Sensitive people or empaths have an ability to be emotional sponges that can heighten when they are at a social event, around co-workers, or in crowds. If empaths are around peace and love, their bodies assimilate these and flourish. Negativity, though, often feels assaultive or exhausting.
For empaths to fully enjoy being around others, they must learn to protect their sensitivity and find balance. Since I’m an empath, I want to help them cultivate this capacity and be comfortable with it.
I’ve always been hyper-attuned to other people’s moods, good and bad. Before I learned to protect my energy, I felt them lodge in my body. After being in crowds I would leave feeling anxious, depressed, or tired. When I got home, I’d just crawl into bed, yearning for peace and quiet.
Here are some strategies to help you manage your sensitivity more effectively and stay centered without absorbing negative energies.
Move away. When possible, distance yourself by at least twenty feet from the suspected source. See if you feel relief. Don't err on the side of not wanting to offend anyone. At the gathering try not to sit next to the identified energy vampire. Physical closeness increases empathy.
Surrender to your breath. If you suspect you are picking up someone else’s energies, concentrate on your breath for a few minutes. This is centering and connects you to your power. In contrast, holding your breath keeps negativity lodged in your body. To purify fear and pain, exhale stress and inhale calm.
Picture unwholesome emotions as a gray fog lifting from your body, and wellness as a clear light entering it. This can produce quick results.
Practice Guerilla Meditation. Be sure to meditate before the gathering, centering yourself, connecting to spirit, feeling your heart. Get strong. If you counter emotional or physical distress while at an event, act fast and meditate for a few minutes. You can do this by taking refuge in the bathroom or an empty room. If it’s public, close the stall. Meditate there. Calm yourself.
Focus on positivity and love. This has saved me many times at social functions where I feel depleted by others.
Set healthy limits and boundaries. Control how much time you spend listening to stressful people, and learn to say “no.” Set clear limits and boundaries with people, nicely cutting them off at the pass if they get critical or mean. Remember, “no” is a complete sentence.
Visualize protection around you. Research has shown that visualization is a healing mind/body technique. A practical form of protection many people use, including health care practitioners with difficult patients, involves visualizing an envelope of white light around your entire body. Or with extremely toxic people, visualize a fierce black jaguar patrolling and protecting your energy field to keep out intruders.
Define and honor your empathic needs. Safeguard your sensitivities. In a calm, collected moment, make a list of your top five most emotionally rattling situations. Then formulate a plan for handling them so you don’t fumble in the moment. Here are some practical examples of what to do in situations that predictably stymie empaths.
If someone asks too much of you, politely tell them “no.” It’s not necessary to explain why. As the saying goes, “No is a complete sentence.”
If your comfort level is three hours max for socializing--even if you adore the people -- take your own car or have an alternate transportation plan so you’re not stranded.
If crowds are overwhelming, eat a high-protein meal beforehand (this grounds you) and sit in the far corner of, say, a theatre or party, not dead center.
Some empaths are highly sensitive to scents, if you are overwhelmed, for instance by perfume, nicely request that your friends refrain from wearing it around you. If you can’t avoid it, stand near a window or take frequent breaks to catch a breath of fresh air outdoors.
This is interesting. Some people can deplete you, if they are carrying some dark unhealed wounds and/or some ungrounded energy. What I have noticed is that if a person complains about the same situation over and over and over and does nothing to change it, this complaining can be draining. It is energetically tiring. It is especially tiring when you are in a good and happy place, with bags of advice and a lot of good energy - this is when others will want to tap into your energy the most.
I have to be very careful of how much energy I am prepared to give. If you are naturally empathetic, you cannot help but to help and give ie. advice, clarity, laughter, cheer-up, cheer-lead, help, food.....whatever you feel would be helpful, in the moment.
Being conscious of your own needs, as an empath, is of extreme importance. It is easy to get energy drained by others. The white light protection visualisation is useful and salt baths and sage. Burning sage can be done as often as you need to. If someone has been too long in your energy field or environment, with ungrounded or 'dark' energy, it is highly important to clear energetic vibrations through the burning of white sage. It actually works.
I sage. I clearly need to sage a lot more often, and self-sage.
Unless you can navigate the self-protective aspect of being an empath, you will attract people who drain your energy. It makes a lot of sense to be single, if you have not learned how to protect your energy. Empaths easily attract people with ungrounded energy, and people who are unhealed and need healing.
It seems like a lot of self-care is required, and it is. Nature heals. Another way of regenerating your energy, after depletion, is to get into nature and to practice meditation and centring (which is easier to do in nature - for some)
Another technique is to breathe deeply into your heart (chakra) space. If you are a hyper-sensitive empath, it's possible to feel other people's emotions very strongly. We are broken people, living in a broken world. The majority of us are not facing our wounds and scars and, alternatively, preferring to block out with workaholism, alcoholism, drug use and other deflection and escapism techniques etc...
Breathing into your heart space can stop you from taking on other people's pain ie. their personal heartache. I personally have to practice this whenever I am around people, esp. people with heavy-hearted energy.
Also animals and pets, they can provide a good comfort and healing energy, as well.
Having a 'get out' from a social situation is also necessary. Too much time spent at a social gathering can be draining.
Empaths and self-care. Necessary to the nth degree.
I have realised this - more than ever - after this weekend, which did not go according to plan : {
Nature heals. Cleansing techniques. They really, really do.
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