Empathy - Superpower or Burden?

Empathy

In a world grown numb, the ability to feel deeply is a super power.

 

In a world grown distant the ability to connect with and understand another human is a super power.

 

These people who are able to feel and connect deeply are #empaths.

 

#Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

 

If you are highly empathic or #highlysensitive, you may be having a hard time regulating your own mental, emotional and energetic state.  

 

As we move through intensity of our own personal challenges AND navigate relationships and current events where we are exposed to other people’s challenges and strong emotions, it can quickly feel like too much.  When we are overloaded with heavy emotion, this super power can quickly feel like a curse.  Sometimes something as simple as walking through a grocery store can feel overwhelming when the overall vibe is heavy, fearful or negative.

 

So how can we leverage this super power without carrying the burden of feeling it all?  Working with your empathic gifts is a practice, and only you will know what works best for you.  But here are some things I have found tremendously helpful.

 

Most important thing for me is to have a #morningpractice or #ritual of some kind.  It is an opportunity for you to feel what is yours - before relating with others, before turning on your socials, before taking outward action in your life, there is a pause in the morning to breathe and feel and notice - what is mine?  How am I feeling emotionally, energetically, physically, mentally? 

 

This check in sets the baseline for your day.  Any inexplicable deviations from this baseline as you move through your day are probably not yours.  

 

So if you are heading to the gym, or about to see a client, and you are inexplicably hit with a wave of rage, butterflies or anxiety or sadness, it’s likely not yours.  Likely you are picking up on the electromagnetic signature of the people around you.  

 

This simple recognition - ah this isn’t mine, I must be feeling what’s present for someone else - is enough to break you free from feeding in to the emotional state.

 

You see, feelings/emotions are a result of thought.  We have a thought that creates a feeling… but it also is true that as we have a feeling we start to look for the reasons we feel that way and then reinforce the feeling… and it cycles.

 

When you notice that what you are carrying is not YOURS you consciously dis-identify with it.  Then instead of looking for reasons to feel this way, often our attention turns to the other person and our inner state can shift to one of love, concern and curiosity.

 

This leads to the second skill of managing empathy.  When we see someone struggling, we often want to jump right in there and make it better.  We have an urge to save them, and we are willing to sacrifice ourselves to do so (especially if we are feeling their pain in our own systems).  

 

This desire to “save” creates an unhealthy and delusional power dynamic - one of you being the saviour and the other person being the victim.  

 

In truth we are all eternal souls who are always connected to God.

 

the most powerful thing you can do for someone who is struggling is the remember you are both infinite divine beings.  You can validate their current experience while still regarding them, speaking to them and reflecting back to them that they are powerful, resilient, resourceful infinite beings.

 

So instead of plunging ourselves into the other person’s pit of darkness and despair and suffering there together, you can shine your flashlight into the pit and support them in finding their own light so that they can find their way out. 

 

And finally, when you find that you are stuck in an emotional state, regardless of whether its yours or something you picked up along your travels, there are things you can do to shift your state.

 

Move your body - notice how your body is feeling, how you are carrying yourself, what activities you are engaging in and avoiding - and then consciously shake things up.  What you are drawn to do during these states will result in more of the same.  If you want to shift state, CHANGE something.  Breathe more deeply, vocalize, carry yourself with strength, lift your heart, life your gaze.  Go outside.  Climb a mountain.  Jump in cold water.  Go to a yoga or gym class.  Turn on your fav song and dance and sing.

 

Change what you are reading/listening to/watching.

 

Put down your phone.  Take a social media detox.

 

Do something that makes you feel alive.  When you are in a good state, make a list of things you can do that always make you feel better - something you can refer to when you’re in a dark place.  

 

#reiki #reikimaster #reikimasterteacher #onlinereiki #onlinereikitraining #psychicreiki

 

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