I just had to share this with you guys.

I'm still new to this whole empathy thing, and feeling what other people are feeling. It's just such a weird concept. But anyway, I think I made a tiny breakthrough just now. I woke up feeling very lonely. I have no reason to be. I mean, I'm still single, but I'm young. And I hung out with friends last night. So I have people in my life. But I still just woke up around 5:30 am feeling all alone. And I just sat there pondering this feeling for a few minutes, feeling all depressed and wondering what was wrong with me, before I realized that maybe this wasn't a problem I was having. Maybe I was picking up on somebody else's loneliness.
I'm not positive about who it could be, but I do have a few ideas. So I said to myself "You know what, this isn't my loneliness. This is somebody else's. I have no reason to be this lonely." So then I started considering different people who it could be, and putting myself in their shoes, and wondering how I could reach out to them to help them. And you know what? I got such a out of it that I'm totally on a high. It didn't just make the loneliness go away. It totally pushed me in the other direction. So maybe the trick with empathy is not to deny it or fear it, but to embrace it and work with it.

That sounds fantastic to me. You woke up feeling less than cheerful but instead of self indulgence and misery, you began to think about people.

fantastic - a shame there aren't more around like you.

Thats a good start with empathy. Alot of times, experiencing something yourself really aids in understanding what other people go through.
I really think empathy is about putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and seeing the world from their point of view. You strip away all your own pre-conceived notions, and try too see what its like to think,feel, respond, and act the way another person. Whats going through their mind?What makes them happy? What makes them depressed? How would that person respond differently than you would given a situation. What was their past like? etc. When feeling empathy for others I ask myself a million questions and try strongly to figure out how they would feel differently than I would. The conclusions you draw up may be right or wrong. The only way you can know is by asking the person all the questions you posed yourself about them. Through practice youll get pretty good at empathy. At least this is the way it works for me. Hope this helps.

Wow I feel not so alone now, I have just recently found out that I am an empath also. I just thought that I was a really emotional person, it was making me crazy , esp. when people are sad it just overwhelms me. I have been trying to learn how to cope with it now and I like your idea of trying to figure out if it is my emotions first then if not try to find out who it is and see if I can help. Anyway I was so surprised to see someone posting about being an empath when I just discovered that is what I am How cool!!

I too am an empath, but I'm not so good at controling it.. for a long time, I thought I was just sensitive to other peoples feelings by being able to recognize and read body language, and the like.. but I'm not so sure thats all that I am doing anymore. There have been times where I was around people, and suddenly I was very angry, for no reason (and all of my family are very slow to anger, me and my sister are probably the quickest, and even then, it rarely goes beyond irritation) such anger I felt really almost frightened me, cause it was not an emotion I was used to experiencing at all, so I figured out pretty quickly that it was not my own, it was one I felt from somebody else. Depression also seems to be an easy one to pick up, as weird as this sounds, even over the internet. just be careful, all you empaths.. the ability to sence emotions opens you up for psychic attacks. I have been drained before, and it is not a fun thing to experience.

Sounds more like hormonal "teen" related mood swings to me.

Does anyone have a link to Empaths? I don't know much about it.

Empath Report. This is a good site.

Also lots more links here. Your welcome

Hey guys,
I love seeing how many other empaths there are out there! I, like most everyone else seems to be, am very new to the concept of being an empath. Like two weeks new. The only reason I even became aware of it is that I started feeling not just other people's emotions, but their physical pain as well. So I would suggest to the other newbies that if you want to avoid this unnecessary and draining pain, that you learn to shield yourselves. While it's a beautiful thing to feel for another person, there's no reason for you to take it upon yourself to such an extent.
Now I don't know how credible this is, but when I told this one guy who seems to be pretty involved with the supernatural about my empath experiences, he referred to me as a "healer". While noone really seems to know what's going on when you're being empathic, maybe there's truth in that. I read in a book somewhere about healing energy, and that people who are empathic can transmit this natural healing energy to others. So maybe our empathic feelings aren't in vain. Maybe we are, on some level, easing other people's pain when we experience it. Someone a week or so ago referred to empathics as "cursed", so I thought I'd throw that out there to argue that maybe in fact it is actually a blessing. Look at me being all spiritual all of a sudden.
To get off my high horse, allow me to direct you guys to psipog.net. It's got a lot of info on most if not all psi abilities, and is aimed towards newbies. Also, I created a hotmail account just for psi skill talking, so if any of you ever want to get in touch with me, you can e-mail me at psychokineticgirl@hotmail.com
Boddhi - see, there are probably more of us out there than you think. Thanks for your kind words.
Venomshocker - thanks so much for the advice. I agree with you 100%, and look forward to developing this skill. It's great to hear from someone with more experience that this approach actually works!
Stargirl - hey, welcome to the club! So how did you come to figure out that you're empathic? Seeing as how I had to feel another person's heart attack before I figured it out, I'm really interested in seeing how others who aren't quite as stubborn come to this realization. Write me if you ever want to talk about it.
Tiyger - there you go sounding like me again.
Miserable Man - some of it probably is, but I've seen and felt way too many weird things this past year alone to consider all of this just "mood swings". Especially since I'm in my 20's!
NightMoon - see above. Are you an empath? Just curious.
Kismit - it's easy to be dubious, I doubt myself daily. And yet, here we are, posting messages on this website.
NoName - thank you

