Empaths and thier "powers" fiction or reality?

reply to post by JohnCreed777


Everyone is empathic just some are more intuned then others. Here's an exercise to try:

Go to the mall or a public place that has many people. While you are there and not around anyone stop and think about how you feel right then and there. Now walk over to someone and maybe brush past them, don't look at them though. Were you able to pick up on subtle changes to your personal feelings? Whether good, bad or orther? Did you feel any change? If yes, you just honed in on your empathic abilities.

Ever feel great but know you always get frustrated when you have to deal with a specific someone? Even if they aren't doing anything wrong but you feel impatient in their presence.....don't look now but you just had an empathic event.

Some peoples aura's don't blend well with others. It doesn't make them a bad person it just means your auras don't mesh.

There are also other Empath's who's ability is so strong that they can litteraly drain you and the empath doesn't even realize it.

Originally posted by timetothink
reply to post by PsyMike91

 

I'm with you, Mike, never heard of special powers.

I just feel others emotions, even animals, as if it's mine.

Just way too emotional, have to close myself off from people.

This is basically my case. The abilities sometimes can become a curse, if you are not aware of them being awakened. You tend to sometimes confuse other people's emotions as your own. An encounter with a psychic vampire is actually a brutal experience as an empath,


Op, the abilities are real, everyone has this ability since birth, but not many has it awakened, The way I see the abilities of an empath is basically a double edged sword. You feel others emotions which allows you to help them while you relate to them, but if you aren't aware of that this is an ability, it ultimately leads into chronic depression, a deep hole that is nearly impossible to get out unless you become aware and educated on it.

Originally posted by apushforenlightment

Originally posted by JohnCreed777
Ok, so i'm doing some research on 'empaths', people with the supposed ability to read peoples emotions, and to some have the ability to manilpulate others emotions. Just to clarify im not relying on ATS for info, i'd just like to hear the other side of it along with other opinions.

On one website I read that empaths are said to feel others emotions and interpret them. Then on another sight I read about, empathic manipulation. According to the source, this is when an empath manipulates either their emotions or someone else' and can use it as power, it also said that its very dangerous. To me personally this sounds a bit far fetched. However as I said i'd like to hear both sides. I've seen some "evidence" on youtube but it's as you might guess, inconclusive. Its usually some kid in a video game shirt scrunching his face like he's constipated. I mean no offense.

Are there any 'empaths' here on ats? If so what can you tell me? If not id like to hear your side too.
Thank, your time is much appreciated.

If I can find the links ill post them here.

I have been known to without thinking manipulating reality to answer questions for me. You think about something you wanna find out that can be a personal thing about another person and within a day or two something have happened so you will have your answer. Never used it for personal materalistic gain or to hurt people (but personal understanding gain I have gotten). It is called synchronicity and it can be really cool in the beginning. After a year of it is just how you percieve reality as working.

This is called meditation...helps answer questions that otherwise youd not be able to understand nor answer for yourself.

Sorry but you have no such thing dude.

Now its beginning to get off centered,
Mike

Originally posted by timetothink
Does anyone else get "butterflies" in their stomach before something bad or uncomfortable happens?

Not when you know it's coming like going to a party and meeting people or going to the docter etc.

I mean out of the blue, everything is normal then bad nervous feeling and BAM....phone rings with bad news, car accident etc?

I do. When I was little, I had "butterflies" for a week, then the shuttle Challenger blew up and the next day my aunt went into labor very early, don't remember how early, but it was touch and go with my cousin for awhile.

Same thing with 9-11. Sick for a week straight, even called off work that day, sat at home and watched it happen on tv.

Some others have talked about electronics going crazy around them, I can not be in the same room with a non-digital radio. The second I leave the room, friends can get the stations to tune in, when I come back, they go all static.

