Anyone willing to weigh in?? Would love more knowlege:)

Anyone willing to weigh in?? Would love more knowledge

So I am not sure if I am posting this in the correct place?? But I recently wrote the following in response to a question from a sitter. She as well as many other's have asked if I am an Empath or Clairvoyant?? I have not truthfully done enough research on either to be educated enough to approach that question....not to mention that I have always felt in declaring you are there is NO room for error I am not always right in reading for others I am not perfect...as you will see in the following narrative:/ I guess my question then is...what in your opinion constitutes an empath?? Or a clairvoyant??
I am also wondering if anyone has similar situations or other scenarios that they or a friend found themselves in that they would like to share Just trying to get a better idea of what it is that I am I would love to hear the opinions of those who really are clairvoyant or Empath's

***I must add that I routinely pray to the universe that I emit the love that people around me need...and that in turn that love be returned in some way to me. I am not sure if this is good practice, or may have something to do with what I experience?? Just some thoughts*****




"One of the questions that you asked via PM is if I am clairvoyant or an empath?? I thought it best to address that here in case anyone else had a similar question
I don't think I am clairvoyant....anymore than anyone else. I feel that I am a pretty good listener when I want to be And maybe a good guesser?? As for being an Empath...I think it would depend on your definition? Sometimes when I do a reading here on the forum I feel that I have literally met that person when I am finished. I feel that I got to peek into there emotions...maybe that's there soul?? Not sure. At times I am left with physical symptoms, chest pain, headaches, nausea, which I often dismiss as stress...or a coincidence
I often feel that I am better at picking up on people's non verbal cues than the average bear....to give you an example...yesterday I went to a craft store. I was walking briskly from isle to isle to try and find something specific...there was a lady there. She made eye contact with me and we held a gaze for what must have been a matter of seconds?? When she looked at me I felt an overwhelming sorrow...I hate to say a darkness...I knew immediately that I could not fix Often when I run into someone who is down I will try and stand there for a minute or so...to allow them to speak? They often divulge personal information to me for some reason.. and often appear relieved afterward...like they finally said it out loud?)
I like to do that for people. I am honored that they feel they can talk to me...but yesterday was different. In fact I have been asked that very same question by other's on the forum and had never even considered it until yesterday:/
Whatever that woman was emitting...I knew I was too small to repair...and I feared that if I stayed next to her any longer that the anguish I felt would take me over. I walked as briskly away as I could. And honestly I felt I wanted to run and that made me feel a little crazy? And honestly a little cowardly So in conclusion I am not sure if I am crazy...or an empath...or a clairvoyant I cannot explain except to say that it is who I am, it requires no magic or special talent, it just is!"

You are for sure an Empath..

Your post made me smile as it's nice to read about others who have this "gift." Personally, it's something I wish I didn't have. It's hard enough dealing with our own feelings but then picking up on others? It does make you feel crazy. My older brother is just now developing this and I told him to build the walls back up again if he could. I know I'm wrong in doing so as there is a reason this is happening to him but I don't want him to suffer as I have. I'm finally learning to build up my walls and I don't feel nearly as insane as I once did.

If you have good control of it, I admire you. I don't think I ever did and would get pulled into people's hell to where it became my own. Not good. I've lived this so many times especially with my loved ones.. I missed out on some of my own happiness because I was feeling others pain.

Good luck to you Jude. I know your gift will be worth it for you and others.

((( )))

GotH said:

You are for sure an Empath..

Your post made me smile as it's nice to read about others who have this "gift." Personally, it's something I wish I didn't have. It's hard enough dealing with our own feelings but then picking up on others? It does make you feel crazy. My older brother is just now developing this and I told him to build the walls back up again if he could. I know I'm wrong in doing so as there is a reason he's this is happening to him but I don't want him to suffer as I have. I'm finally learning to build up my walls and I don't feel nearly as insane as I once did.

If you have good control of it, I admire you. I don't think I ever did and would get pulled into people's hell to where it became my own. Not good. I've lived this so many times especially with my loved ones.. I missed out on some of my own happiness because I was feeling others pain.

