Empath - who is this? Meaning and definition

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Surely you have already heard about such a phenomenon as empathy. Perhaps the empath is one of your loved ones, acquaintances, or yourself. What kind of ability is this, how to discern it in yourself and others, how to live with it, is it possible to acquire it, or, on the contrary, will it be possible to get rid of it - we will talk about this in the article.

What is empathy

The word "empathy" comes from the merger of the Greek. ἐν - "in" and πάθος - "feeling", "suffering". This concept means conscious sympathy with other people's emotions without losing a sense of their external nature. Hence, an empath is a person who can hear other people's emotions, both positive and negative, even hidden, unconscious by their "owner". He who has the gift of empathy sees the true face of a person, he cannot be deceived, misled. Some empaths can even feel and experience other people's physical sensations.

Scientifically, the neurophysiological nature of empathy is explained by the work of the so-called mirror neurons. They are responsible for the activity of the brain, which reflects the state of other beings. Mirror neurons were discovered relatively recently - in the nineties by the scientists Gallese and Rizzolatti and their followers from the University of Parma. For the first time, researchers recorded them in the frontal cortex of the brain of a monkey.

Characteristics of empaths

Answer the question "Who is an empath?" listing the characteristic features of the owners of this gift will help:

• Feelings of other people are experienced as your own. Someone determines them in direct communication, and someone - even miles away from a person.
• In public places, there is a feeling of some kind of depression - from the negative emotions emanating from many people at the same time.
• The lie is keenly felt. It is impossible to hide your true intentions and feelings from an empath.
• If an empath has a keen empathy for a sick person, they can even feel their physical pain, feel the symptoms of the disease.
• An empath in any team will notice a suffering person.
• "Emotional vampires" feel empaths keenly, try to get closer to them in order to unload their negativity on the poor.
• The empath often feels tired, empty, depressed moods.
• An empath is definitely a creative person.
• It is possible to calculate who has such a gift also by love for nature, sensitive care for animals.
• Such people like to be alone - otherwise the endless stream of other people's emotions will simply drive them crazy.
• The gift of empathy makes a great listener.
• Strongly feel injustice, authoritarianism,selfishness.
• They show their gift in everyday life: they do not like museums, antiques, old houses - they feel all the energy that a thing or atmosphere absorbed from the people around it once; often become vegan - they feel suffering before the death of the animal that has become food.
• Empaths don't know how to pretend, put on a mask. They often give the impression of being unsociable, closed, quiet and shy people.

Empathy levels

Expanding the topic "Who is an empath?", Let's note five levels of empathy:

1. First level empaths are fully aware of all their feelings and emotions. At the same time, they also hear the spiritual experiences of others, but take them for their own.
2. People with the second level of the gift realize what they are - feelings and emotions, understand their nature, are able to intentionally read the feelings and emotions of a certain person.
3. At this level, people can already recognize themselves as an empath. They not only see the feelings of the person next to them, but they are also able to hear the feelings of another in a photograph or simply by thinking about someone.
4. Empaths of this level have access to the full range of feelings. They are able to read the emotions of not only real people, but also personalities from the past - by their things, traces, the atmosphere of the house where they lived. Moreover, they feel the energy flows of plants, animals, non-biological entities. These are already real psychics - they see the power of feelings, they can predict the actions to which it will lead, they can see what caused the emotion to appear. Theirthey are excellent at separating feelings from others. Another feature of them is that they help develop the gift of other empaths, teach their skills.
5. The highest degree of empath - who is this? A person who is able to control not only his own feelings and actions, but also the feelings and actions of others.

How to become an empath

Why do you need to develop empathy? Multiple answers:

• Quality is simply necessary for followers of the humanitarian professions: psychologists, doctors, educators, teachers, volunteers, etc.
• Empathy - the ability to feel the interlocutor - helps to more successful communication.
• A sympathetic person who understands other people's experiences as his own will always win.

You can become an empath in the following way:

1. Try to notice all the little things in the interlocutor - the movement of the eyes, lips, gestures, facial expressions, voice changes during his various emotional states. Soon you will recognize when he is excited, trying to hide something from you, inspired by joy.
2. Learn to shift other people's emotions onto yourself. To the smallest detail, imagine yourself in the place of a person telling you a story.
3. Train on your friends - learn to quickly imagine that they are you. Notice their typical facial expressions, gestures, gait, style, manner of communication. This is the hardest step. Here you need to learn how to try on other people's lives without losing your individuality.
4. Learnmanage your emotions - restrain anger, the desire to complain, tearfulness. Develop your endurance to perfection. Only after you become the full conductor of your emotions can you help others cope with them.

