There are three reasons for my recent posts about empaths.
First, I’ve a class called the Empowered Empath beginning October 4. Second, there is so much craptastic stuff that’s being cut & pasted into ‘facts’ about what being a psychic empath is & how to be one that I decided to address it rather than keep bitching about it. The myth-based framework perpetuates the misplaced ideal of empath as an overly sensitive soul, unable to move through the world without fear, hiding behind barriers to others and other, frankly, cowardly crap. All that eyeball rolling was getting a little taxing. And, third, once we move past the fluff-n-stuff we can get to the nitty gritty of what being an empath is all about. And the significant roles we play in leading & guiding others.
Although empaths have the capacity to do so, being an empath is about a whole lot more than feeling other people’s emotions & other energies. It is about our connection to others, about engaging with others openly & honestly. However, it’s even deeper than that. Before we can connect and engage with others at something more than a superficial level, we first must be able to do that with ourselves. Accept that responsibility first, then accept the responsibility for others.
Because that’s what this stuff is about. Being an empath is about others, about what we emit & how we transmit as much as the manner in which we receive. We’re not meant to feel others for the sake of the feeling alone. And, usually, the gift of ’empath’ isn’t a stand alone. It’s more often than not accompanied by a purpose, passion, job, direction, gift, talent, desire that allows us to turn that ‘feeling’ into life-changing connection to a person or group of people. That‘s what this is about.
To be an empath, an empowered one–one that comes from a place of strength, compassion, knowing & readiness for action (which sometimes means not acting at all)–takes the willingness & capacity to know ourselves intimately. To recognize aspects of ourselves that we’re often not comfortable doing–particularly those aspects that are related to emotion. Almost always, those emotions we’re not comfortable with are grounded in relationship to another person or a group of people. For many that has been coupled with being taught or teaching themselves not to express those emotions and there has developed a fear of both. And it’s time to get past that. This is where the rubber not only hits the road but moves and creates change for individuals and communities.
I’ve told this story hundreds of times the past couple of years and it’s why I push people to stand outside their current defined comfort zone. I’ve not had this experience is quite some time but it illustrates what can happen when you decide to fully engage. I had the same energetic interaction five times in a row, all in rather quick succession: First in Wal-Mart, followed by Lowe’s, a couple others places I can’t remember and Macy’s at Fair Oaks Mall. In the midst of the shopping crowds being what they are, attempting to find that perfect pair of jeans and such, I had a distinct ‘impression’ to pay attention. So distinct that it stood out from the extraneous noise & static of other energies. The first time, I looked around to make sure no one saw me talking to myself when I said aloud, “Show me.” And with cart and all, I started moving, trusting that freakin’ shopping cart in the same way a dowser trusts his rods, a weaver her loom. And I ended up at the ladies restroom. I didn’t have to pee (I know, right?) but walked in anyway. There was one other person in there, crying. Her boyfriend or boss had been an ass and she was bawling. And I walked right up to her and said, “Come here. I’ve got you.” In Lowes, without a cart, without looking to see who saw me talk out loud to myself, the episode was repeated. Another ladies room, another lady. In tears. “Let me love on you a minute. You’ll be okay.” By the time the last experience occurred at Macy’s, I knew the signal received well. I just dropped (ok, not dropped exactly) the stack of jeans I was collecting to try on and went straight to the nearest ladies room and said, “What can I do for you? How about a hug?”
I trust this dance I do with the invisible. It really is as easy as breathing. It takes me to ladies rooms and Navajo & Blackfoot reservations in the same way I move to the kitchen to address my hunger. There’s no second guessing, no being frozen in fear or allowing the stuck to stagnate. I move with the energies, we dance–and, even if it’s uncomfortable as fuck for a bit–it resembles a well-choreographed symbiotic groove. Sometimes sexy & fast, sometimes slow & methodical but we move. ‘Going with the flow’ isn’t mere metaphor. It is a real way to experience how we relate to the universe. I highly recommend it to many.
There’s always been a mystery connected to psychic phenomena. Ideas of what it means to be an empath have been as twisted as many other things related to the unseen and unknowable. But, in my experience & knowing, past all the bullshit and blather, the role of an empath is very simple: it is about truly connecting with other people and creating change within ourselves and for others in our own unique way. When you choose to do so, your world will open up in ways you’ve never had the capacity to even imagine.
Might want to give it a go.
Just might.