Originally posted by apushforenlightment

Originally posted by Hawkmoon1972
reply to post by Serenity777

 

Why is it sad that everyone has it? Odd comment that kind of belies your own need to feel "special" it would seem.
I know very few people that are tuned in to the emotional state of others. It is so rare in fact that, as a rule I keep the knowledge of my ability to myself. Of everyone I know there are only 3 people who know about it. I have, in the past, talked about it but I received strange looks at best, at worst I lost a friend or two because they though "I had lost my mind with this hippie bulls--t".
I think it is perceived as some special ability by society at large even though we know that it isn't.

To Serenity777. I know you are trying to limit ego and that might be good but I do not think empath is a ego thing. I would say in this state of the world it more a curse than a gift. I am from my point of view very fortunate at this stage to be an introvert with very little need for human contact. I am not an empath and have clearly made sure I have as litte sensativity as I can toward what humans feel around me to shield myself. That do not mean I do not have empathy towards other people but I think it is better for me to stay peaceful inside and push that outward than to take in what other people have an dissrupt my sense of self and tranqulity. I have enought problem with my own ego/mind and duality notions. Help your self and others but do not destroy yourself helping others. This is a maraton not a sprint and there will always be people needing help. Every souls is special in it's own way. Please treasure that. Hawkmoon1972 I hope you can handle it and I wish you luck.

You are correct. It is very much a curse, atleast in my case where i feel the emotional pain of others rather than the good you should be able to feel with the increasing knowledge of this ability.

If anyone with this ability is seeking to be "special" in any way, then i believe them to not have this ability imo.

the actual number of people that have this ability is very unknown, but i do believe that everyone has the right to this ability, and they just have to essentially train themselves to use it correctly.

I actually think for some reason that if someone tries to use this ability for anything other than good, than it will not work.

That being said, How would you honestly be able to use this gift for bad purposes in the first place? If anyone has any input on how to, id really like to know if anyone thinks that we empaths can use it for bad, and if so, to what extent?

Would it be so bad to use this gift to direct a converstaion in the direction that i would like it go?
Mike

Originally posted by timetothink
reply to post by PsyMike91

 

Depression...check
Anxiety(especially social)....check
Feeling like I'm going to go crazy...check


Suffered severe low self esteem in school...I think it was feeling all the emotion around me made me paranoid?

I am the same but I think it is because even at age 5 I was very observant of others. I learned to tell what they were REALLY feeling. So now my husband is used to me saying..wonder what happened to the news caster, something very painful she is in deep pain. he does not see it but through out my life I learned I can trust my observations I have been proved correct so many times.

I cant speak for anyone but myself. Since I was a small girl I could "feel" someone from a block away. I could "feel" them after they left the room on the things the had recently touched or objects they used often. I wouldn't call it a gift and I dont think I am special. I cant be around people who are high strung, angry, or depressed because with in minutes I am feeling everything they are. Crowds are unbearable for me. I am a sponge and there is no way to make it stop. In the past dissociatives have been the only way to shut it off. The only way to just feel me. The good news is the older I get the less sensitive I am. I dont care if anyone else believes me or not. It is what it is.

Originally posted by Jeremiah65
I'm a pretty well grounded individual (at least I think I am). I don't believe in ghosts, or spirits or alien visitation, abduction or intervention. I don't believe in bigfoot, Loch Ness monster...I don't believe in fortune tellers or any of that hooey.

That being said, I consider myself somewhat empathetic. Not because of some hocus pocus pyschic nonsense, but because I am an observer of people. I can look at someone's face and eyes and I can pretty much know what they are feeling inside. It's also true, because of this, I tend to avoid large crowds of people. I loathe going to the mall.

I end up getting so down and depressed from being around miserable people that it effects my own attitudes and feelings and I'd prefer to not go there. I have had people say "but that's a gift" and my jury is still out on that. On one hand, it does help to be consoling to someone in an emotional or traumatic event but on the other hand it is rarely something I look forward to experiencing on a regular basis...more like "enduring".

edit on 31-8-2012 by Jeremiah65 because: spelling

Personal experience is the greatest teacher. But please don't dismiss everything on the grounds that it hasn't happened to you.

