I recently had a conversation on Facebook about being an empath and asked what others thought an empath was. I was only answered back by the woman who wrote the post asking who all was an empath. So now I take this and other questions to all of you that find your way to my blog and read me ramblings.
What do you think an empath is? If you’re an empath, what does that mean to you? How goes this gift/curse in your life? Has it eased your path or hindered it? Do you think that people confuse empathy with sympathy? Think I asked enough questions? Cause I can do more, seriously.
Being an empath for me is not just about what I “feel” from others, but what others sense about me, and that is the fact that they can confide in me. Being an empath and a confidant has always gone hand in hand ever since I was a wee lass. I often heard "I have no idea why I'm telling you this". Well I had no idea how I managed to have answers! I was rather young and adults were doing the confiding and though I could “see” a snapshot of them and somehow had the right thing to say, it still made for very uncomfy moments in my preteens.
Empathy and being an empath are kissing cousins but may not be the same thing. As an empath I use empathy to access my more expansive skill of “reading” people…that snapshot thing I mentioned earlier. It’s the foundation for my tarot readings and really most of my dealings. I truly am a person who bases decisions on what I “feel”, not what’s logical and sound. Having a mood disorder makes this tricky.
It may be obvious or not…that I feel at times this “gift” may be more “curse” in how it has impacted my path, how it has at times felt to be a hindrance and how being bipolar only amplifies this all. And so, when I’m able to utilize my empathic nature to help others, it be a gift. When I’m overwhelmed by knowing what others hide or do not see and oh so not wanting to be privy to so, then it be a curse.
Yes, I do think empathy is often confused with sympathy and this only because of those manners we were taught. Those empty I’m sorry/s we dole out liberally these days. In order to be empathetic, you need to see the person on a whole, the info that is all there to be observed. If you do not take that moment to really try to understand, then you are not empathizing, you are sympathizing. Which in my opinion, is as empty as asking “how are you” and are put out when someone actually does tell you! But you know, this is my opinion, which I use not sparingly at all.
Well there be my uneven post about empathy! Circumventing just one meandering path in the map of how my brain works. Is that “in the map”, or “on the map”? So not a map person and unclear as to why I’m writing in pirate speak.
