Are you an empath?

[LadyS]

Adding.. I notice when there's talk of empaths 'feeling' others' feelings, there's less discussion about actually understanding one's feelings and I feel like that often gets forgotten because as humans we often act or dwell on our feelings, often straddled with previous baggage based on our own individual history and experiences.

Understanding takes a lot more thought, actually putting yourself in a situation regardless of if you've had the same experience or not. Trying to see the other person's point of view, acknowledging it, and then understand why they are acting the way they are, and ultimately accepting its validity regardless of your own beliefs and/or experiences.

What I've realized is that there are just way too many gray areas in places where there are expected things to be black and white. What ends up happening is being stuck in limbo, and not having an opinion or definite conclusion to one's feelings. And that most humans don't like gray areas. Everything needs a concrete explanation or answer in order to move forward.

Lately for me life has been hard as I try to continue to put initial feelings aside and try to understand where someone (no, everyone!) is coming from. Hard as in, collecting and keeping that information and moving forward to the next point of view. Everything conflicts with everything and just having to accept that it's all I can do.

 

[watersprite]

I understand myself and others less after reading all this than before I read it.

 

[Varzar]

Adding.. I notice when there's talk of empaths 'feeling' others' feelings, there's less discussion about actually understanding one's feelings and I feel like that often gets forgotten because as humans we often act or dwell on our feelings, often straddled with previous baggage based on our own individual history and experiences.

Understanding takes a lot more thought, actually putting yourself in a situation regardless of if you've had the same experience or not. Trying to see the other person's point of view, acknowledging it, and then understand why they are acting the way they are, and ultimately accepting its validity regardless of your own beliefs and/or experiences.

What I've realized is that there are just way too many gray areas in places where there are expected things to be black and white. What ends up happening is being stuck in limbo, and not having an opinion or definite conclusion to one's feelings. And that most humans don't like gray areas. Everything needs a concrete explanation or answer in order to move forward.

Lately for me life has been hard as I try to continue to put initial feelings aside and try to understand where someone is coming from. Hard as in, collecting and keeping that information and moving forward to the next point of view. Everything conflicts with everything and just having to accept that it's all I can do.

I think what you've very clearly delineated there is the difference between an empath and empathy.
I presume an empath could feel others feelings, without necessarily being able to understand and empathize with those feelings if it's something they maybe have no experience with before.
Although, they probably have better odds of being able to empathize with others than say, me.. lol

 

[Vindicator Phoenix]

My mum has said to me a lot recently that she suspects I am an empath. I knew vaguely what it meant, but I decided to look it up.

Much like when I read about ADHD and Autism - reading this article felt like it was describing me to a tee. In fact there's a lot of overlap for all 3 I think:

What Is An Empath? 15 Signs and Traits (healthline.com)

Ed

Thanks for the info. ^_^
Those traits sounded quite relatable.
Usually, when I research empath traits, I find myself relating to at least 80% of them, so it might be true about me.

 

[Gift2humanity]

I think I dulled a lot of my empathic ability out.
I used to feel heavy energy of pissed off work colleagues or family members.
I manually put my self in the shoes of others, as it helps me feel better about myself if that person sees I have made an effort to see/feel things from their perspective.
I find a lot of the "jaded" energy in employees unpleasant.
I like being alone time.
I live alone which I am thankful for.