Let’s start by giving some definitions. What is empathy? Well according to psychology.com it is as follows: “Empathy is the experience of understanding another person’s condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling. Empathy is known to increase prosocial (helping) behaviors”.

I must say that is a pretty good definition for someone who isn’t familiar with the word or does not have a clue as to what it means. Now that we know what empathy is, is it safe to say an Empath is someone who is able to ALWAYS understands others emotions, maybe even to the extreme?

Some people confuse empathy with compassion. Although they’re similar they’re not exactly the same. Think of being compassionate as a concern for others well being. Empathy instead is something that is not always controlled. For instance you may be taking with a broken hearted friend, maybe he or she is going through a break up, if you have the ability to be empathetic then you’re feeling pretty hurt and angered of the situation too!

Empathy is something we are all capable of, just on different levels. You know those people who cry at every movie? They’re able to put themselves in others peoples shoes ALL the time! Having empathy in this day in age is so important so that we can understand one another. Compassion and empathy go hand in hand.

On the more extreme side of Empathy or being considered an “Empath”, people can experience everything around them without really going through it. They can look at your pain, your situation and automatically know or have an idea of what is going on and how it’s affecting you. They always sense when something isn’t quite right even when they cannot exactly be sure what it is.

Empaths pick up on vibes. Some call it intuition. They can be good vibes, bad vibes, mellow vibes or dangerous vibes. They know when someone has an attitude before the person will even admit it. Maybe you know an empath? That person who always asks what’s wrong, wants to know if your okay and seems to always know when something isn’t quite right with you or others.

There are a couple different ways empaths can manifest their abilities. Some empaths are able to instantly change the room they’re in. When they come in people usually feel more happy and upbeat around them, as long as they’re in a good mood. There are also empaths who feel the energies of everyone else. So if they’re next to someone who is sad their mood will also decrease. If they’re around mad people that may start to feel that out of nowhere as well. They don’t even notice they’re doing it, it is just something that happens, picking up on others energies and manifesting it as their own.

People who are empathetic, or are considered empaths, they usually like nature. They like calming spaces and may be exhausted from hanging around in big crowds, displaying or taking in different energies and vibes they feel through out the time there.

I like to think of Empathy as a continuum. One side being the least empathetic and the other, being a full blown empath. Where do you think you fit on the continuum?