A practice in empathy: how to protect yourself from burn-out.

In a world that can feel so cruel, it's hard to fathom that empathy can still exist. As someone who grew up highly empathetic, exhaustingly so, this article is going to give a quick lesson in empathy to help teach my fellow empaths how to protect your energy from things that drain our energies.

There is a slight difference between sympathetic and empathetic. Almost everyone experiences sympathy, an ability that allows us to be understanding of other's situations and feelings even if we have never experienced it ourselves. Empathy, though similar, is the ability to not only understand but personally feel what others are feeling and/or experiencing by putting ourselves in their shoes. We take on those emotions as if they are our own and as much as this can provide comfort for the other person(s) involved, it can be incredibly draining to the empath.

Some signs of being an empath (based on personal experience):

- Sudden personal mood shifts

You may wake up in a good mood but upon interacting with others, suddenly a bad or sad mood can appear seemingly out of nowhere. This is a sign that you are taking on someone else's emotions.

- Noticing shifts in energy

Whether it's walking into a room and instantly feeling a shift in the energy or being around someone and feeling their specific energy shift - you accurately pick up on the vibes.

- Seeing others cry makes you cry

Whether sympathetic or empathetic, this isn't uncommon. However, while sympathetic people's tears usually come from a place of personal experience or just being sad seeing someone else sad, empathetic people feel as if they are experiencing that sadness/grief/hardship as if it was their own (personal experience isn't always needed). Same thing goes for other emotions, such as anger, happiness, excitement, nervousness, anxiety, etc.

- Sensitive to animals and children

Whether you like them or not, animals and children are often drawn to empaths and empaths seems to be able to understand their thoughts and feelings extremely well.

How to protect your energy (Also based on personal experience + practices I've picked up through years of study):

Whenever someone comes to me wanting to do energy work, I always start with one basic thing: developing and projecting a "personal bubble". To do this, you need to envision yourself sitting somewhere that feels like home to you, calming even (a beach, a blank room, a mountainside, your bedroom, beside a rainy window) whatever works best for you to get into a tranquil headspace. From there, imagine a bubble of light fully encompassing your body, imagine each limb getting surrounded in light almost like a shield. This bubble should be close to your body, it shouldn't extend too far as the purpose is to protect other's energies from penetrating your own unless you allow it to. Over time, you can practice expanding this bubble or even building layers to reinforce your bubble. The more frequently you do this exercise, the more effective it will be.

*Note: for those who are unable to visualize things in their head - I understand that there is a percentage of people who are unable to do so - maybe try searching up images of a tranquil space for yourself and then drawing out what your energetic bubble looks like to you so that this process can work more efficiently.

This practice is a form of meditation (a practice I will always encourage) as it allows you to sit in stillness and connect with your emotions. Being in-tune with your emotions is the key to managing getting burnt out with being an empath as you can recognize when a feeling isn't your own much faster and protect your energy better.

For those who struggle with being empathetic towards others, or even sympathetic, (as there are plenty of people who have a hard time coming from a place of understanding when interacting emotionally with others) there are two major lessons to keep in mind:

1. You never know what someone is going through, so always choose kindness.

2. Everyone has struggles, you don’t need to project yours onto others, and if they’re projecting onto you, don’t take it to heart.