Questions for the Empaths

originally posted by: ClownFish
. . . but I'm always looking for a good excuse for a good steak, lol.

My body requires beef, don't know why.

I've tried chicken, turkey, fish, vegetarian, etc. Beef seems to be the key.

I'm down to only needing it about every 4 days though.

a reply to: ClownFish

Yes, I have questions and yes they are for a reason.

I did not start this thread with any negative intent. But I have learned a lot.

I think the thread would best be left to everyone sharing experiences and information rather than dissecting my intent.

originally posted by: quercusrex

I did not start this thread with any negative intent.

That I support.

Your approach came out as negative, but I support your reason is not.

originally posted by: quercusrex
Do you feed off of them. Their passion, their anguish, their suffering, and their joy? I don't post on this side of the boards, but I have questions that need answering. Do you taste their ecstasy? Do you eat their pain? Are you an emotional vampire?
Do you know what emotions are yours and which are theirs?

These are destructive thought forms. It does not sound like a 'cry for help' (Am I an Empath); more as if fishing for others insight to use negatively. Empaths are able to read another's subconscious intent with remarkable accuracy. All things you stated are a HUGE NO; absolutely NOT. Thanks for asking; this thread is informative (WHO ARE WE).

a reply to: vethumanbeing

And I appreciate the information I have received. Thank you all for furthering my understanding.

a reply to: quercusrex

We arent vampires....hehe...okay serious face now.
I don't at least.....I just feel it all, and now I am working on figuring out what is what and whos is whos....i get cold weird feelings sometimes, and i question it, i get angry or sad....just imagine mixed emotions that can sometimes happen anytime and anywhere, is how you cope with them I think and also building that balance within yourself to know that most fights arent ours....is theirs, we just happen to feel them also.

One smile at a time, soon,Ill make the world smile

a reply to: quercusrex

I think the thread would best be left to everyone sharing experiences and information rather than dissecting my intent.

Interesting...now you have me wondering.

I think asking your motive is not unreasonable. That's a question that I often ask, especially and including to myself. I don't think that anyone would dissect your intent, if you just gave us some idea why you are asking, since you volunteered that you usually stay on the "other side" of ATS, whatever that means.

I've seen some people's nerves get rattled here, including my own, and have seen some posts eliminated, including my own, and I've been here trying to dissipate some of the "negative" energy and even add some comic relief, because I think this is a great thread, but you may have killed your own thread with that one.

Could I request that you throw us a bone or a crumb?

CF

a reply to: eldemie

One smile at a time, soon,Ill make the world smile

a reply to: ClownFish

I simply want to learn more about people who are hyper-sensitive to emotions. That's really all there is to it.

a reply to: DbDraad

Then I came to the conclusion that I always came to regret decisions made while ignoring my "gut feeling", but never when yielding to it, regardless of logic (I'm a left brainer, so it's kinda difficult to ignore logic, or rather to go against obvious logic).

I'm re-reading some of these posts because a friend is checking in on these and I had to laugh at this.

Yes, logic is my big thing in life. When you start seeing things and hearing things, logic flies out the door...but that's JUST when you need it the most.

One of my favorite expressions is "logic is optional" that I saw as part of a personality profile. The fact is, it isn't optional, it's mandatory for me, but being mandatory didn't make the world any more logical! So, when I say this favorite expression, I always say it tongue in cheek, with no one ever able to appreciate what a mouthful that really is.

(I'm an introvert, and apparently "with a vengeance" said the chuckling priest who gave me the test -- It would not be possible to register more on the introvert side, so much so, that he gave me a second test to go deeper because he thought that maybe I didn't understand the questions...Oh, I understood them, alright!) Anyway...hi.

a reply to: quercusrex

My 2 cents would be anyone who isnt aware, is not good at controlling the different types of emotions, someone whos afraid? someone who doesnt meditate.....to me thats key, reading and understanding of how to go about dealing with all types

Sorry, OP, that answer doesn't work for me. Please, with all due respect, I accept that it works for you, but I will thank you for the post and move on...

a reply to: quercusrex

If you felt some empathy from time to time, really you should not pose these questions.

a reply to: zandra

That questions may be triggers for some does not negate the usefulness of asking them.

You cannot learn if you don't ask.

originally posted by: quercusrex
a reply to: zandra

That questions may be triggers for some does not negate the usefulness of asking them.

You cannot learn if you don't ask.

You know what? You just reminded me of someone and maybe this might seem off topic, but I promise you it isn't.

My husband got bit once by an animal and then was diagnosed with something akin to the plague. He just wasn't feeling well and so we went to the doctor and the doc said that he needed to be hospitalized immediately. This was unexpected and very upsetting...and I didn't like the doctor who was now telling him what to do...

I told another doctor about how I felt about this doc's bed side manners and this second doctor said to me, "If Dr. So-and-so told me that I needed to be hospitalized, I wouldn't ask why, I would ask "which bed?" He then went on to tell me about how much respect he had for this particular doctor with such bad bed side manners. And I learned an important lesson that day when the second doctor asked me who I would prefer: the doctor with good manners or the one who knew how to save my husband's life?

Another time I was working at a nursing home and there was a young nun there dying. The priest called me in the middle of the night and asked if I would go there so this nun wouldn't die alone. I'd never watched a person die before, so I was a tad uncomfortable with the request -- not because I was afraid, but because I was afraid I wouldn't be adequate for what was needed. But when I got there, the nurse in charge was the nurse from hell that no one liked. I felt sick inside, seeing her there....