Empath is not the same as empathy.

Being empathic is something everyone does unless they're some kind of sociopath or something.

Being an Empath is entirely different. It is beyond being a highly sensitive person. It is being an A.S.P., or an anomalously sensitive person. This is in the realm of the paranormal, although I feel it falls within the spectrum of what normal is possible for humans.

An Empath can receive information out of nowhere that specifically makes them feel another person's feelings AS THEIR OWN. That means, if the other person is nauseated, or injured, or furious, or deeply fearful, the Empath feels this as well. Feels it, not empathizes with it.

My husband woke me from a deep sleep one night (He had been asleep next to me) to tell me he was feeling panicked, sick, and fearful. Also very sad. He told me he wanted me to know what he was feeling because he knew it wasn't his - but he needed to try to figure out whose it was. He mentally 'scanned' his friends and people we knew. He then told me he knew who it was - a friend of ours who we had just been chatting with online before bedtime. She was happy. It was her birthday, and she was going out to a fun evening. It didn't make sense that only 3 or 4 hours later, she would feel this? But he wrote to her in email. She was home, and replied. Yes, this was exactly how she was feeling. Her personal life had fallen apart that evening. I won't get into details, but it was devastating.

Now, please tell me how exactly from a sound sleep, he could pick all this up, particularly since we left her bubbly and happy earlier? It is NOT NOT NOT just being near someone and sensing they are a bit unhappy by their body language.

Please understand the difference.

An Empath is like an open channel and depending on their particular sensitivity, just receives this stuff out of the blue. Often, they don't know the people they get stuff from. And it is like getting slammed out of the blue by stuff that one minute wasn't remotely there.

It's so different that being sympathetic or empathetic.

And, it's simply not hooey. But I get it. If I hadn't seen it in operation, and heard the story before he corroborates it, then I'd tend to be skeptical, too.

reply to post by JohnCreed777


Black eyed children, star eyed children.....

I feel it's true. Everyone who can pick up trauma in buildings,houses and rooms. The ones that can sense spirits. Either their are great fakes or just more confirmation with all the latest shows. I have heard of stories of black eyeds munipulating adults. I believe that an empath would face difficulty around people with severe problems or multiple people in general. Or an educated empath might thrive and do "works" with these people to help them.

On the opposite side of the spectrum I have always felt there are people who have no empathy and hurt people to feed off their energy. Which may work temporarily but something about them are broken and that will not get fixed as they continue. I watched a vampire documentary which talked about the subculture and it also mentioned testing showing the "vampires" mental or psychic energy increasing when tested versus the submissive they feed on decreasing. The tests sounded like some sort of actual cat scan or what have you.

Originally posted by Char-Lee

Originally posted by timetothink
reply to post by PsyMike91

 

Depression...check
Anxiety(especially social)....check
Feeling like I'm going to go crazy...check


Suffered severe low self esteem in school...I think it was feeling all the emotion around me made me paranoid?

I am the same but I think it is because even at age 5 I was very observant of others. I learned to tell what they were REALLY feeling. So now my husband is used to me saying..wonder what happened to the news caster, something very painful she is in deep pain. he does not see it but through out my life I learned I can trust my observations I have been proved correct so many times.

Although we are rivals Char-Lee, i do believe you as i get these thoughts of pain too.

Idk how i do it, but recently a close friend of mine was hospitalized due to Gall Stones and i could tell he was in pain even though i had no idea he was in the hospital. It can only happen when i really think of that person though, and concentrate hard enough.

The real problem is, that it had become increasingly hard to meditate as the feeling would intensify through more powerful concentration. This had happened continuously until i had learned to essentially block it out. Which surprisingly, I am was able to after doing much reading on the subject of this serious burden.

I shouldn't say burden though, it actually does have its perks. Like being able to say the right thing at the perfect time
Mike

Originally posted by Johnathanandheather
reply to post by JohnCreed777

 

Black eyed children, star eyed children.....

