Do you see yourself as one who is quick to help or heal? Do you sense thoughts and emotions so deeply they radiate to your core? You must learn how to protect yourself so you don’t let the heaviness of these experience weigh so profoundly on you that it affects your physical or mental health.
Begin by setting healthy boundaries. It is important and beneficial to care, but never at the expense of your own wellbeing. Being a sensitive person means that you experience emotions more intensely and can easily get overwhelmed by all the sensory input. This can be very difficult for other people to understand and as a result society portrays that something is “wrong” with this orientation. Because of this shame, sensitive individuals work to bury these impulses in the recesses of their minds. This alienation of one’s empathic talents leads them to not understand how to appropriate stewards these gifts. Without learning to create and maintain healthy boundaries empaths can be quickly drained energetically, thus becoming susceptible to “dis-ease” that can manifest as physical or mental ailments.
In particular, be weary of the depth of feeling you take on when another shares their woes. Empaths are quick to be burdened with the emotional pain of another which will reverberate across their body. Instead of being present with the person that is hurting and helping them create meaningful actions steps, the empath will feel like they, themselves, are experiencing the hardships. They will then feel shame because they can’t adequately share this experience with another person without the fear of being judged further, and creating addition stress on their body.
Find a way to make peace with your empathic skills and honor your ability to sincerely care for the wellbeing of another person. Know that this depth of feeling is a gift and serves as a beacon of light to those feeling lost in their life. Just as you are able to keen know pain, you are able to enjoy the fullness of joy. By using your talents for kindness and compassion you can help heal your community and even the world. You have the innate ability to form meaningful and lasting connections with others that can provide them strength and inspiration when they need it most. Through this reciprocal report you both are able to glean new and vital insights into your situation and life, which empowers you to grow as a person and global citizen.
By learning to regulate your power of empathy, you can prevent the flood of emotion from overwhelming your ability maintain optimal health. Refuse to take on anyone else’s emotional baggage and watch how your ability to be present in the world dramatically increases.
Here are a few tips that can help you avoid absorbing a person’s heavy emotions:
- During an intense conversation, label what you are experiencing
When you name it, you are able to claim it! This power will provide you a much necessary pause and a moment for clear minded introspection in the events unfolding. It will help you understand what is going and what you must do to preserve your well being.
- Investigate if you’re feeling belongs to you, another, or a blend of both
Although tricky, this is an import distinction. You will never be able to alter the thoughts and behaviors of anyone beside yourself. Therefore, own and reaction to only what is yours! Only then can you make significant improvements to the situation and protect yourself.
- The instance you notice carrying someone else’s emotions turn your attention inward
Be loving, compassionate and nonjudgmental to yourself. Understand what steps you must take to be as supporting and kind to yourself as possible.
- Scan, Breathe, Ground
Notice how the emotions and experience are radiating in your body. Where is their pain or tension you can release? Breathe deeply into these spaces. Visualize an image that help you re-root yourself to the Earth. When you can create calmness in your body, you can create space in your mind that will help you better identify key action steps you must take to improve your life.
- Let the other person be responsible for their emotions
You are can only be responsible for your own emotions and experiences. Loving return any draining energy back to the other person. Try creating a mantra that you can use in this situation that can help you remain grounded while transmitting a sense of love, healing and growth to another person.
The tips provided here are quite insightful. Understanding how to differentiate between one’s emotions and those of others can be crucial in maintaining mental health. This knowledge could be particularly beneficial for empaths.
This article beautifully captures the essence of being an empath. It’s essential to remember the importance of setting healthy boundaries and honoring our unique gifts. Truly enlightening!
Yet another piece perpetuating the idea that being overly sensitive is some mystical gift. People need to toughen up and face the real world instead of finding excuses for their weaknesses.
Ah yes, because everyone needs another mantra in their life to deal with other people’s emotional baggage. What’s next, sage cleansing rituals to ward off bad vibes?
While it may sound trivializing, sometimes simple rituals can help in grounding oneself. Different strategies work for different people.
Agreed. The world is full of enough complexities without adding the burden of other people’s emotions. Practicality should prevail over spiritual fluff.
While the article provides some useful guidance, it somewhat over-romanticizes the concept of empathy. The world isn’t divided into empaths and non-empaths; emotional sensitivity exists on a spectrum.