Empath, one overused word

I wish I could tell you how many people have told me in the past 12 months that they are an empath. You don't have to ask them why they feel that way, they tell you, and what they tell you usually indicates one of two things. They don't have a clue as to what an empath is, and that they need some serious psychiatric help.

So what is an empath? An empath is a person who can psychically tune into a person's feelings and emotions. There is more to it than just the unseen however. True empaths not only pick up on the emotional and mental health of others, but can do it at a distance, and many times without ever speaking to the person. The other part of being an empath means clearly and easily reading signals coming off of a person in their presence, some call it reading body language, but it is deeper than that. It is not just picking up on the signals according to a psych text, but what they are really saying about that particular person right now.

Empaths not only recognize the feeling and emotions, but actually feel them. They may be around a person and feel anxious because the person feels anxious, it takes training, psychic ability and experience to figure out if they are feeling anxious themselves, picking up on the person, or the person is a dangerous person to be around and their instinctual nature is warning them off.

Walking into a room and suddenly feeling anxious does not make you an empath, it makes you human.

The downside to being an empath is that you need to be a strong person to handle everyone's "stuff". You have to learn to take it in stride, much as a psychiatrist must do after listening to people who are depressed or angry all day. Many think you need a thin skin to be an empath, to allow those feeling to flow. NOT true, you need a very THICK one, skills, knowledge and a support system. There are ways to set up walls and boundaries to keep yourself sane and happy. Many learn these mechanisms on their own, I had to (there was not any good access to this type of info when I was growing up), and others, luckily, have mentors to help them.

The reason I say that the word is over used is twofold. One reason is that people equate it with "psychic". When people here the word psychic, they want to know what their future will hold. True empaths cannot tell you. That doesn't mean that they do not have other abilities that can do that task, but just being an empath, does not give you the power to tell the future.

So the word is misused in that way, people want to claim psychic ability and call themselves one of the two most familiar words, empath or clairvoyant. People think that if you are not clairvoyant, you aren't psychic. WRONG. Clairvoyant means clear seeing. My skill at finding lost objects is starting to grow (who knows why)...and that skill is clairvoyant for me, yet when people want to know how other's feel about them, clairvoyancy won't do any good to anyone. It is useless. That is where being an empath or clairsentient steps in.

Back to reason two, and this one is most prevalent (sadly). People have emotional and mental issues. Ninety-nine percent of the people who tell me that they are empaths, are emotionally and mentally ill, usually schizophrenic. Their wild emotions and thoughts, mood swings, and hearing voices come from somewhere other than the Universe. They come from inside themselves, generated by themselves. They usually fear another, or think another is madly in love with them. There is never a moderate feeling coming to emotionally or mentally ill people. It is always over the top. They are being stalked, or they have lurid sexual thoughts they think are generated by an unsuspecting person. They can't sleep, are emotionally upset all of the time, and can't seem to get away from the interfering emotions.

Empaths are never dramatic, over the top, or frightening. Those who need counseling are. True light workers work quietly and peacefully. They do not live in a place of emotional upset. They learn to control and realize where messages are coming from. They can get messages from just about anyone, not just the one person they claim is madly in love with them, or out to get them.

Don't use the word empath, unless that is what you truly are. Test yourself through experience, talk to people, but don't let them know that you are trying to test yourself, as many play games and any doubt will slow down psychic development.

When a "psychic" or whatever metaphysical term the person is using, is demanding, nasty, dramatic, a Prima Donna or tells you to do harmful things, they are not light workers, stay far away. They either need attention or they are needing psychiatric help.

Watch out for the crazies, the information superhighway has created many who call themselves psychic, empaths, clairvoyants, etc., and they don't even know what the words mean.A true medium is a rare person, yet there are so many who claim mediumship. They certainly cannot help you, and most likely need help themselves. Be careful and always look for quality.

Don't fool yourself, and , don't be fooled by those who are fooling themselves.

Peshaui Wequashimese




(C)2011 Dr. R M Wolf. May not be used, copied or reproduced without prior written permission.