Empaths

[LuvOrlando]

So we all know about the people who got broken and feel nothing or who pick up feelings quickly but don't absorb it so it is a tool, tons of info about them because they are so dangerous.

I also came across some mumblings about those who get broken and sit on the other side so they pick up other people's feelings like a sponge but they don't hurt others, I saw the word Empaths used but maybe it's just a theatrical name. Still, I have known a few, the sorts of people with an uncanny ability to read others.

Thoughts on this winter Tuesday?

 

[White Cat]

Yes, I know quite a it about that, old souls and INFJ’s. It can be a burden. And it’s easy to spot others who are.

 

[Micca]

 

[LuvOrlando]

Funny but I was thinking more about Social Workers, the volunteers that show up at Homeless Shelters with bags of sandwiches, some Nurses/Drs & those special Teachers kids adore.

 

[Poohlove]

I was reading something just the other day that in a nutshell said the ability to read others is sometimes a trauma response born out of self defense. Say as a child you grow up in a temperamental household (for lack of a better word) you may be more in touch with certain voice inflections, minute facial expressions, body languages, etc. to be able to anticipate what may be coming your way. It is an interesting topic to learn about, I find the psychology behind it fascinating.

 

[_19disnA]

I believe some people are skillful at noticing the non-verbal signs someone gives off. However, I don't believe anyone can see the future or make predictions that mean anything. Much like reading your horoscope, these people are clever enough to provide vaguely worded statements that you can interpret in any number of ways.

 

[White Cat]

Funny but I was thinking more about Social Workers, the volunteers that show up at Homeless Shelters with bags of sandwiches, some Nurses/Drs & those special Teachers kids adore.

You are looking at it the wrong way.

 

[Mysterian]

One of my failed inventions had to do with this very topic:

Empants. Unique britches that enabled the user to better empathize with others. "Why walk a mile in another person's shoes, when you can walk in their pants?"

The Kickstarter gleaned about $3.50.

 

[LuvOrlando]

You are looking at it the wrong way.

What do you mean?

 

[LuvOrlando]

I believe some people are skillful at noticing the non-verbal signs someone gives off. However, I don't believe anyone can see the future or make predictions that mean anything. Much like reading your horoscope, these people are clever enough to provide vaguely worded statements that you can interpret in any number of ways.

I don't mean clairvoyant. I mean just like regular IQ some are starting to see that there is a spectrum of emotional intelligence often called EIQ. It seems to make sense that if there are people who struggle on the autism side there would people hyper activated as well in a yin and yang sort of way. I'd think comics would score high here. I don't think comics etc are doing anything odd, I just think they are exceptionally good at tapping into an emotional vibe.

 

[Lilsia]

I was reading something just the other day that in a nutshell said the ability to read others is sometimes a trauma response born out of self defense. Say as a child you grow up in a temperamental household (for lack of a better word) you may be more in touch with certain voice inflections, minute facial expressions, body languages, etc. to be able to anticipate what may be coming your way. It is an interesting topic to learn about, I find the psychology behind it fascinating.

Well that would completely make sense for me growing up in the household that I did. I am someone that can "read" another person pretty easily. Sadly, when you come across someone that is duplicitous, others don't believe you when you tell them that these people are lying. We joke that I can smell BS a mile away. LOL

 

[Lilsia]

I believe some people are skillful at noticing the non-verbal signs someone gives off. However, I don't believe anyone can see the future or make predictions that mean anything. Much like reading your horoscope, these people are clever enough to provide vaguely worded statements that you can interpret in any number of ways.

IDK about that. I get some weird "visions" in my mind's eye at times. For example, right after my grandpa died, I was driving home and a clear mental vision popped into my head and I saw my grandpa as a young child and I just knew that meant that he was telling me that I was going to have a baby. We had been struggling for years to get pregnant and did the whole failed fertility treatments. I got pregnant 2 days later with my oldest. I got another one. I kept seeing in my mind's eye a kitten along side of the road. This image would pop into my head a few times over several days just randomly. I had not been thinking about getting a cat, it was just random. Boom, we find a kitten alongside the road a few days later. I have more of these also. My husband was like you, didn't think it was possible until I started "predicting" these things. One time, I told him not to park the car in front of our house that day because it was going to get hit. There was no reason why it would get his since it is not abnormal for the car to be there. But guess what, someone hit the car that day. I was more angry that he didn't listen to me. LOL I don't understand it and I don't believe in any higher being, but I can't deny that this stuff happens to me.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Maybe this is a good time to define what an empath is.

Empath​

An empath is a person highly attuned to the feelings and emotions of those around them. Empaths feel what another person is feeling at a deep emotional level.

Their ability to discern what others are feeling goes beyond empathy, which is defined simply as the ability to understand the feelings of others. Instead, being an empath extends to actually taking those feelings on.

