To a slight degree everyone is empathic on some level, “Empathic” meaning that an individual can sense the emotional state of another person. Just think of it like knowing when your boyfriend or girlfriend is really upset and you know it just by being in the same room with them. They don’t have to tell you they are upset because you already know that they are.

There are varying degrees or “levels” of empathic ability. Here is a link that gives a rough overview but again it’s not the bible so just look at it like a guide to determine where you stand. Levels of Empathic ability Something that should be noted is that over time you can learn to develop empathic abilities just like anything else. Some people are simply born more sensitive than others, but generally anyone can develop empathic abilities to some degree. I don’t really like to put myself at any certain level because I find that at different times I am more sensitive to different things. Generally I don’t have to be very close to a person to tell how they are feeling “close meaning being good friends or knowing the person very well”. I’ve always been able to sense when someone needs some help or some advice, and some times they don’t want to hear what they need to.

I’m not trying to tote my own horn here because I am just starting to really get into it and develop myself. Now I’m basically where I can walk into a room and pick up on what different people are feeling just by being in the same room. On other occasions I can get a feeling about a friend that I haven’t seen for a couple of years and I find out that if I get in touch with them that they were really needing to talk to me… It’s kind of hard to explain and more often than not it just comes on with no rhyme or reason. It’s just being sensitive to that inner voice that we all have.

Now there are other empaths out there that can pick up on that feeling and actually do something about it. Case in point… I know of one man who has the ability to actually take pain from people, and I know it because I experienced it first hand. I had a killer headache last October “I was hung over beyond belief”; it was bad enough that it actually hurt to blink. Long story short, this guy “and I don’t really want to name names here because I don’t know if he wants to be named” spent about 20 seconds in a meditative state with his hands resting on my temples and drained away all the pain I was feeling. I was shocked to say the least. After he was done he simply shook it off and we went about the rest of the day like nothing had ever happened…

He has told me since then that something had occurred in his life that had heightened his senses greatly. He had always been empathic but went through a traumatic experience that made his ability increase exponentially, and the event also made him able to get rid of the pain he took from people much quicker.

Like I said, I’m still pretty new at this. From what I understand everyone has the ability, it’s just learning how to tune it individually. I thought I would start this thread to see if there was anyone else out there that was in touch with their empathic side. Let this be a thread for discussion and learning… Everyone feel free to ask questions and discuss anything in regards to the topic matter…

I wouldn't call myself an empath,e ven though msot of the time I know how ppl arround me feel,
I'd say that I can read body language and thats about it...

Might be a general empath or empath 1. It is not something really wanting to get better at. It does sound interesting, having the ability to focus on one person in a crowd. Good for something maybe. Actually, often do feel a little hosility around. Don't know if it is towards me or who it is coming from. Would be nice to know. Could look at them to see if looking back.

There are times when I've been on the level of say...an eight or a nine. Sometimes, even a ten.

But as the guy states after the levels...it's a matter of knowing someone. Or not, in rare cases. I don't attribute it to empathic ability. I attribute it to psychological awareness.

*shrugs* Nothing supernatural, no ghosts to tell me anything, no sudden slam in the gut with a barrage of emotion....just straight up psychology. You don't have to know anybody, only to know the signs. Make a study over a week or two of an unknown stranger, and you, too, will be able to tell them how they're feeling...IF you know psychology well enough.

I do not doubt that there ARE empaths....but I have yet to meet one that I consider genuine. I hope no-one takes offense at that remark, it wasn't meant to be offensive. I just think that sheer psychology could very well be the answer for a lot of things.

As for healing...I've had it happen to me too. I don't believe it was healing at all. I believe it was a transfer of energy. Not emotion...but energy. In my case...it was the giving back, of that which was taken from me against my knowledge and will.

It's a really beneficial thing if you like helping people. Or I guess in some cases you could use it to manipulate people as well. Just like anything else, it's how you use an ability that makes it good or bad.

Nem raises some excellent points, especially about the sensing characteristics being attributed to psychological awareness. The whole understanding and knowing is a blurred field at best, but there does come a time when some occurrences cannot be attributed to simple psychological awareness but rather an inner presence that allows the person to sense certain things on an almost unconscious level.