Good luck to you Jude. I know your gift will be worth it for you and others.

((( )))

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Thank you GotH sometimes I feel that I am out of control and crazy...ie yesterday:/
While other times I feel a good amount of control and I guess I always thought that everyone knew if the people in the room with you were happy or sad?? I saw it as everyday knowledge...no big deal? Honestly it's like just recently I had a flood of circumstance that Made me question that?? I had a friend at work say..."you always know what's up next. You always pick out the liar or the crazy in like 2 seconds! I wish I could do that...but it's not normal!" And then the lady in the store...followed by the question from the sitter..just got me thinking and wanting to know more about it all I too have been miserable for extended periods of time by allowing myself to absorb others sadness.. I look back on it now and realize it really may have not been me that was sad but them??
Also if I truly am an Empath..than I am certain that you my love are made of all the good things in life! I feel your warmth all the way from over here! So your walls can't be that tall....or else I'm a really good jumper!! I love ya!
Thanks for your reply. Made me feel not so crazy!

These are terms which all blend into each other and are confusing. I think you have to work out your own take on it all that works for you. The question is the link to being intuitive / psychic / clairsentient (or any of the 'Clairs") to being an empath. Some people don't believe in such a thing and so if you rule that out, an empath if someone who really feels for others and can pick up their moods and can be affected by them. They probably in psychological terms have a very high emotional IQ, they are more 'feeling' than using logical judgement.

So if you then add in the intuitive / psychic part, some empaths who have high levels of that, call the people above "empathic", where as empath have a psychic energy.

Personally for me it's a psychological and an intuitive type of personality! But do we pick up others moods in a room by an external force or is it just that high emotional iq and psychological attributes. That is the sceptical vs intuitive question. I think for me I am highly intuitive and highly empathic but I am still working it all out.

Probably like everything about us humans, we can all improve how empathetic we are towards other people but some people are born with it naturally high and that is a blessing and a curse. When I first came on AT people talked about clairvoyance and being psychic and that scared me, no way I am! now I think I could be and also I think we might all be but at different levels! But I am not sure if all empaths are clairvoyant or just maybe very attuned to that area, it comes easy to us This is something you have to work out, how does it fit into your spiritual beliefs

danieljuk said:

These are terms which all blend into each other and are confusing. I think you have to work out your own take on it all that works for you. The question is the link to being intuitive / psychic / clairsentient (or any of the 'Clairs") to being an empath. Some people don't believe in such a thing and so if you rule that out, an empath if someone who really feels for others and can pick up their moods and can be affected by them. They probably in psychological terms have a very high emotional IQ, they are more 'feeling' than using logical judgement.

So if you then add in the intuitive / psychic part, some empaths who have high levels of that, call the people above "empathic", where as empath have a psychic energy.

Personally for me it's a psychological and an intuitive type of personality! But do we pick up others moods in a room by an external force or is it just that high emotional iq and psychological attributes. That is the sceptical vs intuitive question. I think for me I am highly intuitive and highly empathic but I am still working it all out.

Probably like everything about us humans, we can all improve how empathetic we are towards other people but some people are born with it naturally high and that is a blessing and a curse. When I first came on AT people talked about clairvoyance and being psychic and that scared me, no way I am! now I think I could be and also I think we might all be but at different levels! But I am not sure if all empaths are clairvoyant or just maybe very attuned to that area, it comes easy to us This is something you have to work out, how does it fit into your spiritual beliefs

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Thank you Daniel...you gave me a lot to think about! Is it a mystic attribute or simply a higher level of intelligence?? I was in "exceptional classes" as a child...but they bored me due to the lack of social interaction offered by my classmates I have always loved to talk and think and explore my companions in life as for how it fits into my spirituality...I am truly at this point unable to define my own spiritual self! Although I believe in the 3 fold rule and never wish to invade anyone else's privacy and free will...sometimes I feel that this "ability" for lack of a better word interferes with that? I sometimes in fact everyday use music to drown out the noise...I have had some dark days where I took the damaging route to do this...ie alcohol...I now am just starting to realize maybe there is something authentic there? Something I had been skeptical and down right wanted to ignore...may have some truth? And maybe I'm not nuts....but more enlightened?
I just want to find the truth. And if that's not possible then I want to embrace what I have always considered this nutty quirkiness in a healthier non destructive and maybe more useful way in short... If I truly am this...I want to expand it...be a soldier in a sense for it. Be worthy of it yes I'm a little dramatic...I often wonder if I can start blaming that in this too!!
Thanks again! Your thoughts really made me think!