I feel it's true. Everyone who can pick up trauma in buildings,houses and rooms. The ones that can sense spirits. Either their are great fakes or just more confirmation with all the latest shows. I have heard of stories of black eyeds munipulating adults. I believe that an empath would face difficulty around people with severe problems or multiple people in general. Or an educated empath might thrive and do "works" with these people to help them.

On the opposite side of the spectrum I have always felt there are people who have no empathy and hurt people to feed off their energy. Which may work temporarily but something about them are broken and that will not get fixed as they continue. I watched a vampire documentary which talked about the subculture and it also mentioned testing showing the "vampires" mental or psychic energy increasing when tested versus the submissive they feed on decreasing. The tests sounded like some sort of actual cat scan or what have you.

To Johnathanandheather:
Black eyed children??

Where did you get this information from?

I have brown eyes, but they are so dark that if someone were to stand more than two feet away from me they appear to be black...

What is the significance of black eyes if i had missed this? an where have you heard this from if you will?

and to JustSlowlyBackAway:

Ive never heard of anything of that sort...That is very interesting.

Does your husband wake up in a funk or depressed or angry once and a while?
I wake up with a different emotion every single morning...

Maybe it has something to do with sensing a close friends emotions from in my sleep....?

Very interesting and id like to know more if you could answer my questions.


Thank you both for the input, and id very much appreciate it if both of you would be able to answer my questions,
Mike

I am also an empath but I never knew it for the longest time. Now that I know I am I have noticed I can be happy one moment and meet someone and get really angry but this time I know it is not me. I have also had a panic attack at a big mall and had to get out. I got a panic attack at my daughter's end of year concert I forgot to protect myself. It took me 10 minutes to calm down. I getting readings off pictures and objects .I just tried it out one day because I can feel peoples emotions and it worked. Animals gravitate to me as well people who want to unload and speak about their problems. I learned how to read peoples chakras and really get to the bottom of their emotional problem. I have told people many times that everyone can do this, they just have to practice but they seem to think it is magic and it freaks them out. This all has been self taught and gaining an inventory of images that I know the meanings. I tried to see auras but I couldn't get it then all of a sudden I could.When I am doing a healing I can really see auras. When I have a note pad and pen and I focus on them and their question things come through. I have also seen words across people and friends of what they are worried about. It is a learning process but the main one was to protect myself with white light and also to imagine a sun shining out of my solar plexus chakra so I dont go crazy. Yes I will admit it I do cry at sad movies but they are manly tears lol

Originally posted by PurpleVortex

Does anyone else get "butterflies" in their stomach before something bad or uncomfortable happens? Not when you know it's coming like going to a party and meeting people or going to the docter etc. I mean out of the blue, everything is normal then bad nervous feeling and BAM....phone rings with bad news, car accident etc?

That's actually a problem that I had and have still today. I bough a tigers eye gemstone, which helps you feel grounded and eases the anxiety. It's the gemstone for the solar plexus chakra, i would highly recommend it to everyone that has this problem. It's pretty cheap too and does the job. I got it like a week ago.

Tigers eye

edit on 30-8-2012 by PurpleVortex because: (no reason given)

I love Amethysts, and Blue Calcite, and Aquamarine.

And opals.

Being an empath means you don't like crowds, and need solitude, for you are overwhelmed and with many friends dropping over there is a roller coaster of intrigue and mysteries and heartbreak, even deaths then you can't convince anyone to intervene.

I'll give an example. We had already had a death, someone who committed suicide. And then this man, a local aged helpless, substance abuse guy, with a great singing voice, known for his local jam sessions, and he and his roommates were evicted, they all found homes. But he was helpless, and squatting in the former residence. Well, I met him, and my friend who was a local musician knew him, he dropped in during a barbecue. He held my hand and told me I was an empath, something I knew, and said he knew because he was one too. Then he was squatting and I knew, it was so strong. And because I had sensed the other person's death and felt the exact moment she had committed suicide, but had ignored my psi, this time, I knew, and it felt urgent, and he was such a child, couldn't look after himself. But kind hearted. And I tried talking to a few people, tried getting them to understand what I felt strongly an that it felt like this week or very soon. His roommate said, he's not his friend, they were just roommates.

