1. What is an Empath?


2. Are you an Empath? Take the quiz!


3. The Empath Management Online Program FREE TRIAL!


4. Free Resources for Empaths

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What is an Empath?

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Hi, my name is Elise Lebeau and I'm an Empath. An Empath is someone who has a heightened sensitivity to other people's emotions. Notice that this definition does not assume that you are aware of it nor that you know what to do with it. It simply describes that you can tell how someone is feeling, even if they are not in your physical presence.

Although this is an innate ability (babies know how to recognize emotions in adults), Empaths find themselves in the tricky situation of being overwhelmed by the quantity of emotional information they receive. I can sense the emotions of everyone around me, even my next door neighbors. It comes to me like a scrambled radio station where I get bits and pieces from all those people. In it's raw form, it's incoherent and VERY distracting, especially in a crowd like the mall or a party.

The most problematic aspect of being an Empath is that most of us have no idea how to manage it. We don't know how to turn it off. We don't know how to use it effectively to accomplish something productive. Some of us don't even know that we have it. We just think we're weird and have random mood swings and tired spells.

Emotional Intelligence is defined as "the ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups" (Salovey and Mayer). Developing your Emotional Intelligence means that you know what to do with the emotional information you receive and it's not just a burden you must bear anymore.

Emotional Intelligence is the most basic form of Intuition. Once you know how to manage emotional information, you already have a head start to develop your Intuition!


Growing up as Empath

I grew up as an Empath, not knowing what that was. At the time, the signs were hidden as normal aches and pains, so no one noticed. Not that they would have known what to do. I want to share this with you today in hopes that if you or your child are an Empath, you'll recognize the signs and be inspired to do something about it.

Being an Empath, I can constantly sense the emotions of anyone within a 50 miles radius of me. I can also sense the emotions of someone specific by paying attention to them, no matter how far they are.

Now, I know how to lower the volume or turn this off completely. But it was not always the case.

When I was growing up, my parents thought I was an unusually quiet child. But I was constantly trying to sort out what I was feeling/thinking (as opposed to everybody else's stuff) and this left me very little energy to talk. It just seemed like even more noise. I was also paralyzed by what I was picking up from other people. If they were depressed, angry or confused, that's all I could focus on. So it was hard to say anything socially acceptable.

I also had some extremely weird habits, such as falling into a trance-like state while putting on my socks. I would just drift away, as if I was day dreaming. My mom would have to prompt me several times with "Elise, finish getting dressed" before I would snap out of it.

I also went practically deaf, when I was around 5 or 6. But I was so quiet that it took a while for anyone to notice. Even my teachers figured I just wasn't paying attention when in fact I couldn't hear them speak. My mom realized what was going on when I did not turn to her even though she was calling me from a few feet away. I had surgery and my hearing reluctantly returned.

Then there was the vividly realistic nightmares where people were trying to talk to me in my sleep. The setting for these dreams was always the room I was sleeping in, making it even spookier. The people in my dreams always spoke so softly that I could never quite hear them properly. I would wake up scared, still trying to hear their voices more clearly.

And, of course, the debilitating migraines. I started having them when I was 5. It seems that you don't hear anything when you're in excruciating pain. Pain is louder than anything else... So it's a quick fix when all else fails.

I never told anyone that I could feel what they felt simply because I had no idea this was unusual. I thought everyone felt like this. But the confusion it generated in me was quite overwhelming. I became socially withdrawn. Not interested in parties or any kind of group activities since it was impossible for me to focus on my own thoughts. It came across as shyness (and still does to this day).

Then came the teenage years where I started to attempt to "do something" with all this emotional information. I can't describe to you the powerlessness that it generated. Being an Empath doesn't mean you know what to do with what you feel. It just means you feel it. So I kept trying to use what I felt in very ineffective ways. I was mildly suicidal from my late teens to my mid-twenties.

Then I finally found a way to start using my skills: psychology. I started studying in this field in college and was unusually good at it, even though I did not know why. But I felt more empowered, having learned how to inspire and support change through the counseling process.

It's only in my 30s that I struck gold and discovered Intuition. Intuition uses the emotional information I perceive to build a productive plan of action. So instead of constantly receiving information that left me overwhelmed and powerless, I was now able to talk about the emotions and link them to specific ways to make changes and improve the situation. Phew!

Along the way, I developed all kinds of techniques to manage the emotional information I receive as an Empath. And I use this every day. I can now turn it off completely or lower the volume, so that my own feeling and thoughts are always the loudest. It's made a world of difference for me. I can walk through a mall without feeling like I just ran a marathon!

