Signs You Are an Empath
Everyone is born with intuitive abilities. Our awareness of them and our connection to these abilities vary greatly by the person In my healing work, a vast number of empaths cross my doorway and most are totally oblivious to that fact. They have an awareness of certain patterns of responding and being, but often have shame and pathologizing around those tendencies. They know they are different but assume it is for negative reasons.
If you have ever felt that you are inherently different from most others and notice that you seem to respond differently to things, I invite you to consider the following information. Listed below are common traits and patterns typical of empathic individuals.
Common signs of being an empath:
- You can ‘sense’ and feel the emotions of others. Quite literally, you feel the emotions of other people within your own body. This can be confusing and overwhelming. You may intuit an emotion that a person is experiencing but not displaying. Boundaries related to your experience and those around you are easily blurred.
- You may feel anxious, overwhelmed, and avoid crowded events or areas. Empaths are like sponges and can absorb the energy of the environment and the people within it. You can become easily overwhelmed, over-stimulated, and drained by crowds and busy physical environments.
- You experience high emotional reactivity to witnessing or hearing about negative stories, news, or tragic events. You may often experience extreme sadness and stress related to disasters, news, or even violence in shows. Empaths feel distress on behalf of others, even those they do not know. Thus, many may avoid social media, news, and tv programming all together. Empaths are often labeled as extreme or ‘overly sensitive’ by those around them.
- You may find your body mimicing the physical pain of those around you (e.g. what some may refer to as ‘sympathy pains’). However, the sensation of pain is real. Essentially, the empath has absorbed that energy into their own. Empaths may actually struggle with chronic pain issues as a result.
- You are drawn towards, and draw to yourself, others who are hurt, sick, and in emotional despair. Many empaths are healers. They have a strong desire to help and be of service to others. Many work within the medical field, teaching, and the healing arts.
- You may often feel drained, fatigued, anxious and depressed. Being unaware of empathic qualities often render empaths defenseless and thus, susceptible to energy drains and lack of self care to ‘re-charge’. This is especially true of romantic relationships and empaths tend to couple with energy vampires in their desire to be of service.
- You struggle with self-care. I find a strong pattern of feeling guilty and mistaking self-care for selfishness. You may tend to invest your energy into taking care of everyone else at your own expense. Empaths tend to sacrifice their whole being to help friends, family, and partners.
- You have a strong desire for ‘alone’ time. Empaths often need time on their own to re-charge. You may find a need to hide out at home, seclude yourself in your bedroom, and avoid others and community places.
- You might struggle with using or wearing second hand items. You may bathe or wash your personal items a lot. Many empaths struggle with the imprints of other people’s energies left on items or feel the need to wash/bathe to cleanse self and/or items of energy.
- You find yourself truly needing time in nature. Many empaths ground and re-charge by being in nature. They can feel it balancing and de-stressing their bodies and energy level.
- You are very sensitive to sensory stimuli, especially auditory information. Many empaths get overwhelmed by noise and find themselves becoming agitated and unable to filter it out. You may find yourself seeking quiet or soothing sounds.
- You have strong intuitive abilities, known as the Clair’s. You may see, hear, sense, or simply know things without understanding why. It may seem to defy logic and reason. Some do not realize they receive information that others are not receiving and question why they perceive things differently from others.
- You struggle with sleep. Many empaths report being a light sleeper and often disturbed by noises or activity in the environment. Many also report intense dreaming at times.
- You are creative. You may be drawn to music, art, writing or anything that has a resonance in the arts. You might find yourself flooded with creative energy at times and flooded by emotionality when in the presence of artistic outlets.
- You have a hard time eating foods, often meat. Not all empaths are vegetarian but a good number find it difficult to eat meat due to sensing the energy of that animal.
This list could be much longer but these are the main patterns that I observe in the intuitive work I do with empaths. These traits are often observable and notable since birth. Awareness of self and these tendencies are critical to self-acceptance and growth. When you can understand and embrace your empathic qualities, as well as learn to create boundaries and patterns of self-care, you can reduce the stress that often permeates the intuitive life. It becomes possible for your to navigate and interface with negative situations and people without feeling ‘attacked’ or drained. You will feel happier, more fulfilled, and joyful in your daily life.
In my desire to be of service to others, I created a FREE workbook on manifesting Abundant Flow in your life. It helps identify barriers, beliefs, and construct a new approach to help you design the life you want. I invite you to download your free copy below! My gift to you!
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