roof surrounding yourself if that makes you feel more comfortable. Another easy technique is to imagine a zipper at your feet and pulling it upwards toward your chin, sealing yourself inside a protective bag. You can imagine anything that keeps the energies away from you. It helps me to picture the bubble or zipper during the day whenever I start to feel overwhelmed.

It's also important to release all the negative energies that you might have picked up during the day. I imagine taking a shower of white light that washes the energy away, then I shake my body like a dog would shake his fur after a shower and imagine all the energies flying away from my body. Then I say "I release all the negative energy and let it go with love" and watch the energies fly away as a dark ball.

After I started doing these exercises every day they really made a difference to my overall wellbeing and I hope they'll be helpful to you too.

[gravitysrainbow]

Lynn and Gizmo, thank you for your advice! I'm definitely going to try each technique and see what works best for me. I pushed through the physical symptoms yesterday and tried to remain observant of what I was feeling. After the nausea subsided, I felt my entire body heat up like I was feverish. It occurred to me that perhaps physical empaths experience negativity like an infection and one develops a fever as a way to kill off the negativity. This is just a theory, since there is a mind-body connection. Although, I'm not sure that this is possible.

Revmac, what a crazy experience! That must've been a little terrifying. I've never been able to feel other people's fear, but I've definitely felt other people's anger and it can be extremely uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by gravitysrainbow

I need some help with my empathic abilities. It has gotten to the point where I don't just feel other people's emotions, but these feelings can manifest physically. On a typical day, I can manage what I've absorbed as long as I have enough time alone. If I become too busy and I'm constantly surrounded by people, I start feeling smothered and bombarded.

Yesterday I attended a funeral and left feeling nauseated and weak. There was so much pressure in my head that my vision became blurry. These are the same physical symptoms that manifest when I'm around extremely negative or anxious people at work as well.

I've tried imagining myself surrounded by protective light, I've tried breathing exercises, and I've tried removing the light and affirming that I am only responsible for my own feelings. I am still absorbing the negativity though.

I don't understand why I can't seem to protect myself. Is it a problem with my chakras or the way I'm perceiving things? I need a new perspective that'll help me realize that I have the power and control to avoid negative energy absorption. Advice or information would be greatly appreciated! I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired lol.

Thanks!

It is such a beautiful quality / possibility you have.
It means you can feel and connect yourself to any energies around ; and you can understand a lot about the Universe and how people are working.

To protect you, you probably noticed you can't do anything physically (or mentally, or energetically to control it), because it's the natural movement of energy around you and in you, you are simply AWARE of it (you got sensitivity).
Most of people are not aware of it, but the movement exist by itself.

A simple way, to protect you, is to KNOW, that it is THE SPACE VIBRATION that you feel, and not YOUR vibration.
and by knowing that you will be able to not be so affected by it.
You will simply let the vibration touch you, and then go by itself.

(you can feel sad, you tell yourself "ok i'm sad right now, i know it's not from me, but it's ok i'll not "fight" it.) and by doing this, you will not take the responsibility of the space which is important.

You don't take it personally and don't dramatise it, which makes you free from it.

[gravitysrainbow]

Presence 23, very well put! Since first posting this thread, I had an Ah-ha moment where I realized all of that. There'll be days where I'm completely at peace and all of a sudden, I'll have a flash of emotion. I step back for a moment and realize, "Hey wait - that's not mine! Whom does this belong to?"

A week or so before Christmas, I went to Target with my grandmother. Stores are the absolute worst for me because they make me anxious and overload my senses. Also, I don't like being in lines because people invade my personal space and I don't like feeling strangers' energies. Anyway, I was walking around in the crowded store, freaking out inside my mind, and then a feeling of awe hit me. Watching all these people, I knew exactly how everybody felt, I knew where they were walking. I was observing the unseen feelings and thought vibrations. My fear dispersed and it became exciting. It was still very uncomfortable, but I'm glad that when I go out into public now it's not crippling.