I don't particularly mean to sound all anti and skeptical , it's just that I have questions .
No name thank you for the links , both of them went to the same site though . The second part of the site you linked to, had another link that went to a site that seemed reasonably researched .
the site Here is designed to sell the book ,'The Highly Sensitive Person:How To Thrive When The World Overwhelms You .' by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.
the opening paragraph starts with this

I'm not exactly "New" to empathy.. its something I cannot remember not doing, from the time I was very little.. It just seems to be growing stronger now, that I've realized its not something everyone can do.

Hey noname that is a really good site it answered alot of questions for me. I bookmarked it. Thank you so much for that link! And I found out that I was special from talking to my sis, I was telling her about how I really feel people's emotiions like they are my own and that I can also just look at a person and tell somthings about them just by looking at them. She jean most people can;t do that I think you have some sort of abilities. So I went investigating online and found out that I was empathic. I feel so much better now by knowing that because i couldn't figure out why I was getting so emotional the older I got, I just feel like crying when I am around someone sad and very happy with a happy pereson . I too thought it was me beiing emotional and that I just paid attention to people but it is getting stronger now.

I searched Merriam-Webster Online and these are the results for empathy & empath.

Main Entry: em·pa·thy
Pronunciation: 'em-p&-thE
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathEs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion -- more at PATHOS
1 : the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2 : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this
~
The word you've entered isn't in the dictionary. Click on a spelling suggestion below or try again using the search box to the right.

Suggestions for empath:
1. empathy
2. ampere
3. Ampere
4. Amapa
5. empathic
6. empathise
7. amputee
8. empyema
9. empathize
10. empathies

I hate to sound so sceptical, however the first I ever heard of "empaths" was Deanna Troi on Star Tek TNG ( Sept 28-1987 to May 23-1994).

I agree with Kismit, empathy is a good emotion but it's a normal emotion. Celebrate your empathy. A lack of empathy is by far more alarming albeit more interesting. A lack of empathy is one thing most psychopaths have in common.

Dot9M

Here's a thought.. When I was very little, I had severe allergies (almost to the point that I could have been a "bubble kid") that had to be tested nearly on a daily level. The allergie clinic that I went to then used some kind of machine that put electricity through the system (I think) by having you hold in one hand a thing with a damp cloth wrapped around it, and touching the pressure points of a finger on the other hand with a second metal object. It can actually read how severe your allergies are, usually without triggering them. Being so small at the time, though, I often did not sit still long enough to go through the tests. that was when my mother held me on her lap, and I was actually tested through her. Now, the use of electricity is easy enough to explain how that would work. there was also another method, very similar, but without the use of the machine. The dominant arm would get weak if one were exposed to the allergen. I was also tested through my mother this way. They'd give me a vial of something (to hold, that was sealed) then test the strength in HER arm. It actually worked. So there may well be something actually scientific to empathy, and feeling other people's pain.

I agree with you Tyger , there must be something scientific to this Empathy thing . Allthough I'm not sure I completely understand the tests you discribed I'm not going to dispute they didn't happen . I think though, most cases of empathy , like the ones when you can feel the emotions of people in a room ,are best discribed as hyper observance .
Some people are better at reading body language than others , and they pick up on changes they never realised had taken place physicaly.

