Empath: A Survival Guide for Highly Sensitive People

Can you feel the very energy in the air when you walk into a crowded room? Do you suddenly know the mood of the room when you do? Can you tell what people are thinking or feeling without ever talking to them? Does all of the above leave you feeling exhausted, drained, and ready for a long nap by yourself?

If so, you may be an empath.

Empaths are highly sensitive people—only around 20% of people have their special abilities. Empaths, in particular, are in tune with emotions. With their highly sensitive mirror neurons that tend to fire stronger than those of average people, the empath is able to see someone else and suddenly feel as though he or she is feeling the same energy that the other person is. Just at a glance, the empath can go from perfectly content to blind fury, all because of this propensity to absorb the energy of people around them.

However, nothing in life is free, and this ability comes with its own curse as well. In particular, the empath is much more likely to find that he or she is completely and utterly drained after such interactions. Just being around someone else is enough to leave them ready to rest and recharge on their own, and this can be a problem. The empath also has a tendency to take on negative emotions of other people in this context as well, usually struggling to figure out where the other person’s feelings end and the empaths begin.