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Naki
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good to hear that this thread helped you a bit... *smiles*
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 Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:34 am
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"Why do you always wear that stupid rabbit suit?"
"Why do you always wear that stupid human suit?"
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Sigyras
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humbabathegreat
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It's not always fun being an empath, but it does have its advantages. Fortunately I can mostly block other's emotions, assuming I'm not too distracted. But when I can't block it, it's not necessarily like a wave that hits all at once, it melds in slowly so after a certain point it's almost impossible to distinguish my emotions from those around me. This usually occurs after I have been spending a large amount of time around someone, and not necessarily just being in public. There are occasions where other's emotions when I'm in public sort of "slap me in the face", so to speak, but it's tolerable. It really sucks if you work retail though 
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Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:32 pm
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Ya know, they call them fingers but I've never seen them fing. Oh wait, there they go.
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ShadowPhoenix
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Till I learned to block emotions it was often quite tiredsome, yet still today there are moments when something hits me like a surge (cinema and sad music when a character dies.)
The most fascinating fact seem to be that I'm alexithymic - either that or the too much of emotions blinded me - well at least at some point I just noticed that all of "my" emotions just seem to be foreign and are not belonging to me at all.
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Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:14 am
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At a certain of level of insanity one seems to be perfectly sane again.
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Sonnet_of_Naphriel
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Oh Goodness, Empathy.
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I have been a strong empath all my life. Even in childhood I remember many occasions where certain events, movies, television show, commercials, and moods of other people set me off. To this day, I still tear up during commercials that strike an emotional nerve. Recently, I watched Pan's Labyrinth with two friends. It was so embarrassing, because I was the only one in tears at the end. I had to run out of the room and go into the bathroom to hide my sobs. Body racking sobs. Wounded animals wrench my heart. Sometimes I can even feel the pain in my own body, especially if its a neck injury. There was a scene in Pan's Labyrinth where someone had been shot in the neck. I had to look away, because it caused a throb of pain in my neck. Movies with gore and killing are extremely painful, and usually I'm unable to watch them because they affect me so deeply.
I've felt empathy with inanimate objects as well, such as stuffed animals that were neglected. And lonely. Buildings and environments give off an energy that affects me as well. I can sense tension, anger, sadness, anxiety. Sometimes I can see/feel events that have occurred there, which made me useful on my old paranormal team. And then, of course, there are people who leak emotional energy all over the place. Lets just say I hate crowded places because they are over stimulating and can be very uncomfortable.
There are many other examples, but this gives a decent enough picture of what its like for me.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 4:47 am
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Luinbariel
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That sounds pretty similar to how I feel or see empathy now, Naphriel.
I have had a tiny bit more experience with it since I started this thread, and have noticed many similar things. I've really come to realize it at places like the mall. I never thought of these things as connected before, somehow. I read about it, here and in other places, and was kinda like "I don't remember that happening to me." But now that I think about it, I often get dizzy, light-headed or quite "out of it" when in crowded places like that.
ESPECIALLY the movie theater. Depending on the movie and the crowd, it can be an awesome experience, or I can come outta there feeling completely sick, sometimes for days.
Huh. I think the original purpose for this thread was, shortly after awakening, I wasn't sure that I had any sort of empathy at all. Now, looking back, I can relate to many many experiences that have been posted here, and I think I've come to a conclusion (though I sort of did part way through this thread, and mostly on my own after thinking about some experiences on my own).
Thanks so much everyone! 
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:49 pm
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pyewacket
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Shiari
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When I was a child, before I created this lovely (and irritating) mental block/wall, I would be awash with the emotions around me, feeling the prevailing mood as my own, or particularly strong emotions. This is, I feel, where my temper gained its ferocity because central to my Self is the urge to protect. When I would be harassed, and it truly became harassment and persecution for 3 or 4 months in the 6th grade, I would feel their hate and their glee towards me... as if *I* was the one who hated myself and felt joy at my own emotional pain. Thus, I would lash out to make the bad emotions stop as eventually the teasing itself ceased to actually bother me, but the emotional battering still did.