Any case, when he died that Saturday breaking into his house, because he had locked up, he cut his artery on his arm. I woke in the night, exactly the autopsy time of death and knew there was a ghost at my window and it felt very (there is no way to describe this its wrong, its something that really scares or alarms a person, I believe because of the tragedy involved). We found out the next day just before lunch.

Anyway, moving away, living alone, not getting too involved in dramas, its really important.

Because empaths feel everyones mood, their ups and downs, and I used to be able to locate my ex wherever he was, just pointed in the right direction and was never wrong, not even once.

There is an emotional bond usually, or some link, that can even be a photo.

Almost every single person on the planet is an empath. You people are not special little snowflakes, you're egotistical fools.

But what do I know... You're empathic, have a trophy.

reply to post by The Cusp


Where do you take a leap on a thread asking if its real and having people share their experiences, to "your all egotistical bla bla bla?" There is no one on the thread to my knowledge, that is saying they're special, out of 7 billion, and you're right, everyone is psi, but not everyone is actually psi. Both of those things are true. Most people are quite left hemisphered, due to programming and atrophy as well. Those who come in psi are often monitored. Reality is reality and it doesnt mean anyone reporting their situation needs to endure someone elses put downs.

Originally posted by GrimReaper86
reply to post by Bluesma

 

I don't think that's always the case though, I had some social issues in school but I was never really abused or anything, I think my strong empathic abilities where inheritted. My mother is also a strong empath and I suspect my biological father (whom I'm no close to) may also have latent empathic ability because he can be very manipulative.

You might be right- that is why I mentioned it is another hypothesis that exists (a genetic link).
But that is hard to really determine because once you have a parent with this sort of sensitivity, it influences the kind of environment the child is in.

Like my eldest son is highly empathic.

I cannot know if he got this genetically from me, or simply because the way I deal with the world is what he observed and learned from!
I am the kind of caretaker that uses this sense to pick up on others needs and respond to them without it being vocalized.... I will tend to "soak up" transmute, influence the emotions of others around me... my choices and perceptions always include considerations of others, including their deeper motivations and feelings.

Since I was communicating with him, from a young age, on a very deep and subtle level, that could have been the trigger to his developing receptivity on that level. It could have been nurture and not nature.

Any child of a highly empathic person might develop this because of that. I don't know.
But I have two other children, and they are kind and empathic to a more common degree, but they were born in France, and started life with a different environment (oldest born in US). They were started with a collective framework of social behavior and values and norms that seemed, to me, to avoid development of a highly sensitive nature. One carries out the "correct" response- they do not listen carefully to the deeper needs of the other to determine how to respond.

This is another aspect I think is worth analyzing in the subject- culture. How does it play into the development of emotional sensitivity?
In Europe, it is often said that Americans are "susceptible"- easily feeling insulted, hurt, and self defensive.
I must say, in contrast, I find it to be true in general.
I find myself wondering- why do some peoples feel indifferent to the opinion another has of them, and some peoples suddenly find themselves looking through the eyes of others, at themself, as if the opinion is shared?


What is it that makes the first peoples feel distanced from the opinions of another,
while the second feel emotionally involved ? Is it empathy? Is it less ability to separate "I" and "other", in emotion?
Does culture influence that ability??

Been following the posts and I'll share what my therapist told me, in particular about those of us who suffer social anxieties, panic attacks, agoraphobia and the like.

She said because we internalize (key word) everything and everyone around us we have a heightened sensitivity. We don't just witness the world we feel the world on an emotional level.

I've always believed that being labeled as Agoraphobic and anxiety prone is a symptom of being overly sensitive to the world around me.

