We need more healthy and intentional empaths in this world. For years I have felt emotionally spent after time in busy public spaces, waiting in the long lines at the polls to vote, or crowded stores — after turning each corner it was as if one walked into lingering clouds of vibrant emotions.
It is so reassuring to find others understand and deal with this phenomenon. Thanks so much! Hello Marie, and welcome!
Thank you. I am beginning a road to recovery after a foundational betrayal. I am definitely an emotional person but never realized how to live with that. I have been ruled by them, judging good and bad or simply repressing when I felt or was told I was out of control. I am excited about reclaiming the gift that is mine…to live deeply, openly, safely, gently in an enchanted world. So much is coming together as I walk out my pain. I am excited to have been to you and your work. I have hope today.
Took your test scored points…. Hello Valeska, and welcome! High empathy is fun when you have skills and a supportive group of people around you. Developing self-soothing skills, learning to work with emotions, and creating a supportive life for yourself — these are things that make empathy healthy, intentional, and fun.
I scored a on the test and feel as if I may have hyper-empathy. There is a lot of information here on this site as well, on the Featured Topics page.
This post on self-care may be helpful! Thank you — I am very much enjoying reading your work thus far. Thank you Sebastian, and welcome! Sometimes I just drift off and find my self alone with my feelings, and I get really overwhelmed in places like malls and movie theatres with my friends. Please help me? A big boost for people like us is to find the things we want to interact with, and to find plenty of artistic activities so that we can express as much as we receive.
And you can definitely become more comfortable! This enlightenment came about because my 3 yr old granddaughter, apparently, has the ability to see and communicate with people that have passed. Therefore, in researching on how to handle her situation, I have discovered quite a treasure trove of information about myself and FINALLY some explanation on why I experience many of the things that I do. Thank you for the information. It answered many of my questions. Need to work on the protection process.
Yes, grounding, defining boundaries, and having a rejuvenation practice are keys to being a healthy and happy empathic presence in the world! Thank you for stopping for homeless people. I think it has to do with empathy…. I experience it especially when watching tv shows, when there are characters with strange way of talking, or specific movements, I automatically mimic them after the end of the show!
Two days ago a read about the difference between empathy and being an empath and suddenly I started tying things together. I would really like to understand if I am an empath or not and be clear on it but I can;t seem to find the answer. In the rest of the time I feel pretty comfortable around people and I like being in a crowd although I sometimes don;t feel like my place is there, I feel like I am not accepted.
I feel like a big paradox where two different things inhabit the same mind. I am very confused and really need to understand finally is there something wrong with me or I am just some weird sort of empath. Everyone is an empath!
Being emotionally sensitive is a wonderful thing when you find people who understand and value you. The first step toward that is to value yourself for whatever kind of empath you are. You can change it! I would really love to study about this.
Instead, logic, emotion, empathy, and thinking processes are all seen as aspects of cognition; none higher or better or more valuable. Hello Karla. I have found a lot of great resources and info thus far. I took your quiz and scored extremely high. Would you be able to give me your thoughts? Hello Brian, and welcome. Yes, in our socialization, girls and women are generally allowed to express emotions and show empathy, while boys are generally socialized to repress emotion or to show mostly anger , and to repress empathy.
But of course, many of us find ways around gender socialization so that our natural gifts can flourish. Women tend to be comfortable being outwardly empathic, but many men find ways around the injunction not to show empathy. For instance, male artists are usually hyper-empaths, as are therapists, counselors, social workers, clergy, and so forth. In my book, The Art of Empathy , I call out the exiles of empathy: Men and boys, and autistic people, among others, and welcome them into the fold.
That was really interesting — and what really surprised me is that so many of the items I answered with a 3 are aspects of myself that I feel uncomfortable about. I scored pretty hight, I am in the process of writing an article about Emotional Literacy in young children which of course has to involve the grown ups who care for and teach them and stumbled upon your site….
Looking forward to reading more. I was fortunate early in my life to be allowed to keep as many cats as possible in the house as in the area where I was living it was vermin city so at one time I had over 27 cats that were my friends and confidants… I also love Aquariums and Gardening, Essentially everything that grows…. I am an Artist, started as a clay person and also now more dedicated to painting, I also work with People with special needs in a career that I fell into by default but have been serving in for over 30 years, all while I grew my skills and my business, Earth Bound Works aptly named because being in human form is a great way to grow a soul, lol and connection to the senses is key to articulation that I developed when I started selling my pottery and also, growing another product derived from Iceskating to deal with facing my fear and staying in my body.
The flying sensation, the release was amazing. This line of products that I have been promoting for over 14 years right along side with my clay Painting and drawing. I have gotten a great deal of help in sorting out my feelings and emotions yet I feel I am still disallowing a great deal of my internal power. How lucky you are to have been surrounded by art and animals! The question for confusion is about your intention; what is it? Often, if you discover your clear intention, the confusion will lift.
That kind of eagle-eyed vision can be a real support. I just took this quiz and scored very high. I am just realizing that I am an empath and think I can be hyper.