Now, I have to see someone or at least be in close proximity and *know* them in order to feel those emotions. But the sorrow, the anger, the joy of a stranger is still my sorrow, my anger, my joy and wisdom gets thrown the wayside in my need to comfort, stop, or rejoice with them. Recent examples of the un-wisdom that results of feeling these as my own are these: Two women were having a minor spat at a coffee shop near where I was sitting. I ignored the mounting tide of anger as I did not know them. Finally one started leaving and all seemed resolved but the tide of anger crested then and the one who stayed behind leapt up and chased after the other. I too started to rise, but my brother restrained me... until the actual physical fight began. Once the first punch was thrown I was headed towards them like a rocket, with no thought but "must stop them, can't let them get hurt". Fortunately one of their mutual friends got there ahead of me. >_<
Second example occured two nights ago. I was sitting at the emergency clinic, waiting for my friend to arrive with her dog who was bleeding so that I could be emotional support. A guy had come in about an hour earlier with his big shepherd, and I was already irritated with the receptionist because I could see from where I was sitting that the dog's stomach was distended a little, and coupled with the pacing and attitude of discomfort and the owners description of "I fed him about an hour and a half ago and then let him out to run in the back yard, and now he's like this" that the dog was a very likely candidate for a gastric torsion, which is life-threatening. Yet the receptionist didn't think anything was of real concern. *snorts* So anyways, the guy goes to see the doctor while his dog is in back because a tech came, saw the dog, and dragged it in back immediately, and is informed that his dog does indeed have a torsion and bloat. He comes back to the lobby and is burst into tears. I tried to resist. Tried so hard because this was a strange male, the scariest thing in the world to me. But he was hurting so bad, and I was hurting too... so I went over and sat down next to him and hugged him. I gave him what comfort I could, because we both needed it. And so for half an hour I was glued to something I feared, because his emotional agony outweighed my emotions.
If something is in physical pain, I feel it too. Not as strong, but strong enough. Muscles with cramp in sympathy, bones will ache.
Now the real question for me though... is this psychic only, or combined with my odd mirror-touch synesthesia, or is the odd synesthesia the entire cause?
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:14 pm
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ivy
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i love being apathetic
XD
i kinda wish i knew what empathy wass like at times though
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Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:29 pm
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sadstoryteller
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i think i have been feeling that for a long time but i have been feeling it for so long hat i forgot about it don't all of the sudden it seems to be more focusing on my past emotions then my curretn emtions or the emotions of the people around me. Each day it is getting stronger
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:39 pm
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The rise of dragons will come some day
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SJK11
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I think this topic is a little old, but I've got a question anyway.
I've been wondering if I would be considered an empath. I myself am very emotionally driven and I am always very in tune with other people's emotions when I am talking to them or even observing them. I think this is because I am good at reading body language and things though.
When I am in a room of people or in a large crowd, I don't think that I can sense other people's emotions, but I do feel the way some of you describe. Like I am very drained after being in a certain crowd and when I am done I absolutely need time to myself to sort of find myself again. it is like a feeling of getting back inside my body. Sometimes it does seem like there is a "buzzing" of something in the background when I am around a lot of other people, but I never thought of it as their emotions until now.
I have had one experience where I might have controlled someone's emotions. My dad was really mad about something one day while he was trying to fix something and I was helping him. I don't know why, but I just started imagining myself sending him clean, positive energy. It took all of my concentration, and after a few minutes he spoke to me in a much calmer way. He doesn't usually do this - when he is angry, he is angry for a while. But I really think I affected his feelings at that time.
What do you guys think?
Oh, and I am also very moody depending on the setting and people around me.
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:24 am
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Archer
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| SJK11 wrote: |
| I've been wondering if I would be considered an empath. I myself am very emotionally driven and I am always very in tune with other people's emotions when I am talking to them or even observing them. I think this is because I am good at reading body language and things though. |
I'm glad to see your first explanation is a reasonable, scientific one  A lot of people on otherkin forums jump to supernatural explanations for things, even when perfectly sensible scientific ones exist.
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| When I am in a room of people or in a large crowd, I don't think that I can sense other people's emotions, but I do feel the way some of you describe. Like I am very drained after being in a certain crowd and when I am done I absolutely need time to myself to sort of find myself again. |
This sounds to me like you're an introvert and as such get drained when you have to spend time with people. Nothing supernatural or psychic about that.
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| I have had one experience where I might have controlled someone's emotions. My dad was really mad about something one day while he was trying to fix something and I was helping him. I don't know why, but I just started imagining myself sending him clean, positive energy. It took all of my concentration, and after a few minutes he spoke to me in a much calmer way. He doesn't usually do this - when he is angry, he is angry for a while. But I really think I affected his feelings at that time. |
I think it is far more likely that he calmed down through an internal process (such as him simply deciding it wasn't worth it to be angry), or in response to body language signs from you (which both of you might have been unaware of), than that you affected his feelings in any kind of supernatural/psychic way. Your father is not an automaton - as you say yourself, "usually" he stays angry, which means sometimes he does not. You have no idea what was going on in his head. As you also said there was a window of "a few minutes". For all you know he had a headache that went away in those few minutes, or he worked out the answer to a crossword clue, or any number of other things.
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| Oh, and I am also very moody depending on the setting and people around me. |
Yes, you and just about every teenager in the world, and a large proportion of older people too.
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Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 11:48 pm
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"Once a villain you're a villain to the end!"
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Poetic_Vine
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I, too, am a natural empath. For as long as I can remember, I have been able to form some impression of the emotional state of those around me. I have noticed, however, that my most vivid individual impressions stem primarily from either being in sufficient proximity to make eye contact with an individual or being in the vicinity of a large crowd of people whose focus is virtually exclusive, such as when I attend concerts, movies or other major events. I do have difficulties being in crowds, but to a great degree it depends on my perceived level of vulnerability -- in other words, my ability to shield.
