Empaths

Not everyone knows what an Empath is. It’s a topic that is very close to my heart, but it’s just not easy to explain. I suppose that my own definition of an empath would be ‘a person who has a special gift or a sixth sense. This is a topic that I have always felt drawn to and interested in - I didn’t really know why at first. I’ve really only begun to read about Empaths at length in the last couple of years. If there is a better definition out there somewhere, I would love to reconsider my own. I pride myself on challenging most of my definitions; keeping my mind open and continuously learning is more important to me than my ego.

So, let’s talk about what it means to be an empath. When you hear my definition, I am sure lots of thoughts, images, and other labels come up for you. We all have our own preconceived notions about everything based on our culture, our past, and our personality. So, when you think of someone who has a sixth sense, you might picture the movie by the same name. “So, all Empaths see ghosts, is that it?” you might ask. (Love this movie, by the way) Nope, not all of us. Some of us do though. I myself have seen several ghosts, and lots of Empaths I know manifest their gift in this way.

Maybe you think of the popular shows that are on tv, like Long Island Medium and the shows that show police squads using kooky psychics that are always portrayed as flakey weirdos. Well, yes, there is an element of truth to the fact that some of us are psychic too. Many of us have predicted the future and seen spirits (or the living) exist in other realms, times, and places, as if they were right in front of us. But again, not all of us experience the Empath gift in quite this way. And even for those of us that do, it’s usually a heck of a lot more unpredictable than tv would lead you to believe. Many times these pieces of alternate reality come to us in random flashes. We might be in the grocery store and suddenly “see” a random scene or face as if on a tv screen in our head. We don’t always know what it meant at the time, sometimes we never find out. However, when even one of those flashes turns out to be something that comes true or brings insight into another situation, you start to question what the other instances meant.

I’m sure that some of you are thinking that “crazy” feels like an apt term for what I’m describing. Well, in one respect you’d be correct. It depends on how you look at it. Our society –the western world mostly – tends to slap the label “crazy” on anyone whose experiences are seen as radically different from the norm. “Science” has created clinical diagnoses that neatly squish us into little boxes. If you hear voices, your schizophrenic, and you need meds. If you have difficulty regulating your moods, you’re bi-polar and you need meds. If you have outbursts, an unstable identity, and have intense relationships, you have borderline personality disorder, and….you guessed it, you need medication. Oh, for fuck sake, from what I just described, we must all be crazy. Hell, medication has become a billion dollar industry; someone out there has a big stake in making sure we can identify those who are crazy. Although I could go one for a long time about the psychiatric industry, I will save this part of the talk for another post.

What I'm trying to say is that there really isn’t a neat set of criteria about what makes an Empath. We are sensitive. I don’t mean we cry easily, though many of us do. I mean that everything we feel is more intense than someone who hasn’t walked in our feet can begin to imagine. Imagine that for a minute. What is being sensitive? It is about using the senses we were born with. I’m sure this makes you think of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. Yup, those are included. So imagine to those of us who are sensitive to sounds, what a noisy city street feels like. It’s not merely annoying, it hurts. However, it’s more than the five senses. Who knows how many there are. I use the term sixth sense loosely because most people are familiar with it. I think there are probably an infinite number of senses, really. This means that our perception is different from yours. No matter what the specific manifestation of our gift (being psychic, seeing spirits, or something else); we all feel the energy of the universe in a unique way.

Everything in the universe is just energy. When our bodies are alive we are energy, and when we die, out soul is still energy. I firmly believe that humans were all once empaths. We are merely creatures of the Earth. Why wouldn’t we be created like other creature? Doesn’t it make sense that we need to sense the energy around us, in order to survive? Some of us have devolved. As a species, we started to become more and more disconnected from our senses as we “progressed” into more technological ways of living. For the record, I’m not anti-technology –I sit here blogging and I love what I do. But, when we remove ourselves so far from our innate nature, away from Mother Earth, we begin to lose our senses more and more. This is much the same as trapping a lion in a zoo; some of them no longer have the ability to survive in their natural environment. This is what has happened to many of us.

Some of the most wonderful and caring healers and teachers of the world are often Empaths, though it is expressed in much more subtle and societally acceptable ways. Many of us are artist, because lots of Empaths are creative folks. An Empath might also be described then, as one who is deeply in touch with her/his spirit. Many of us choose to share the love of our spirit with the world, because we realize we are all one in the end.

The moment I let myself open up to my full potential, I began to usher in a completely new life for myself. I’ve come back to writing. As I immersed myself in my passion, I found joy. I changed my energy to a higher frequency – and then the most amazing thing happened. I attracted other energy like my own. This means that my community is filled with other empaths. My world is more intense than ever, but it more fulfilling than I could have imagines.

Each of the amazing people that I have called with the language of my heart’s drum-song, has gathered around me. I visualize holding hands in a giant circle with all of them and dancing like the ancient, wild folks we are. Under the stars, bare feet, and joined through the power of community. I know fully that my Summer Saturday posts are getting crazier and crazier, but I’ll say it again – I feel a revolution coming. The new God is merely Love (always was, really.) It matters not if we have different names for this God, it only matters that we all agree to share its power. Talk about faith – let’s have faith that Love is the answer.

I hope I have taught a few of you what it means to be an empath. I feel that I have still done such a poor job of describing it. I would love to start a conversation about it. I would love for you to add to or adjust my definition of and Empath.

In addition, to those of you Empaths that are already in my circle, I love you and I am so honored that you are a part of my soul tribe. Now, get to work, we have a revolution to build.

~ Peace and Love, Tracey

© Tracey Love, 2015. All rights reserved.