No, we're not at all special and using the term "empath" doesn't elevate us to super human status LMAO. Slightly above average at best.

It simply means that we feel things to a greater degree than most people out of inherent nature, genetics, learned behaviors and to cope in general. If anything I think (based on my own perceptions of where I fit into the world) that people who are more empathic have a greater understanding of just how truly insignificant we are individually, yet how massive we can be as a collective. We being humans obviously.

I also believe that everyone has the talent to different degrees. Depends on a lot of factors as to how strong the talent is and how it is realized.

Life in the boonies is a few short years away for me and I can't wait to have some mental space!

This may have already been said, apologies if I have missed it but I have come late to this tread.

Originally posted by JohnCreed777
....and to some have the ability to manilpulate others emotions.

Authors, movie makers and story tellers do this all time, I don't think you need to be an empath with special powers to make somebody feel sad, happy, scared or excited.

In fact we all do it most of the time, being around our friends we say things to make eachother laugh, make them happy or encourage them. When we argue amongst ourselves we say things we know will upset or make the other person angry or sad....

Definately no special powers needed, just simple words have the power...

Gnobody

Originally posted by Ben81
reply to post by jaduguru

 

what did i say wrong ?
I cant swim with dolphins anymore ?

i dont put anyshow compare to you mate
im 100% myself all the time .. are you ?

dont focus on me .. focus on yourself
it is YOU that is important not me
im only a fragment of your imagination
im just an illusion on your screen
why would you put your energy on me ?
you think being an empath is retarded or what ?
been feeling others emotions all my life because i have control of my own emotions
you dont seem to have that control yet .. some really dont age well

i have a personal advice for you .. think with your heart first not with your head

edit on 8/31/2012 by Ben81 because: (no reason given)

You didnt say anything wrong before this post..

Nothing in my last post had anything to do with YOU personally.
I was using your avatar as a perfect example of Why most peeps do not realize how empathic they are because of a Duality ( which is depicted in your avatar IMHO ).

you think being an empath is retarded or what ?

Why would I think its retarded?

I appreciate your advice .. but no thank you. I will keep thinking with my mind and feeling with my heart.

Back to the topic at hand..

When somebody Thinks of you they have an emotion that is pushed with it.

Lets say you just gave somebody a gift and they Really like it. You can Feel their happiness towards you.. thus sharing the positive experience with them. All good right ?

Now lets say you said something that upset someone ( as it seems this case being Ben81 ). In turn he generates a negative feeling(s) directed at me.I have a few options with his energy.
I could let it affect me in a negative way.
I could Bounce it back to him like a mirror "Hey I think this is yours" kinda thing.
I could receive it, add my own negative feelings and push that back to him. It escalates.
I could change it into something more positive and send That back. Best bet.

You see .. in All cases its ultimately MY choice what to do with the energy that was freely given to me.

If you are centered in yourself then there is No way possible for an empath to affect your feelings or your thoughts without your knowing.

Its dangerous to intentionally try to influence someone with negative energy because it can bounce back to you.

Its also impossible to vampire or leach someones energy without them being a willing participant.

Yes your feelings and thoughts affect everyone around you .. more some then others.

Be aware that we are All connected to each other and everything else in a web of energy.

Most of the Highly sensitive peeps you will not see on any forums or Y.T. .. in fact they are reclusive people that dont watch the telly or even listen to music/radio. They have a hard time being around other people .. not because they cant handle/cope with the emotions of others ( they can Very well ) .. its because Others cant handle being around them. They will show you Who you Are in an instant. Most people feel Very uncomfortable having somebody else peer into the depths of their being. Why ? .. Because most live in a duality. The person you see on the outside ( not physically ) is not the same as whats on the Inside.

People are very protective about there outward persona .. they clothe themselves emotionally/physically to hide their self perceived faults. They have to spend a lot of energy to create and maintain that duality.

JG.

PS. Ben81 .. Nothing but peace to ya brother ! Hope you receive it well.