I am a middle child

I'm the younger of two.
It seems logical that picking up on other people's emotions is due to hyper-observation, but how do you explain it when a person not only observes, but also actually feels within herself (or himself) a change from what she was feeling as her own emotions to the emotions that the other person is feeling? Or in my case, actual physical pain?

i'm the youngest of two. but sort of 4. see, i have one older brother and two older stepbrothers.

That's a fine and dandy theory, Kismit, and I wish it were that simple. But I've felt peoples' pain from miles away when I wasn't even consciously aware at the time of what they were going through until after the fact.

Firstly Chico , I've never met a little sister who didn't grow up tough . My husband has fork scars from his .

And Gufzoo, that's an incredible gift . How often have you experienced it that strongly ?

That's a very interesting experience Tiyger.

Im actually going for treatment of my allergies using a similar treatment method called biresonance. It sounds like what you went for was a combination of bioresonance and electro-acupuncture. The human body emits a bio-electric-magnetic field. Sometimes called an aura. In any case this bio-field people have, emits a measurable amount of electromagnetic of energy, and some people are sensitive enough to feel other peoples fields. There has been some sceintific studies that have been done on this and this is how healers are supposedly able to heal people. The healers emit an electromagnetic frequency from their hands usually and tune it to a specific frequency, and are capable of healing people, and even animals of many diseases and even cancer.

It is very possible and likely that the human bio-energetic field also emits emotions on a certain level. Often just by sitting near someone, I can sense their emotions, feelings and pain in their life.

Just out of curiosity, did that treatment get rid of your allergies Tiyger?

Ok, I'm a bit divided here but here goes:

I agree with Dot9m, It seems that after ST:TNG alot of 'Empaths" appeared just as after Close encounters of the Third Kind everyone started seeing Greys. (Just look at alien stories before 77 and you'll see what I mean)

But there is some form of Psychic empathy that trancends the normal human abilities. As to wichh I posess I cannot be fore certain but I can tell you for me it works better (that is more clear) with Females than Males for some reason. (Maybe because Male emotions can be more fierce when not suppressed)

I also can tell you I can pick up on people in other countries that I have only chatted with. ( I do have evedence of this but it would require breeching some confidence and since the person in question is a memeber I must have their permission before going further into that)

Also I tend to connect unwillingly with some people and that creates some problems. Maybe I am imagining it. I have searched for answers but I have comeback with more questions. The only realy advice I can give is that if you do posses similar traits be very careful with them . If you end up flooded with emotion that is from someone else it can be very damaging to you. ( I do also know this from fact)

Anyway hope my ramblings help...

To be honest, I get pretty divided on this stuff too. Especially if some time passes without anything "strange" happening. But then one big strange thing will happen, that can't be explained to my satisfaction, and I'm a believer all over again. I pretty much started looking outside myself for answers when these "strange" occurrences started happening regularly.

Kismit - sorry if I sounded snotty before, I really didn't mean to be. I seem to have a talent for connecting with people who are going to die. I've dreamt of people who then died, felt the pain of people while they were dying, and just have a way of noticing people I wouldn't otherwise notice right before they die.
The two biggest ones in the past couple of months alone were: 1) one day in February I just noticed a security guard at my dorm, seemingly randomly, and made a connection with him. That night I felt pain in my chest, and without even thinking about it, blurted out "Someone's having a heart attack." Two days later, I found out that that security guard died that night I connected with him of a heart attack. 2) a few weeks ago, out of the blue I just got very uncomfortable every time I swallowed food. This lasted a few days. A few days after that I found out that my grandmother, who I rarely see, was dying because she had pretty much starved herself, because it hurt to swallow.

Do I have proof that these experiences were real, and truly connected through some kind of psi experience? No, of course not. But in my opinion, the coincidence is just too great to not consider the possibility.

this "little sister" stuff confuses me a bit, kismit. i'm not offended or anything, just a little confused. like this guy --->

with the empathy thing i think mine is slowly starting to dwindle. it's not as strong as it was. this worries me.

Maybe that's a good thing, Chico. Can you still use it at will? Maybe you've gained control over it! Which, from what I've read on the subject, is a blessing

OOoooo, look who got there feet wet


Welcome to the board hunny





Did you just call me a sponge ?