How to stop being an empath

Empathy sometimes becomes a heavy cross for a person. Feeling and experiencing as your own, someone else's pain sometimes becomes a nightmare. Remember the protagonist of the imperishable "Green Mile" Stephen King. Acutely sensitive empaths are cornered, depressed, and devastated by their ability. Of course, it is difficult to get rid of this gift once and for all. Long and persistent spiritual work on oneself is needed, consisting of four main stages:

• Awareness of your response to other people's emotions.
• Setting certain boundaries when communicating with other people.
• Creating personal space.
• Positive attitude to the perception of the outside world.

We will analyze each item in detail.

Stage 1: Understanding the reaction to other people's feelings

An empath is a person who feels like their own, the emotions of strangers. Your work should begin with the following:

1. Determine when and at what moments you are most susceptible to the influence of other people's feelings.
2. Analyze what emotions you feel in society: fear, depression, tension, or maybe a desire to impress with your gift?
3. Select the so-called emotional vampires in your social circle. These are the typespersonalities, like dictators, excessive egoists, critics, victims, hysterical people. They are the ones that are dangerous for the empath. Minimize your contact with them or cut them off altogether. The next paragraph will tell you how to do this.

Stage 2: creating borders

Continuing our own step-by-step soul analysis:

1. Note what you can tolerate from others, and what you want to give up once and for all.
2. In what situations can you easily give up and go along with the "vampire"? Create a "panic button" in your mind - stop such moments in the bud.
3. Speak candidly with loved ones. Explain why you need to be alone sometimes, talk about situations that exhaust you, pump up a bad mood.
4. Think of a plan of action in difficult situations. For example, your friend had a problem, and the poor guy just needs to talk. How will you do it? Maybe we should set a time frame for such a conversation?
5. Learn to say no. Practice playing with yourself the most common situations of your future failures.
6. The empath is the gift of the listener. You can sincerely empathize with other people's bitter stories for hours. And how much easier it becomes for the interlocutor, so much harder for you. Set the time of such "unloading" sessions for your friends. Half an hour is enough to discuss any problem.

Stage 3: Create your space

You also have the right to be listened to, not loaded with other people's troubles. The steps to do this are as follows:

1. The very first step is to learn to be self-reliant and independent in everything. Start by shopping for groceries or new clothes without waiting for anyone's advice, approval, criticism.
2. The next step is to learn to rely only on yourself in difficult situations.
3. Take care of arranging your own corner - a place where no one will disturb you. It can be a cozy bench in the park, a secluded lawn or even your own country house. Nothing better than nature can quickly rejuvenate a sensitive empath.
4. Don't sit in public spaces where you feel uncomfortable or uncomfortable.
5. The world spiritual practice - breathing exercises, yoga will help you to consolidate the result. Learn to visualize your negative emotions (fog, stones, dark color), and then just mentally smash and disperse them.

Last step: positive attitude

Empaths - what gives this gift? Naturally, not only experiencing someone else's negativity:

1. Concentrate on the bright, kind feelings of your loved ones. Rejoice for them and with them.
2. The next step is to learn to see the positive even in a random passerby. This will help a sensitive person like you to quickly get back in a good mood.
3. Create a positive yourself - make small surprises for loved ones, show care. Their joy will become your joy.
4. Do what you like, regardless of age, prejudice, sidelong glances.
5. Try to surround yourself with light,positive, understanding people. Feel free to contact them for support.
6. Try to avoid situations that are very depressing as often as possible.
7. Empaths - who are they? Of course, people who are prone to creativity. Create - from writing your own book to working out your own style of clothing. Creativity will clear the clouds over your head.
8. Turn your sympathy, empathy into activity. Help shelters for homeless animals, arrange a holiday for children from a boarding school, or simply buy a hot meal for a homeless person.
9. Give your compassion to yourself. Learn to feel sorry for yourself. Of course, within reason.
10. Last and most important, embrace and love your uniqueness.

Are you an empath? How to live with it? This is an amazing, but at the same time, a heavy gift - after all, such a person hears not only happiness, but also all the pain of this world. Moreover, he passes it through himself. Therefore, an empath must constantly work on himself, not allowing other people's feelings to make his life unbearable.