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-an-empath-and-how-do-you-know-if-you-are-one-5119883

 

[Poohlove]

Well that would completely make sense for me growing up in the household that I did. I am someone that can "read" another person pretty easily. Sadly, when you come across someone that is duplicitous, others don't believe you when you tell them that these people are lying. We joke that I can smell BS a mile away. LOL

I have a pretty good BS meter myself LOL. My kids found it a curse when they were growing up though in hindsight they now know it was a blessingA friend of mine and I were talking about first impressions/being a good judge of character because she is the opposite and it causes her grief from time to time. Lo and behold Pinterest had suggested some “articles” to read although this is something I’ve read about and discussed at length in the past.

 

[RogueX]

A psychologist who treated my dad told me that my daughter was one after watching her interacting with him. She was 12 at the time and he said he had never seen someone so young hold the traits of an empath.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I was considering this topic because I recently spoke with a person who is a sociologist dealing with childhood cancer patients. This person is a good soul but these days there is an inability for them to be around even the normal ebb and flow of human experience, so they are a bit on the fragile side and avoidant lately. Made me wonder if the same thing that makes some people good at certain things can become an achilles tendon and why that would be the case.

Can it be some people can be emotionally poisoned by taking in too much if they can't disengage? This is the theme in so many cop and Veteran shows, isn't it where the exceptional need to go off to heal in a hermit state? Would appear we recognize this as a thing even if it isn't named or else why would the theme be so popular?

Also interesting to consider how personality morphs this ability as people grow to adulthood. It is plain some people go the way of the psychopath and inflict harm to feel powerful while others seem to go the other way and attempt to repair the damage the psychopaths inflict, taking the power away by rejecting the influence and negating their damage.

Seems there might be something to it, just kicking some thoughts into the air is all & curious what other people think about the topic.

 

[SirDuff]

I don't mean clairvoyant. I mean just like regular IQ some are starting to see that there is a spectrum of emotional intelligence often called EIQ. It seems to make sense that if there are people who struggle on the autism side there would people hyper activated as well in a yin and yang sort of way. I'd think comics would score high here. I don't think comics etc are doing anything odd, I just think they are exceptionally good at tapping into an emotional vibe.

Having a high EQ is not the same as being an empath. Someone with a high EQ can understand the feelings of those around them but an empath takes on the feelings of those around them (often without wanting to do so).

 

[Poohlove]

I was considering this topic because I recently spoke with a person who is a sociologist dealing with childhood cancer patients. This person is a good soul but these days there is an inability for them to be around even the normal ebb and flow of human experience, so they are a bit on the fragile side and avoidant lately. Made me wonder if the same thing that makes some people good at certain things can become an achilles tendon and why that would be the case.

Can it be some people can be emotionally poisoned by taking in too much if they can't disengage? This is the theme in so many cop and Veteran shows, isn't it where the exceptional need to go off to heal in a hermit state? Would appear we recognize this as a thing even if it isn't named or else why would the theme be so popular?

Also interesting to consider how personality morphs this ability as people grow to adulthood. It is plain some people go the way of the psychopath and inflict harm to feel powerful while others seem to go the other way and attempt to repair the damage the psychopaths inflict, taking the power away by rejecting the influence and negating their damage.

Seems there might be something to it, just kicking some thoughts into the air is all & curious what other people think about the topic.

A true empath by definition is someone who does not need physical cues to sense the emotions of others, I do not doubt that these people exist however despite what TikTok would like us to believe true empaths seem to be very rare.

Deeply empathetic folks are a bit more common though the way people behave these days it is hard to remember that. From experience I do think being empathetic/highly sensitive can be a hinderance at times. It can become exhausting since I find emotions to be cumulative. I can shoulder a lot and tend to go into coordination mode in a crisis then the littlest thing will be what breaks me. I have become quite adept in recognizing where my limit is and how to create boundaries in order to protect my mental and emotional health. Of course this does not please everyone which is why it took so long to be able to do but I am much better off for it. I don't necessarily become avoidant as much as I deliberately choose to take a time out. Additionally I take steps to control the inflow of nonsense - for example I do not watch the news, I am not on Facebook, when my gossipy neighbor comes running over when I pull into the driveway to trash talk the other neighbor who she had drinks with the night before I just wave to and hurry into the house (LOL). Of course I can not eliminate everything but taking a vast reduction has helped tremendously.

This is a very interesting topic, anything that delves into what makes people tick piques my curiosity. There is so much reading to be done on empaths, highly sensitive people, and how it relates to neurodivergence.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I think there's a difference between an empath and an emotional sponge. To me, an empath can feel the emotions/concerns of another person, but can stay separate from those concerns.

My daughter receives counseling for her tendency to be an emotional sponge. She not only feels the emotions/concerns, but she internalizes them and makes them her own problems. She's learned to keep separate from those tendencies.

 

[Princesca]

I think I have a really good ability to 'read the room'. I get gut feelings about people that are very rarely wrong. I don't take on other people's feelings, but I just think I have a decent innate skill at reading subtle communication signs. Sometimes I get an inexplicable 'vibe' from people and feel like I'm being prematurely judgmental, but I usually turn out to be right. And it's subtle stuff - not necessarily leering malicious intent, but more subtle things like low self-confidence, etc.

I wouldn't call myself an empath, because that implies I was born this way, or it's something special that I am, when I just consider it a skill I have. There are a lot of skills I don't have, and I don't define or categorize myself by the lack of those.