There are situations that still get the better of me. I sometimes get overwhelmed in big family parties. Or when my son is so ecstatically happy that his joy runs me over like a bus! But that's becoming the exception, as opposed to the rule. And as soon as it starts to happen, I know what's going on and I have a plan to manage it! No more migraines ;)

I also noticed that my son has a very different reaction to his sensitivity as an Empath. He becomes totally wired, as if he'd just had a bowl of sugar (which he rarely eats). He's a very mellow child at home, but he'll burst out with energy when he starts to feel emotionally charged by those around him. Either way, through silence or verbo-motor activity, Empath children easily suffer from not knowing how to stay grounded when exposed to external emotional activity. So they try to quiet the noise by being quiet or beating the noise by screaming at it.

The most critical moment in my life was when I realized that I was not cursed but blessed with Emotional Intelligence. I invite you to make this discovery about yourself as well. We're all heading in that direction anyway. You're just running ahead of the crowd...

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Are you an Empath? Take the Quiz!

These are common Empath skills:

• Can you sense what other people are feeling, even if they're not in your physical presence?


• Do you spontaneously know what people need to hear/do to feel better?


• Do people find it easy to confide in you?

These are common Empath side effects if you cannot control (yet!) your Empath skills:

• Feeling nervous or anxious in crowds


• Craving social contacts and yet feeling emotionally exhausted by close relationships


• Feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders


• Getting random mood swing (angry or sad)


• Feel changes in your physical energy level when you're in a crowd (very tired, very wired)


• Have a hard time falling asleep before midnight or do you procrastinate going to bed?


• Have physical symptoms that related to hearing (ringing, popping, itching in the ear canal)


• Feel emotionally uncomfortable when having sex (anxious, no sex drive, angry)

Disclaimer: This checklist is not a diagnostic or treatment tool. I am not a doctor nor a mental health professional. Some of the characteristics of Empaths can be diagnosed as ADD, agoraphobia or clinical depression. Contact your health care professional if you have any questions, need diagnostic or treatment for a mental health issue.

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The Empath Management Online Program

There are more and more online resources available for Empaths. Unfortunately, most of these resources suggest a "protective mental shield". These "protection" techniques are based on the premise that emotional information is threatening...

If you choose to go down that path, you will have to "defend" yourself for the rest of your life.
How exhausting does that sound?

I prefer an approach where instead of fighting it, you manage it!
It has the nice benefit of allowing you to "turn it back on" when you actually want to use your Emotional Intelligence for something productive!!!

My work is result-based: if it works, keep doing it!

As an Empath, I've tried a lot of different tools. I finally narrowed it down to some basic techniques that get the job done quickly and efficiently. Try them out yourself and see if it helps you feel better!

The Empath Training Program been designed to help you get more comfortable and confident with your unique Empath skills.

In 7 days, you'll learn 7 exercises that you can use in situations that tend to be difficult for Impaired Empaths. These are the topics covered in this program:

• Day 1: The Anatomy of Empaths FREE
• Day 2: Being an Empath in a crowd
• Day 3: Being an Empath with family and friends
• Day 4: Being an Empath in a romantic relationship
• Day 5: Raising Empath children
• Day 6: Being an Empath at work
• Day 7: Why are you an Empath?
• Bonus Exercise! Grounding Techniques for Empaths

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Free Resources for Empaths

• The Empath Community web site
  I have created a free web site dedicated to Empaths.
  Join our lively community and start posting on your own blog or talk in the forum about your exeriences!
  
  
  Visit Empath Community
  
  
  
• Online articles on Empaths
  I have compiled an ever growing list of articles on being an Empath.
  You'll find them on my Empath web site here:
  Articles on being an Empath
  
  
• Stay up to date with the best online resources!
  I am always looking for new interesting web sites on Intuition and Empaths.
  When I find something really good, I tell you all about it in my Insight Connection Newsletter.
  
  
  Email:
  Please note: Most of the resources discussed in the Insight Connection Newsletter are FREE.
  This is NOT a sales newsletter for services...it's an online resource guide.
  I will not share your email with anyone.
  
  
  
  

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Dear Empath friend,
I hope you have found this page helpful...

This is my way to extend a helping hand, if you need one.
I want you to know that you are not alone out there.
But until you reach out, you won't know that for yourself...

In love,

Elise