I am too caught up in hurting other people and often end up hurting myself. I follow the politics closely and am at a point where I cannot as it is affecting me so deeply.
The choices being made by the USA lately are really scaring me and I feel so sad for so many people who are simply trying to survive in this world. I need advice on how to manage these intense feelings- I have deep guilt, sadness and am not sure how to rid myself of this. I want to be a light hearted mother to my children and just feel so heavy. Is there a medication to assist? Hello Leann, and welcome to the empath clan.
This may include counseling, self-care, and medication if you need it. You already have the capacity; you just need some helpful information that supports you. Hi Karla! I scored a on your test and am interested in attending one of your workshops.
Is there a cheaper one than the one at Esalen? You chose a retreat, which is a 6-day gig! Thank you Karla for your insights. I look forward to reading your book and practicing skills to help me cope with the cacophony of emotions I encounter.
Since then I have become more aware of when I am feeling other peoples emotions. Unfortunately, this previousely unrealized gift resulted in much pain due to poor boundaries and ignoring my own needs. Now I realize that I must heal from that and develop coping. Thank you for this website. I checked all the boxes the whole way down. Welcome, Amy! Remember, as you learn to set better boundaries between your own emotions and the emotions of others, that there are places and situations where your natural interaction style is wonderful, fulfilling, safe, and manageable.
I scored , I am always drained after an emotional conversation with friends. I lose sleeps from overthinking something. I escape it by desensitizing myself in sports, doing daily chores and working. Luckily, you have choices, and you can learn how to work with your hyper-empathy so that it becomes a skill and something you have a choice about.
There are ways to make peace with your hyper-empathy. I certainly have a lot of trouble with it inside. I may be emotionally neglecting myself as a way of coping with previous experiences defense mechanism Not knowing how to handle those emotions and what to do with them so i just lock them up subtly or just not think about it as much.
And at the same time. Welcome, Dragon, to the empath clan. You have correctly identified the connection between emotions and empathy; I say that empathy is first and foremost an emotional skill. Learning about emotions is a lifelong study, because emotions are at the center of everything we do, everything we think, and every action we take.
On the Start Here tab above, there is an alphabetized list of posts on each emotion. I scored The key is to find people who are like you and who are healthy. I made my own room. I created Empathy Academy to help people to develop emotional skills and empathic skills in a healthy community. I wrote my books to reach out to people everywhere. I created Dynamic Emotional Integration to help spread this information across the world.
Art therapy too. Equine-assisted therapy is also lovely. Hi Karla, Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experiences. I scored very high in the quiz hyper-empath and am only starting to learn about being an empath and setting boundaries.
I work with children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties and now I know why. I can separate the kids emotions from mine. But what I find difficult is the adults emotions. Most mornings I wake up in a bad mood and cannot understand why. This has been a pattern throughout my life. How can I set boundaries during sleep so I wake up refreshed and happy with my own emotions?
Thank you and blessings to you. Also, waking up and not feeling refreshed or rested can be a sign of a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea. Generally, restorative sleep is thought to prune intense emotions from your memories and provide a rest.
I write about this in The Art of Empathy. Check out Dr. Chris Winter: The Sleep Solution. When your sleep is more restful, the rest of the skills in The Art of Empathy will support you, but sleep is a huge part of emotional health. And because empathy is first and foremost an emotional skill, sleep impacts empathy as well.
Thank you for your advice. I will do some research about sleep. That might just solve a lot of my difficulties? I always tell the kids about getting a good night sleep. Looks like I need to heed my own advice and yours. This is very fascinating! One of my friends mentioned this in passing when after I last tried. Are classes still open? Yes, Emotional Genius starts on Monday!
I really enjoyed your quiz and it helped me really identify what I have been feeling my whole life. Thank you again! Hello Cassidy, and welcome. Hi Karla, I am reading your book on art of empathy. I took the empath quiz. I scored 77 points which categorises me in the just right spot. However I am facing anxiety issues when I feel the emotions of others, in other words, I have strong emotional contagion but I am unable to regulate them. I will like to find a therapist to work on this issues and also emotional issues due to parental neglect.
I am in Singapore, do you know of any practising therapist here that can help me with emotion regulation. Hi Janet — these are six aspects of empathy, which we all use together hopefully in order to understand ourselves, others, and the world around us.
I just took the quiz and I am classified as a high empath so I want to ask you smth and if you can help please do. So what do you think is the best way to rest and get back as I was and since we are in quarentine I have a lot of time, so yeah what do you suggest for me to do?
The work is in self-care and developing boundaries, but also in finding people and activities that are nourishing. It needs to be curated. Art as a Specific Empathic Healing Practice. Oh my gosh! This makes so much sense!! I almost have a hard time paying attention in conversations because I focus so much on body language, eye contact, how the person is speaking, etc.
It drives me insane! Welcome Janie! I got in the quiz and it said that I answered the all 41 questions correctly. I can feel it perfectly. I started to feel different at the age of And now I am almost I want to thank you for this. I got INFJ as a result. Until I found your work. I started a self isolation for a couple of months now. Sometimes I think of myself as crazy.