I find that my impressions are generally focused in chakras – generally the third eye (brow), heart (chest, of course) or abdomen (also rather self-explanatory). I sometimes perceive energy through other chakras, but comparatively rarely. The location in question depends on the situation – if you are interested, I invite questions, as it will further my understanding of the function of the chakras in general and more specifically even as it gives me the chance to articulate my current understanding of their role in my perceptions. In any case, the actual feeling depends on the emotion – tension makes me feel mentally “scattered”, anguish can make me nauseous and anger can feel like a constriction in my chest. Of course, there may be a mixture of emotions as well – and the intensity of the feeling determines the intensity of my sense, as I perceive what I understand to be an “echo” of the feeling.
I am also capable of perceiving alterations in energy “flow”. This typically takes place in real-time interaction during which I am not in physical proximity to a person, such as when I and an individual are chatting via instant messenger or over the telephone. This is less strictly emotional, but alterations in a person’s projection of energy are frequently the result of emotional changes. Thus, I do consider it to be part of my empathic ability. It typically occurs within the third eye and is almost exclusively focused there. Impressions in any other location are typically the result of my own reaction – that is, how I react to my interpretation of what I sense.
A number of you have almost certainly read my introductory post, in which I said I had recently experienced a period of near-collapse due to the intensity of my feeling. That occurred because I had been holding in the pain I sensed from another individual who is very close to me for years – five years, as a matter of fact. When I finally vented the pain, the relationship nearly ended. Fortunately, it did not – but the resulting short-term escalation of my sense left me virtually unable to function. I literally lost control of my perceptions because they reacted to their newfound “freedom”. They’d been numbed by the pain for so long that I could no longer remember consciously what it was like not to sense that pain.
In response to that near-collapse, I went to a friend who introduced me to one of his peers (that is, someone who was also well-versed in working with energy). He willingly performed a “bind” for me – in other words, he took the time to help me “block” my empathic sense for a short time until I could regain my personal balance. It dissolved over the next couple of weeks (I’d initially thought it’d take longer, but I was wrong), and I was able to realize that my empathy was but a single dimension of my ability to perceive the energies around me. I was not only able to function without it for that time, but was also able to understand it in a completely new way once I was able to look at it without its overwhelming my thoughts.
I personally believe that my sensitivity stems from a predisposition towards perceiving energy that has grown as I age because I have consciously worked to increase its accuracy. If it is not too off-topic for this thread, I have given some consideration to where I feel the origins of my sensitivity lie. Of course, if anyone has any suggestions for another location to post that, as it is not directly pertinent to the original question, I am certainly interested!
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:31 pm
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ivy
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oh god im not empathetic at all, im totally apathetic
and personally i love it, i feel that if i was any different it would add too much stress to my life
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Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:28 pm
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Eternity
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I actually just recently figured out that I was an empath. I had only heard of psychological empathy, I had never heard of the paranormal version.
For me, I've gotten it under control without really realizing what I was doing. Now that I do realize what I am doing --and have been doing-- I have even more control over it. I can turn it on and off, in other words. I tend to keep it turned off, to give people their privacy, as well as to spare myself. But if I can tell via body-language that something is wrong with someone, I will turn it back on to try and help them.
Also, I have found myself so often trying to communicate with others with empathy. So far, the only being that I can conversate with is my cat. She is so responsive, and I'm sure that she is aware of it. I tend to do it with other animals as well, but it is never quite a conversation, if you know what I mean....All my cat has to do is come in the room with me (and get my attention if needed--I usually notice her presence, but not always) and I know what she wants. My mother is forever asking me how I do that. Now, finally, I can give her an answer =)
But I'm definitely not perfect at it. My biggest mistake is accidentally projecting my emotions onto others. Disasterous, to say the least. I'm not 100% positive about this, but I think that I may feel emotions more strongly than a lot of people. For instance, if I'm with someone and they are upset, and I pick up on how they are feeling, I seem to project it back to them double. But then I realize that, and therefore focus on a more soothing emotion, and then purposely project that. It usually works, except on those that are determined to feel a certain way.
Another part of it, something that I can recall doing as far back as I can remember, was "translating" these feelings into words. A perfect example would be this scenario:
Its lunchtime, and I head to the cafeteria. Mary sits down across from me, and I ask her how was class. She smiles and says it was ok. I can tell that that smile isn't real, so I flick on the switch. I can tell that she wants to talk about it, and also that she is feeling a sort of crushed, disappointed, hurt, confused feeling. I might then say something like "why so heartbroken? Did Barry break up with you?"
(This is just a hypothetical situation, and the names are made up.)
That's pretty much the story of my life. It can be useful at times, but also it can hurt people, myself included.
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Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:17 am
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