Empaths and Sensitives: Nurture Your Gifts and Protect Your Superpower

Has anybody ever told you that you are too sensitive?
Do you often feel ‘different’ from others?
Are you easily overwhelmed and suffer from burnout?

If so, you might be an empath.

Empaths are highly sensitive souls who are born with the ability to not only feel empathy towards others, but also feel what others are actually experiencing. In her book ‘The Empath’s Survival Guide’, Judith Orloff states:

“Empaths actually feel others’ emotions, energy, and physical symptoms in their own bodies, without the usual defences that most people have.”

So, how do you know if you are an empath? Look at the traits below and see how many of them you recognise.

Traits of an Empath…

• Feels things deeply and intensely
• Sensitive to criticism and dislikes conflict
• Naturally open hearted and deeply compassionate
• Finds it easy to give and sometimes give too much
• Feels highly sensitive; physically and emotionally
• Dislikes large crowds and loud noise
• Prefers to socialise in small groups
• Naturally introverted, or extroverted but craves time alone to rejuvenate
• Highly intuitive
• Often feels ‘different’ to others
• Can feel overwhelmed and experience burnout
• Drawn to spirituality and/or the healing arts
• Sometimes feels as though they do not belong here and want to go ‘home’
• Strong desire to ‘fix’ others and heal the world
• Can have psychic abilities

Being sensitive in an overwhelming world can be challenging and many empaths view their sensitivity as a curse. But what if I told you it has the potential to be your greatest blessing? When we take time to understand ourselves more deeply and develop healthy coping mechanisms, we can thrive as an empowered empath and use our superpowers to make a positive difference in the world.

What we need now, more than ever, are awakened souls who live from their hearts, remain grounded in their spiritual power and use their gift of sensitivity to spread love and light within the world.

How to Live as an Empowered Empath

1. Prioritise Your Health and Wellbeing

Practising self-care and prioritising our own health and wellbeing does not always come naturally for empaths. Our natural instinct is often to give so much to others and live a life of service, that we forget to look after ourselves too. It is crucial however, to put yourself first if you want to live as an empowered empath.

When you care for yourself, you teach others to do the same. When you have an abundance of energy and vitality, you have much more to offer others. Offer yourself the same care and attention that you so freely give to others and you will thrive.

2. Set Healthy Boundaries

Empaths feel such a deep sense of compassion, that they can forget to take a step back and create a healthy distance from others. To put oneself first can feel uncomfortable and selfish to open-hearted empaths. However, it is not our responsibility to be constantly available, so give yourself permission to say no.

If you are tired and overwhelmed it is perfectly acceptable to decline an invitation. During times when you are feeling overloaded, you are allowed to switch your phone off and focus on your own self-care. Learn more about what healthy boundaries mean to you and allow yourself to let go of excess responsibility.

In relationships it is especially important to create strong boundaries. You are worthy of love and respect and it is not your responsibility to ‘fix’ or ‘heal’ your partner. You can use your compassion to support your loved ones, but not at the cost of your own wellbeing.

Sometimes the best way to help somebody is to take a step back from them and give them the space to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Despite how others react, boundary setting is vital if you want to live as an empowered empath.

3. Retreat and Recharge

When we stop and retreat from the world for a while, it gives us an opportunity to really tap into how we are feeling and practice deeper levels of self-care. Do not wait for burnout; instead take a preventative approach to your health and wellbeing.

We cannot always be in control of our schedule or avoid times of overload, but it is helpful to think ahead and make room in our diary for regular peace and quiet. This is also where you get to practice saying no!

4. Trust Your Instincts

Do you always follow your instincts? What happened previously when you chose to ignore your gut feeling? If something does not feel right, it probably needs some investigating. Sometimes the decisions we make based on our intuition will seem unusual and confusing to others and they may question our choices.

The empowered empath however, learns to trust their own inner knowing, even if logic cannot back up their decision. The more you practice listening to the wise voice within, the clearer it will become and the more confident you will feel in trusting it wholeheartedly.

5. Develop Healthy Coping Mechanisms

It is common for empaths to turn to food, alcohol, drugs, shopping or other unhelpful behaviours during times of stress and overload. We all have our ‘crutch’ and we do not need to beat ourselves up about it; it can be difficult living in this world at the best of times!

Developing healthy coping mechanisms will enable you to nurture yourself during stressful times, in a way that is for your highest good. Take time to ask yourself what healthy coping mechanisms will work best for you.

Here are some examples:

• Calling on trusted loved ones for support
• Meditation
• Breathing exercises
• Prayer and/or spiritual practices
• Sport and/or exercise
• Writing in your journal
• Expressing your creativity through art or music
• Walks in nature
• Cooking
• Gardening
• Watching a comedy or doing something fun to invite some ‘lightness’ into your day

6. Play!

If things feel a little too serious and you are feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders, take some time out to play. What do you like to do for fun? What brings you joy? Let your inner child out to play! Sing, dance, paint, play games, laugh with loved ones and discover what fun means for you.

Children naturally prioritise joy, so if you have children or grandchildren of your own, join in their fun and give yourself permission to completely let go. This will invite a much-needed balance into your life.

7. Protect Your Energy

Empaths can find it difficult to distinguish between their own feelings and the feelings of others, so it is important to cleanse and protect our energy regularly, preferably daily.  You might feel anxious and not know why.

Things might feel a little ‘off’ but you cannot quite pinpoint what is wrong. When you consciously disconnect from external energies that do not belong to you, you will feel clearer, healthier and stronger in body, mind and soul.

Here are some ways to cleanse and protect your energy:

• Smudge your aura with white sage or palo santo to remove negative energy.

• Spend time in nature, allowing the elements to cleanse you. Walking barefoot will also ground you.

• Use crystals for psychic protection and grounding. My favourites are Amethyst, Smoky Quartz, Black Tourmaline and Tigers’ Eye.

• Pray to your Spirit Guides and Guardian Angels and ask them to cleanse your energy and protect you as you go about your day.

• Meditate and use visualisation to cleanse and protect your field. Use the meditation below regularly to ensure your energy remains strong and vital.

Meditation for Protection

1. Find somewhere safe and comfortable to relax and close your eyes. Begin to focus on your breath, becoming mindful of the way you breathe in and out. Allow the rhythm of your breath to find its own soft, slow and natural rhythm and spend a few minutes here.

If your mind wanders at all, just bring your attention back to your breathing and this will immediately anchor you in the present moment.

2. Next, begin to imagine that with every inhalation you are breathing in a beautiful, cleansing white light into your chest. As you exhale, imagine this light expanding outwards from your chest and flowing into the rest of your body. Spend some time here, until you can imagine and sense that your whole body is filled with white light.

3. Now, hold your intention to be fully cleansed and cleared of all unwanted and foreign energy that does not belong to you. Allow the white light that fills your body to shine even more brightly and expand outwards to create a sphere of light around you and visualise all negative energy simply dissolving in the light.

You may like to repeat in silence or aloud:

“I now call upon all beings of light who wish to help me today. Please cleanse and clear my body, mind and soul of all unwanted and lower vibrational energy. So be it and so it is. Thank you.”

4. Finally, imagine a one-inch layer of violet light surrounding the outside of the white bubble that surrounds you. You may like to imagine this violet light as a shell, protecting the white light that lives inside and ensuring that no harmful energy can come your way.

May Archangel Michael guard you and your loved ones and hold you in safety and protection, now and forever.

By Nicola Harrold

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On February 27, 2021   /   Energy, Happiness, Healing, Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy, love, meditation, mindfulness, Spiritual   /   2 Comments