When the time came, and it seemed this beautiful nun had died, I went to get that awful nurse. She was writing in the charts and had that "Don't even think of speaking to me" posture. Again I felt sick inside. After some moments, I cleared my throat and then said, "Excuse me, but I think the nun just pasted away."...Well, this nurse from hell looked up -- not at me, but just looked up and straight ahead, and then slammed down her pen and turned to me and demanded, "How do you know!!??? Did you take her pulse!!??"...I didn't answer her. I just stared back at her silently, and then she got up out of the chair in an incredibly dramatic fashion, pushed the chair aside...and me...and then began to walk down the hallway towards the nun's room.

And then something completely unexpected happened. As we were passing the janitor's station, a sort of tiny room to the side, this nurse stepped in there and had a mini-melt down. She began to cry and complain out loud, "Why God? Why her? She was so sweet! Why!!!!" This nurse was really pissed off with God at that moment. I didn't think she had it in her to feel anything at all...but then, again, another thing happened that just blew my mind. She took a deep audible breath, stood straight up, back into her nurse from hell posture, and walked out of that closet as if nothing had happened, and went in and took the pulse of a dead body.

Now, OP, with a frightened laugh, I'm not saying that you are a heartless doctor or a nurse from hell! But you have somehow "triggered" that memory.

What those experiences did for me, was to show me how different we all are, but being different doesn't make us wrong. We all see the world through different eyes and process what we see with different brains and points of reference.

Earlier I said that what some were saying sounded more of an introvert/extrovert type of thing (referring to Myers Briggs Personality Inventory -- or at least as it was back in the early '80's). Only now I am remembering "the rest of the story" ...a shout out to that guy on TV, Paul Harvey, I think. Anyway, after introvert/extrovert comes intuitive/sensate...I suck at sensate...but it's good to know these differences.

Better minds than mine can give a quick run down here, but assuming that even one person is reading this, the OP perhaps, here's how it goes, or as this old brain remembers it, anyway:

1. Introvert/extrovert has to do with how we get our energy. Extroverts get theirs from being around other people, but even they can get too much and need to regroup alone for a bit. They can party all night. Introverts get theirs by being alone. It is said that introverts are party poopers, but it's more that they are pooped by the party, and either don't want to go to one, or are ready to leave after 5 minutes.

2. Sensate/intuitive has to do with how we get our information. Sensates get theirs from the regular 5 senses. Intuitives, on the other hand, get theirs from a so-called 6th sense. I asked an intuitive friend once if she had a lemon tree in her back yard, on a property that she had owned and lived in for 20 years. Her response after pausing a moment and frowning: "I'm sorry to say I have no idea." A sensate would have known.

3. Feeling/thinking has to do with how we assess that information. We all use both sides of our brains, hopefully, but we tend to prefer one side over the other. Think of Mr. Spock. I can't give an example of the other, except for perhaps most of the people on this thread.

4. Judging/perceiving has to do with how we make decisions with all we've taken in. The judging type is quick to make a decision and then walks away satisfied with it, never looking back. The perceiving type will sweat bullets over a decision, and will question their decision with each bit of new information that gets processed, and will never be comfortable with it. As an employer, I had to get over being the perceiving type and develop the judging side or we were all doomed.

So, with these four categories, we get 16 combinations, and more if you consider that some are on the fence and dead center between the particular set.

It's there someplace in the books that INFP's and I think INFJ's (my books are packed away) tend towards "ESP" as they put it. I'm wondering if you sort of stem from the other side of the equation, which is why many of us are not seeing eye to eye, so to speak. It doesn't make any of us right or wrong...just different...but we tend to gravitate towards people like ourselves, never fully appreciating how fascinating and in fact necessary all these differences are.

Make sense? I'm starting to think (yes, I do think even though I'm a feeling type) that you are trying to understand feeling with the thinking side of your brain, and are more of a sensate who is trying to understand an intuitive...and it can't be done, even as a color blind person can not see certain colors, no matter how anyone tries to describe it.

Anyway, peace to you.

CF

originally posted by: quercusrex
a reply to: ClownFish

I simply want to learn more about people who are hyper-sensitive to emotions. That's really all there is to it.

You do not want to experience this ('hyper-sensitive' your words) state of being; I would not wish it upon anyone. Its requires a certain strength that is well outside of ones own simple self protection of ones body, fight or flight. Its a chess game played at very high level with others true intent; generally malevolent. I suppose with this statement I would call Empaths the watchers, or gate keepers guarding moral tradition.

a reply to: ClownFish

Thank you. That was most helpful.

originally posted by: Annee
originally posted by: ClownFish

ClownFish: . . . but I'm always looking for a good excuse for a good steak, lol.

Annee: My body requires beef, don't know why.

Mine too! I love the beefy beef (as can afford) rare; no idea why.

originally posted by: vethumanbeing
originally posted by: Annee
originally posted by: ClownFish

ClownFish: . . . but I'm always looking for a good excuse for a good steak, lol.

Annee: My body requires beef, don't know why.

Mine too! I love the beefy beef (as can afford) rare; no idea why.

Slap It!

LOL

originally posted by: quercusrex
a reply to: vethumanbeing
And I appreciate the information I have received. Thank you all for furthering my understanding.

Have you determined yourself to be an Empath?