The psychological awareness can almost be compared to playing poker, if you play with someone long enough you can usually pick up on their tell. But when I talk about is simple empathic awareness I’m not talking about picking up on body language in any way, I’m talking about being able to sense and read someone’s emotional state regardless of whether you can see them physically or not.

I think we're all empaths, to a degree. Even babies can sense the emotional state of the mother, even when the mother is concealing her feelings the best she can. As older too, we can usually pick up on the general mooid of people around us, if we remember to try. Our mood will be affected by those around us, if someone is sad, or scared, or overly happy, this will affect people nearby.

We link to people close to us, their mood will affect us stronger, because we care. Our caring will strengthen that link.

I agree with the psychology part, but I'm not sure if those two might just be even more connected than this. Empathy is psychology, we read the signs, yes, the bodylanguage and all, but the reason we read it right, is because of empathy.

According to that website I'm a nine. A ten though, I've never even thought of any of that being possible, their are people who can activate their own glands by thought, I've read studies on them, in fact, once they learn how, it is as easy as moving an arm. It is a thought. Back to my experiences though, empathy is, different. I've heard, or at least Clearwitch has informed me it is so, that it can be shut off. But as of yet, I've been unable to master that particular naunce of the ability. I can walk up to strangers and know what's wrong, generally why it's wrong, and know how to fix it. Their are a few people on here that can attest to it, and some of them think I'm some great person because of it, or that I'm very wise or some such. And others, like Lixi, fall into that category, but like throwing my own words back at me when I'm feeling down. Generally speaking, empathy is a tugging feeling, an overwhelming one at times. And with the people I hang out with nowadays, I tend to always be on edge, I can feel the pressure behind my eyes of a constant stress headache, of the tears screaming for release, and sometimes I give into it. After a particularily bad bout of stopping someone from their suicidal intentions, I had to release all of that pain through a good half hour cry. Empathy is an ability we all have, wether it is supernatural or just good sense, who knows. I must say that I do know quite a lot about the mind, I study psychology because I find it vastly interesting, but I don't understand people on a normal level.

For me, everyone has a "signature" as I call it. Normal sense do not convey theb"signature", if you try and concentrate on seeing it, then you'll feel the prickles as it coelces against your skin, center on that and you can smell it, it changes as you concentrate. But either way, it gives me a sense of what a person is feeling, because sometimes it just, feels wrong. Amanda made the guess that my signature is what people call auras, but I always thought that was something you saw, and that it had colors. But the signature of people plays an important part in my empathic ability, without it, I'd have to use intuition.

Two things, first, I've heard of empaths who can emit a feeling in another individual, can anyone shed light on this? And second, does anyone know if it is possible to block feelings from someone else, beyond the normal acting means?

One one has learned to differentiate what other people are feeling as an empath, logic would dictate that it would be easy to follow that trail back and affect the other person. Most communications between humans are like that. I myself view empathy (the psychic kind) as just one more form of communication that humans seem hardwired to seek out.

I think everyone has some empathic ability, and time and practice will hone this as it hones every other ability.

Amadeo: is is ABSOLUTELY possible to block other people from using whatever empathy or psychic talents they have on you. Should I start another thread? That sounds like a fascinating topic.

Research in neurology has shown that the same groups of neurons fire in one's brain the same as when one sees someone else who pricks their finger. Hence the reason why one might wince when one sees someone else do this. There are also reports of small infants only a few weeks old who will stick their tongue out at you when you think of that to them.

I am very good at it...nobody will play me at rock, paper, scissors anymore.

My empath abilities sometimes get the best of me. Sometimes I get extreme mood swings, from being around certain people. Anyone else experience this?


ROFL @ rock paper scissors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SAME WITH ME... my g/f wont play anymore cuz I beat her everytime.... And just to bug her sometimes i'll just copy her every time lol

peace be with you.

Oh, wow... this is so me. It sucks to want to help a group of people who are going through agony, like after someone dies... I recently experienced this, and lost myself completely... I felt only what they did, and put the painful expressions on my face while sending them all the love I could... Literally giving myself to all of them. Big mistake, I advise against this seriously, unless you are ready to do some serious feeding, which I can't bring myself to do save for one person....
I'd call myself a comfortable 5, right now... Though, it gets stronger with time I imagine, and it has been.
I would like help on this topic if anyone has theirs under control and could give me advise on how to maintain my sanity and not turn into a beast afterwards... I literally felt heavy and ill willed... And I don't want to go head into this entire thing until I'm comfortably in my own house and wont affect my mother, mainly... Who has great senses with this also. Feel free to IM me here if you can help.