Hi Jude!

I know how you feel. I'm sure many of us on this forum, do. You're not crazy!

I didn't really know what I had been experiencing my whole life until I joined the forum. I well up at the smallest of things. At first, I thought it was just me being overly 'sensitive' and emotional but then I saw...no, it's beyond that. I was also under the impression that everyone experiences this, that it's the norm, until I'm around other people - family and friends, acquaintances and strangers - and then I see, how terribly wrong I am. Like, just the other day, I was reading a thread and I followed every post and I saw that a member's contribution had been completely ignored. And, it made me sad. Most people wouldn't even think twice, wouldn't care...but I was so upset by it that I pm'd her...I needed her to know that her message was acknowledged and of course, she responded that my reply came to her at the 'right' time. She must have contributed a few more times to that thread and still she didn't get the recognition she deserved, either because she wasn't as charismatic as some of the other members or because she's so smart, the poster felt threatened by her. That was my sense. In any case, I felt a heaviness in my chest and it made me feel better to reach out, as opposed to just sit there and 'feel bad' for her. Even if I had been completely wrong, the urge to reach out was so great and I, personally, need to know that what I'm feeling isn't for naught, that it somehow serves something or someone. It's not enough for me to 'feel', I need to see that I can put this feeling to good use - if I can - and reading for others, helps, among other things.

When I was in my teens, I would try to imagine what it would feel like to be another person. It didn't matter who it was - the grocery clerk, a baby in a stroller, a man walking down the street, a woman waiting in line at the bank. I imagined myself as them, exactly how they are, like getting a quick snapshot and holding on to that as long as I could...to see what would come up. If I took on their expression, well, I felt differently. I even did that with trees...birds...butterflies...wood...with any thing. It shaped my life. I could be walking down the street and I'll take a look at someone's hands, and that's it for me. I get so much from hands...and I know that I need a moment, later on in the evening, to shed the sadness, which I do in the bath or shower...that's the perfect place for me...to be around a body of water. It's very cleansing.

I was told that in these moments, we catch glimpses of ourselves in the other. We see how we're connected and not really isolated at all, but in order to see this lack of separation, we need to get in touch with our sense of isolation, first, which can be painful...but, necessary.

Sadness, sorrow, heaviness, loneliness...these are big ones for me. I feel like I have an antennae for that energy, that I'm somehow tuned into that frequency. It used to feel like such a burden and there are days when it still does but I've been reassured that it ALL serves a purpose, and this is what I hang on to. To feel someone else's sorrow is exactly that - to feel someone else's sorrow. It's not supposed to be pretty or feel light. I remember telling celticnoodle in a thread and a pm, that sometimes, it feels like the heart is so heavy and saturated, it might explode. But, God or the Universe, or whatever you want to call it...expands the heart to allow for more of it. The heart is like a container and we house this container. In our own way, we help to carry someone else's sadness, we help to alleviate some of that sorrow, even if we don't really understand the HOW of it.

Love to you, Jude. Hope this helps. I know you and I have an understanding.

Jude said:

Thank you GotH sometimes I feel that I am out of control and crazy...ie yesterday:/
While other times I feel a good amount of control and I guess I always thought that everyone knew if the people in the room with you were happy or sad??

