The term empath is not a name I personally like to be called, nor do I introduce myself as one, I have empathy that I am conscious of and my life is directed by it. Stating that one is an empath can easily be taken out of context as it more than often is. There is no buzz or hype around it for me, as it is a part of my life and what makes me who I am.
For the reality is most of us are born with an innate ability or several abilities, it’s what we do with it that will either enhance its flow or stop its natural flow, the latter can be achieved by varying means, being raised and not being taught how to embrace such, societies fears, doctrines stamping it out as ‘evil’ etc., lack of outside understanding and a host of other reasons.
The majority of babies are born with empathy and through nurturing can be raised in a way that our empathy continually grows, however many parents would not even realize they were in fact nurturing the empathy within their children, they just are.
Parents will make a conscious effort to raise their children to have manners, to be polite and courteous, to be ethical, to be kind, considerate and honest etc. but rare is it that the child is raised to be attuned by that which they sense and feel to the point they are encouraged to identify and express openly no matter what it is they feel.
That natural ability to sense, feel and express openly is a built in mechanism, but it can be made to feel that it’s not natural when a parent or person constantly stifles the return in openly communicating, eventually closing down all doors that lead to understanding a person more intently so, allowing us to grow.
For the person born with empathy that need to communicate and express (whatever it may be) rarely does it become fully suppressed, if anything it leads to a frustrating path of not feeling heard or being misunderstood and thoughts surrounding such can begin to take a grip and redirect what one initially felt into something that it was never intended to be.
A particular experience can become bigger than Ben Hur simply because we didn’t get the opportunity to express to the person we needed to communicate with how we felt and ultimately perceived it to affect us and likewise them. The initial feeling gets pushed aside and time will deliver similar feeling(s) repeatedly until we stop and acknowledge each one and in doing so allow us to experience new emotions and how they make us feel.
Empathy is often taken for granted; it is abused, misused but mostly misunderstood.
We have a multitude of experiences throughout our lifetime, each of them bring forth emotions for a reason, what is the point if we don’t get to outwardly express what we feel, acknowledge the emotions that came to surface IS acknowledging our existence and is key to consistently evolving.
When we are shut down from communicating we begin to feel we are not worthy of being seen nor heard and this can lead to reclusiveness within the mind and gradually withdraw from the outside world and the relationships that surround us.
It is natural for human beings to communicate and feel connected and sense community spirit, which in many areas a ‘true sense of community spirit’, doesn’t marry up with what we feel actually emanates from others, something that initiated from our upbringing and continued throughout our lifetime. It didn’t just happen.
Understanding empathy is more important to me than declaring I am an empath. I am intrigued by that which makes me tick as it takes me on an exploratory journey of who I am and how I can resonate with the world in all its glory, what and who inspires me and allow me to flow, glow and grow.
I am grateful for my empathy as it attunes me to life and living, to my loved ones and even to strangers, to my animals and nature, to the soothing sensation of cool water and amplified vibrations from emotions and makes me feel alive, living, breathing… I am grateful for all empathy teaches me.
Christel Broederlow
© 2015 The Universal Empath 101