Are you an Empath?

empathThere are a lot of posts on the web and also books and information about being an Empath.

What is an Empath?

An emotional empath is defined by their ability to understand other’s emotions deeply, even at a distance.

Judith Orloff MD describes emotional empaths as

Empaths are highly sensitive, finely tuned instruments when it comes to emotions. They feel everything, sometimes to an extreme, and are less apt to intellectualize feelings.

Intuition is the filter through which they experience the world.  Empaths are naturally giving, spiritually attuned, and good listeners. If you want heart, empaths have got it. Through thick and thin, they’re there for you, world-class nurturers.

From: Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life by Judith Orloff, MD.

There may be more than one type of empath…

Alethiea Luna at lonerwolf.com suggests that there are at least 10 types of Empaths.  Her list includes

  1. Claircognizant Empath – just ‘knowing’ when something needs to be done, or just knowing something!
  2. Emotionally receptive Empath – most Empaths will say this is their strongest suit
  3. Physically receptive Empath – being able to feel others’ illnesses, bodily pains, also joy and happiness.
  4. Fauna Empath – being able to hear, feel and interact with animals
  5. Flora Empath – this type of Empath can communicate with plants, being able to receive physical and emotional signals (my mum for sure, and perhaps those who have always been told they had a ‘green thumb’).
  6. Geomantic Empath – being able to read the energy and signals transmitted by the Earth, feeling and predicting natural disasters for example.
  7. Medium Empath – being able to see, hear or feel disembodied spirits, deceased people as in ‘Spiritual Medium’.
  8. Psychometric Empath – being able to receive information in the form of telekinesis, from objects such as clothing or jewelery
  9. Precognitive Empath – having premonitions either while awake or asleep that can be validated (hopefully!).
  10. Telepathic Empath – receiving other’s unexpressed thoughts.

Where ever you are on the Empath spectrum…I’m beginning to believe that Empaths are awakening!

If you haven’t heard of Empaths before…then you may know that most of us naturally practice empathy through the activation of our mirror neurons.  Yale psychologist V.S. Ramachandran is a champion of mirror neuron research.  Over 20 years ago now a team of Italian researchers noticed that when monitored monkeys watched other monkeys perform actions, the same cells in the observing monkey’s frontal lobes fired off simply because they were watching the other monkeys’ actions, hence the term ‘mirror’ neurons.

V.S. Ramachandran believes that mirror neurons help us to see each other as intentional beings with ‘purpose and intention’ and that mirror neurons are a function within society which enables us to learn and emulate others.

I’m beginning to get to know many other Empaths via my internet connections.  Many of my clients are empaths who are on the path of spiritual awakening.  Perhaps this is the next stage of our evolution as humans…to become more empathic and more aware of our surroundings and ourselves?

 

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