I am an Empath. You might be too.

As part of my (re)introduction to all of this spiritual stuff, I started to embrace my empathic side. I've always had very strong intuition about people, whether they could be trusted, etc. I've always been sensitive to people's feelings and the overall feeling in a room when I walk in. And I started to realize it's more than just sensitivity. I'm an Empath.

If you're not familiar with what an empath is, let's start with a quiz. Just tally up as you go, and find your rating score at the bottom, and see if this fits you too. I'm willing to bet it does, at least a little bit, if you are here and reading this post.



So on this test, I score a 71. I have 4 2's and the rest are all 3's. So I'm very strong, what these results would call an "extreme empath." I don't really *feel* extreme, but I guess I can see what they mean. I'm a very strong empath, I sense things constantly. I realized that's what it was, that it wasn't my own emotions I was feeling a lot of the time.

Being an empath is more than being empathetic toward someone's pain. It's more than feeling WITH someone. You're feeling THEIR sadness. Have you watched movies or been around people and become overcome with emotions that aren't yours, like tears streaming down your face but you don't *feel* sad yourself? That was one of my eye-openers. Like, dude, I'm not upset, why am I crying?

Sometimes the emotions of other people around me would even influence my own emotions if they were strong enough. And when that happens again and again all day long it can make you feel exhausted just from being in public all day.

But what can we do? Are we lost in the flow of emotions forever? That doesn't sound fun! That sounds exhausting! Thankfully, we do have options. We can find balance, can turn noise volumes down, send emotions away, and create a safe space for ourselves at home.

Not every empath wants to do more than learn to control the noise, though, and that's okay. Either way, first, we must hone these base level emotion-reading-and-skills.  And learn to control the emotions/energies we work with.  (Emotions are a form of energy.)

I recommend this method, as it is what works for me. If you find a different way to do a similar thing, great!  Share in the comments! 

With each emotion I encounter every day, I hold it in front of me in my mind, like a ball of light/energy.  And I ask myself a few questions about it, then decide what to do with it:

• What emotion is this? Don't judge it as good or bad, just... anger, resentment, jealousy, love, joy, confusion... Name it. 
• If you can see it, what color is it? (You'll begin to notice different colors have different meanings) Take note of anything special you see/feel. 
• Next, ask, "Is this mine?" 
• If it's yours, do you like it? If so, soak it up, breathe it in, and envision the ball of energy joining with your heart chakra (or third eye, wherever feels right).   If it's yours but it does not serve you today (outrage at work that isn't helping), thank it for coming, and push it away from yourself. Envision the ball of energy floating away from you, and down into the ground, or off into the sky/air/universe. 
• If it's not yours, thank it for coming, and push it away from yourself. Envision the ball of energy floating away from you, and off to wherever it came from. Return to sender. Or you can send it into the earth, or sky/air/universe.

Practice that for a while and see how that works for you. It's a great first step for an empath. You will learn control before you know it.  I do this quickly now when I realize it's not something of mine and it's not serving me in the moment.  I can't get carried away with the angry/upset people I'm helping every day, etc.  It gets easier and easier to do, I promise, just keep at it!

Beyond this, you may wish to look into some crystals/stones to help with easing the psychic noise. As you improve things, you may find the volume on your psychic skills turns up. For me it was like the lights were suddenly turned on, and the radio was blaring. It was hard to manage at first.

These are the stones that help me, and I carry them every day:

• Hematite- It transforms negativity to positivity. If you have to choose, get a stone over a ring, it will last longer. The rings can be fragile and shatter if the vibrations get to be too much. I draw a lot of energy and mine break fast if used alone.  I carry stones now too, and my ring survives! 
• Selenite - This one is for cleansing and protection.
• Amethyst is helpful for protection, especially against psychic attack.
• Tiger's eye- Protection and good luck. 
• Garnet- healer, chakra balancer 
• Crackle quartz is a power stone, amplifying whatever it's with.

Stones/things for protecting my home:

• Selenite- I have big pieces for protection of the house, as well as for recharging my other stones overnight 
• Black Tourmaline - A piece over/on the front door, and in each window.  This helps keep out unwanted entities/spirits
• Black Salt - You can create a line across a doorway or windowsill with this.  I like placing it in the area where the window closes, so it's in place (can't blow away) but is hidden.  
• Amethyst- protection/cleansing
• Quartz- This is another protection/cleansing one.  I have these in my yard.  I collected them from a crystal vein up in the hills in the mountains, blessed them, and they watch over my home.  

We'll leave it there for now. Next Empath post, we'll get into shielding, how to create for yourself a bubble of protection. Stay tuned! 

 
Blessed be!