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This bit is amazing and so true. I, like you thought that everyone knew what others were feeling so when someone "acted" insensitive, I thought they were merely being a-holes because they surely knew what someone was feeling. Not so! It took me a long time to figure out that this is not the case. It's normal to NOT know what someone else is feeling. I believe I mentioned this on another thread somewhere that my senses became acute when I was a teenager so my teenage years were the roughest. Imagine walking into a classroom with 20 other students dealing with adolescent issues. I was a mess and because I could feel everyone's thoughts and feelings, my self confidence levels were low but I managed to keep my head up and put up a façade much different from what I felt inside. I am positive I would be a different person today if I didn't have this. Apart from the negatives, you also get some really good feelings. Amazingly good stuff too so it's not always bad. This is when a light in you shines very brightly that others can't ignore. I know you know what I'm talking about.

I too have been miserable for extended periods of time by allowing myself to absorb others sadness.. I look back on it now and realize it really may have not been me that was sad but them??

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Yep.. It was theirs applied to yours most likely. Imagine how easy it would be to deal with just yours? I've realized the happiest I am is when I'm by myself with no one else around for me to pick up on their "junk."

Also if I truly am an Empath..than I am certain that you my love are made of all the good things in life! I feel your warmth all the way from over here! So your walls can't be that tall....or else I'm a really good jumper!! I love ya!
Thanks for your reply. Made me feel not so crazy!

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Ahhh that is so sweet. I'm still me, I'm just trying not to be such a major receiver anymore. That's what the walls are for.

You are truly beautiful inside and out Jude. You touch people with your gift in so many ways. May the goodness of your higher source bless you always..

Love ya back..

Flames said:

When I was in my teens, I would try to imagine what it would feel like to be another person. It didn't matter who it was - the grocery clerk, a baby in a stroller, a man walking down the street, a woman waiting in line at the bank. I imagined myself as them, exactly how they are, like getting a quick snapshot and holding on to that as long as I could...to see what would come up. If I took on their expression, well, I felt differently. I even did that with trees...birds...butterflies...wood...with any thing. It shaped my life. I could be walking down the street and I'll take a look at someone's hands, and that's it for me. I get so much from hands...and I know that I need a moment, later on in the evening, to shed the sadness, which I do in the bath or shower...that's the perfect place for me...to be around a body of water. It's very cleansing.

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I thought I was the only one who did this. (and as a result, along with empathy, I am also a pretty good mimic!

I'm glad you took the time to write all that out, Flames - and it is good to see I am not alone in how my gift comes and is expressed!

ETA - Jude, you truly are not alone Glad you found the forum!

GotH said:

I'm still me, I'm just trying not to be such a major receiver anymore. That's what the walls are for.

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Yup - and I wish I had learned about walls earlier than I did.

Padma said:

I thought I was the only one who did this. (and as a result, along with empathy, I am also a pretty good mimic!

I'm glad you took the time to write all that out, Flames - and it is good to see I am not alone in how my gift comes and is expressed!

ETA - Jude, you truly are not alone Glad you found the forum!



Yup - and I wish I had learned about walls earlier than I did.

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Hi Padma/Pony!!

So glad to hear someone else did/does this, too! Do you know how indecisive I am? Of course you would know, fellow Gemini! How can I forget? It takes me forever to press the send button. I'm always doubting and questioning - Should I or shouldn't I? What if no one gets me? What if what I'm saying contradicts someone else? It's nutty...so, I'm relieved to hear that I'm not alone and that you're not alone! I need to learn to get out of my own way...just write down what I feel is in my heart, what's on my mind, and have faith, and trust, it's all for good. And, everyone on this thread make it so easy to be open, which I am very grateful for.

Something else struck me that I wanted to share. My understanding of these feelings is that being an Empath (although, I'm not very fond of labels) isn't just about 'feeling what someone else is feeling' or 'putting oneself in another's shoes', but it's to be able to expand on that by feeling and showing compassion towards that person, people and humanity. It's to be able to have a feeling about the feelings we're experiencing. It's to be able to move beyond those feelings without placing any judgment on them or allowing them to 'stick' or attach themselves to us. So, yes, grounding and protecting oneself is very important, as GotH said.

Feeling wonderful

This discussion is both wonderful and comforting! Thanks everyone!! I just wanted to say thank you!!! I intend to elaborate further on each of your posts in just a few!