Most people have heard of the term “Empath” and what it means. I think learning that I was an Empath has probably been one of the most important things that I’ve learned about myself on my spiritual journey. While most people consider being an Empath a ‘gift’, a lot of us would probably consider it a curse. In simple terms, an Empath is someone who is sensitive to energy. It’s referred to as “clairsentience’ and is considered a psychic ability.
However, everyone has this ability, it’s just a matter of knowing what it is and becoming more internally aware.
I don’t think that I am that different from other Empaths in that we all have suffered from bouts of fatigue. I only learned that I was an Empath about 5 years ago. But before that, I had dealt with fatigue and did not understand why. I went numerous times to the doctor complaining that I knew something was wrong with me and demanded that they run tests for everything (which they never did) and in the end, the normal blood work panels would turn out normal and they would just tell me that I was suffering from stress.
Understanding Fatigue
Now when I’m tired, I look at multiple factors to try and find the cause. Is it diet, stress, lifestyle or is it from being energetically drained due to being an Empath?
Over the past few years I have paid more attention to my overall state of being and have made a conscious effort to understand the cause. To illustrate this point, when it comes to diet, there are a few things I’ve noticed. When quinoa became popular I tried cooking it. I noticed I would get a headache and immediately have to take a nap. Eventually I connected the dots and read up on it. If you do not properly wash the quinoa first, the saponins on it can have this effect.
I’ve also noticed some types of wheat bread – most likely due to gluten, make me super tired. I can’t even keep my eyes open. Recently, I tried a plant-based ‘sausage’ because I used to love kielbasa, but trying to be healthy, had tried an alternative. In the end, I had a severe reaction including extreme fatigue. The main ingredient was – you guessed it – gluten! And of course, everyone knows how after eating any heavy meal – you will feel fatigue. So those are just a few examples of being more conscious and aware of your energy and by paying close attention to your outer circumstances you can learn to decipher possible sources of fatigue.
Fatigue can also be due to stress and lifestyle choices. When trying to understand my overall energy, I always look to what is going on with my life. Am I under a lot of personal stress due to life circumstances? Have I been taking care of myself? Am I eating properly, getting enough sleep, making time for self-care?
Sensitive to Energy
When it comes to being sensitive to other people’s energy, it has been quite a learning experience to say the least! I’ll delve into specific examples in the next article. But in this article, I am just going to talk about what I’ve come to understand about energy exchanges. For my own personal perspective, I would bucket being sensitive to energy into 2 main categories:
1) People
2) External influences
Now, when it comes to being sensitive to other people’s energy – I would break these experiences down even further into:
- One-on-one
- Multiple people (crowds)
- Unknown sources
People
One-on-one
I think most people are aware that when we interact with different people that we can either come away from that experience feeling upbeat and uplifted, or feel totally drained. However, I don’t know if people who experience the latter understand the dynamic of what’s going on. And frankly, it took me a long time to finally pay attention and start to be more conscious of my interactions so that they are on par rather than draining.
For one-on-one situations, these can be with partners, friends, co-workers, family or even strangers. In personal relationships, and I can speak from personal experience here, you may not even realize that you are the one with high energy, and your other half is relying on you to lift them up. It may not be something that you are even consciously aware of. Once I had my Kundalini activation in 2014, I started to become an observer in my relationship and I realized that I was giving away my energy to the point that I was always feeling drained. I also began to observe other couples and would see an equal exchange and began to become more aware of this energy dynamic between individuals.
As Empaths, we are naturally good listeners and energy suckers seem to just hone in on us. They blather and blather away while you actively listen (because you are also nice and polite). But actively listening takes a LOT of energy. And so that person leaves and you come away from the interaction feeling drained and used. Here’s my perspective on this situation now. Once you become aware that they don’t actually care about you – because they aren’t actually asking you any questions, or even listening to what you are saying because they just keep on talking over you, then enough is enough. I have honestly felt that some of these people might as well just talk to a wall because they are not interested in engaging with you. So once you start to have that realization, your attitude changes and it’s time to set up some boundaries. Since I’ve become more aware of this whole energy dynamic, once I start to pick up on this when engaging with someone, I get out of the situation.
At the end of the day, it’s about honoring yourself enough to know that your time and energy are precious and you don’t need it wasted on someone who doesn’t care.
Crowds
Crowds are Empaths worst nightmare. And in fact, there are a lot of memes out there about empaths and Christmas time because those are crazy crowds and it can be just outright hell with so many people out and about.
When there are a lot of people giving off their own energy, and you are energy sensitive, you can start to see how this would be a problem. Just the sheer volume of energy is what makes this scenario difficult.
Airports are the worst! At airports I do my best to find a restaurant with a booth to isolate myself if I can. In the Lima Peru airport last year, I thought I was about to have an anxiety attack because we were all so close together going through one long line and it was all I could do to keep it together.
One day I volunteered at a food bank with a bunch of people and I was in bed the entire next day. Sometimes it is just too much.
I do my best to avoid crowds. I never go to the mall unless I absolutely have to, and then I get in and get out. I actually do my grocery shopping at 6 AM as soon as the store opens to avoid crowds there as well. As I’m transitioning to a crystal aura (as I wrote in another blog post) my energy sensitivity has increased even more, so I really try to minimize my exposure to large groups of people when I can.
Unknown/Long distance
So this one is really odd and I will save the details for another post because the stories are quite interesting. But one thing that I’ve become aware of, is to discern when I have feelings that are mine vs. someone else’s energy. What I’ve learned is to ask myself – is there anything going on in my life that justifies what I’m feeling right now? If the answer is ‘no’ then I immediately work on releasing that energy from my field. I have learned that there is a type of energy that I have experienced that is very ‘panicky’ is the best way to describe it. But I’ll save more of this for a later post.
Outside sources
Schumann Resonance
As the Earth moves through the photon belt, the Earth is being bombarded with energy. If you are an Empath – surprise – you are the lucky one that is feeling this the most. Although this energy is impacting everyone, empaths will be more sensitive to it. The amount of energy is reflected through the Schumann Resonance. The normal Earth vibration is 7.83 Hz. Over the last few years, we’ve had peaks up to 120 Hz! There are periods called “white-outs” where the energy is so high over a period of time. This energy will either make you super tired or super energetic. What I’ve noticed also is I will feel the energy before it actually registers on the chart.
Full moons/new moons
This is something that I’ve become more aware of over the last year or so. I definitely do not sleep well at all during these times. From what I understand, these are portals that open up, so there is an energetic pull on the Earth during the full moon. It’s over my head, but it definitely impacts me.
Locations
This is something that I’ve always been aware of. We used to refer to it as ‘picking up vibes.’ I have always picked up on energy in various locations. I remember one time visiting Nuevo Laredo, Mexico with a friend and I felt this melancholy energy emanating from this town. It was very odd, as I had never experienced that before. And of course, going to sacred sites – such as Tulum, I’ve felt this unexplainable sense of sacredness, mysterious, profound energy. A few years ago, I visited a location called “Peace Valley” in Arkansas – and it was indeed extremely peaceful! So as an Empath, you will notice your ability to pick up energy from people as well as locations.
Learning that you are an Empath is one thing, navigating it is another. As I mentioned earlier, it was the single most important thing that I learned about myself on my journey as it has such a huge impact to my overall well-being. Now that I am aware of this, I actively work to manage my interactions with others and do my best to make sure I establish boundaries and maintain a healthy emotional and physical state of being.
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In love, light and gratitude,
Heather