The Art of Empathy is a complete guide to creating a healthy life for you and your empathy. Well I scored really high on this, which puts me really freakingly close to the high empath spectrum.
And people always dump their emotional baggage on me, which brings me way down. Man that was a lot to unpack. The answer is boundaries, boundaries, boundaries. When you have boundaries, you have choices. And when you know your emotions and how they work, their presence will be a blessing. No kidding! I score at the very top of this test, and all of my work exists to help hyper-empathic people live comfortably in this world, because we need them so much!
Having our most sensitive people wiped out and isolated is a complete disaster for civilization. I scored very high on your quiz I might have scored even higher but over the years I had to learn to bury my feelings otherwise they became to overwhelming. I have always been on the skeptical side of stuff like this but as I look back it does seem to allow things to make more sense.
Growing up I was diagnosed with depression and suffered mood swings. I was put on meds that allowed me to not feel things so acutely. Unfortunately it made me feel like part of me was the missing. I also used alcohol for awhile to help but when I sobered up all the emotions that I bottled up were still there waiting for me.
I now wonder if these were actually symptoms of not knowing I might be an empath and knowing how to deal with it. I have noticed I have always been drawn to people because of their joy of life than any other reason.
I seem to need that to keep charged more than the average person. There are too many things like that to list but I am beginning wonder if I may have finally found the answer. Still not sure but wanting to find out one way or another. Any suggestions on what the next step for me might be? Hello John, and welcome. Empathy is our capacity to read, feel, and respond to emotions, but also to anything.
Music, ideas, nature animals, mathematics — we can feel and respond to anything with our natural empathic capacity. Two good places to start would be The Art of Empathy , which is all about how to live more comfortably and balance your empathy so that it works for you. Another place is The Language of Emotions , which will help you develop your emotional awareness.
Also, a quicker book is the Dynamic Emotional Integration Workbook , which presents all of the 17 emotions and the Empathic Mindfulness practices that help people work directly with the genius in their emotions. I am just 13 years old and in the high empathy section of every quiz like this i took. It feels like no one is like me and I am usually ill. I love reading or studing things relsted to psychology can you mention a book and tell me a way to know what I am feeling in crowds.
Sometimes its like I caan read peoples mind. Can you help. I am usually very ill too its scary. Hello and welcome! Empathy is a natural human ability, and we share it with many animals.
Like any ability, people can have a lot or a little. Both should be available through your library. I would warn you strongly to stay away from anyone who claims that empathy or hyper-empathy are psychic skills. They absolutely are not, and that bad idea can lead you down some very unhealthy paths. Firstly thank you for this page and the quiz! This is all very new to me. I was told I was an Empath when I was looking for a referral for a psychotherapist and ended up with a phone consultation with a life coach who said that a lot of my depression and mental health is due to me being an Empath and needing to understand how to control it.
And depression is a very important emotion that can tell you when things are not working in your life. This post on depression may be helpful: Ingenious stagnation — Understanding depression. Ooh man.. Her and I both have always had insane instincts and could read people as if trained.
I always thought it was just me being altruistic. My mom and boyfriend still tease me about crying during the Princess and The Frog.
Thank you, Karla! Thank you so much for this! I scored high and am a Hospice Nurse. I am semi retired though. I definitely need to work on proper boundaries… for myself even…because some days I am emotionally exhausted. I thought maybe I was just too weak or too sensitive.
But I have noticed dwelling more, lately, on how someone is doing day to day after long talks with them. Everyone says to stop worrying so much and that I need to take care of myself. I truly need a starting point. Bless you! Hello Brenda, and welcome!
A very good place to start would be The Art of Empathy — it will help you identify where your empathy is overemphasized or underemphasized, and it can help you discover what you can do to bring your empathy into balance.
I completed the quiz with a High Empathy score, and discovered this through my recovery from a Narcissistic per a clinical counselor ex husband. I have the desire to set high boundaries, but my need to help others, especially in emotional states them or me debilitates those boundaries.
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I Accept Show Purposes. Table of Contents View All. Table of Contents. How to Know If You're an Empath. Pros and Cons Of Being an Empath. Protecting Yourself if You're an Empath. How to Determine If You're An Empath You can start by asking yourself some questions about how well you relate to others and how you physically and emotionally respond to big emotional events taking place in your presence. Have you been accused of being too sensitive in the past?
Do you feel overwhelmed in crowded spaces? Would others describe you as empathetic? Pros You can provide emotional support for others You know when someone is in need of help You can tell if someone will be good for you. Cons You may often feel emotionally drained You might find it hard to find time for yourself Your ability to read others may feel invasive to some.
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Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Related Articles. The ability to understand and share another person's feelings has deep neurobiological underpinnings. We investigate how much we know so far. Mental health refers to people's cognitive, behavioral, and emotional well-being. We define mental health and explain the different disorders that may….
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