Empathy
From Elfi
Empathy is an intuitive ability that allows you to feel or otherwise sense the emotions of others as your own.
Some dictionaries describe empathy as "The ability to relate to and understand someone else's feeling" or "The ability to put one's self into the psychological frame of reference or point of view of another." These definitions talk about caring, being able to imagine someone else's emotional response. Crying when you see someone on TV get hurt. More than feeling compassion or sympathy “for” another person, empathy puts you in their shoes to feel “with” them or “as one” with them.It is crying when your sister in the next room is feeling sad.
Empathy is a very useful tool when trying to help and heal people. It allows you to intimately feel what others are feeling and what they are struggling with. Since we are all very good at shoving away our pain and covering up the parts that hurt, many people do not have a clue what they are actually feeling. They may know they are unhappy, or sad, but they don't know why or how to even begin to make it better. Empathy gives you a deep insight into their emotional world.
Anyone can develop this intuitive gift, and many of you may already have it to varying degrees - although you may not be aware of it. As an empath, you will pick up emotions from those around you and believe that they are your own. Not only can this be very confusing, it also causes you emotional pain that you don't need. When you suddenly feel a strong emotion, check if it's yours. The easiest way to do this is to focus on the emotion and ask yourself if it's yours while paying close attention to your heart. It will know when something is not yours, and you'll get a clenching feeling. If the emotion is not, yours, spend some time Grounding them. You can feel the emotions of others, but it is not healthy to take them in and hang on to them.
You can have emotion inside because you sourced it, or because you held on to another's so long that you began to copy it. If you hold an emotion long enough, you will find you are generating it. 1- you could truly have that one inside, or 2- you could be copying one you've experienced consistently Here is how you tell the difference: Ground, center, breathe. Get clear as possible, clear the emotion center, and calm it. Then focus on that emotion, hold it strong and pure. If it's yours, it will feel fine, or not feel at all. It belongs. If it is a copy, you will feel knowtting in the guts, nauseau, revulsion, as if you were trying to process another's.
Empathy is very simple, but it requires constant awareness, vigilance, and use of the tools. There is a tendency in empaths to build emotional callouses. This is the opposite of effective. You get just as much garbage, you simply fail to notice it. Rather, develop greater sensitivity, clearer awareness, faster response times, and practice with your tools.