-Tara-

From what I understand through reading and experiences with others I am a rather strong empath, as are many in my family. I've been doing healings for others for several years now and have gotten to the point of being able to do remote healings over great distances. This is a partially developed ability in this case. As for other related abilities I am able to read people in large groups without body language and on occasions pinpoint the sources of certain emotions. I haven't yet tested while blinded and sadly am not ready for such a test either.

Looking at that site I float between an 8 and a 10 normally. It all depends on my own mood and if I am ill or not. When ill the levels drop due to concentrating on getting well (and not having to go see a doctor). However when well the abilities are much stronger.

I was wandering if this would fall under empathic abilities.... I dont think I saw it on your website or mentioned above but I have a short attention span.. sometimes... especially with reading things on the computer so I just scanned through.. Im sorry if someone mentioned it above..

I know I am a empath to some degree cause I can feel other people's feelings.. whether they are near me or not.... but sometimes if its an extremely strong emotion then I see pictures with it. Is this a common emapthy ability or some other psychic ability?.. . I will give examples...

1- My little sister enters the room and I instantly know she is scared without even looking at her.. Once she begins telling me what is the matter I start seeing pictures in my head.. even if she pauses. At first I thought that it was just my over active imagination but I started to ask her specific details and she said I was right..
Once I even knew what had happend in her dream before she told me. She was terrified of it (the dream).

2- I had a friend over and we were facing each other and all of a sudden I got a.... like jolt... oO.. I cant explain it but it didnt hurt or anything.. just... like I had been zapped by something and I distinctly saw a child under my bed with red eyes. I threw my hands over my eyes of course.. as if I could block it from my vision but it didnt go away. She completely forgot about being scared worried about me and I told her what I saw and she stiffened and said that that was what had scared her in the first place. There was no way I could see my bed as I was leaned against a wall with the bed behind me... Dont ask.. my room is designed weird and I have like a window room in which I was sitting.

It has happend to me a lot.. not only when people are afraid but when they are sad or mad too.. I dont recall it happening when they were happy.. I suppose cause they werent projecting it in their minds.. or something.. and it wasnt only with my friends.. people at my work have affected me so before too.. I have to leave the room when someone who has lost someone is there cause it like overwhelms me.
Anywho.. thanks for reading my rambleings .. and responding if you do.. ^^
~Silence

Wow SilenceEchoes, that must be pretty intense. Do you find yourself uncomfortable with this or have you adjusted and found it to be more comforting than uncomfortable? I've often wondered how I would react if I were suddenly able to see or experience things that most others couldn't.

I myself would classify myself as not empathic at all. Like Nem I just use body language, context and psychological reasoning to form and idea or opinion about someone's emotional state. I'm about as void of mystic energy, empathy or what-have-you as a human being can be.

Hmm... To an extint I am ok with it... I still get unnerved by it occationally. ^^ But at least non of my family members and friends think Im crazy.. then I wouldnt be as calm about it..
~Silence~

Your perfect job is....an accountant!

Just kidding...I think you are probably one of the 'supersober' those who spend so much time seeing streight through the bullshit of normal human reality that you come out the other side of insane. This happens to me reguraly but I get over it by hiding in bullshit beLIEfs...

Is it just me, or when you're around lots of people, do you after a while get really stressed and all confused? I get that quite often. It's bloomin awful when that happens, but otherwise, I think I have moments when I can be a 6 up to a 9.

I take on their feelings too, people claim to feel a bit void around me... I was quite insulted, lol.

I am no empath. You already know that I don't believe in it, really. I call it simple psychology. However, I've been called a witch by quite a few strangers now. *shrugs* Dunno if I am or not, though recent experience tells me there is something there that I cannot explain.

But as for your questions...if we direct them in the way of energies, rather than empathy, I can answer.

yes. I've managed on quite a few occasions now to cause feelings, sensations and visions in another. I've done it quite on purpose and have been pleased with the results.

Blocking? Yes. It's easy. Just throw up a wall. Others will give you a long detailed explanation on shielding, but for me ... it's as simple as throwing up a wall around me. Make it out of whatever you feel is necessary.


*tiptoes off muttering about being seen as a total nutcase now*