Do people tell you that you are just too sensitive? Maybe you are Empathic. You are empathic if you can feel what others are experiencing physically, emotionally, or mentally. Yes, there are advantages to knowing what others are feeling, but you really don’t want to feel that person’s headache or know he or she is lying! All of the sensations can become overwhelming, yet empathy can be really useful. So, here are some ways to live as an Empath without getting beat up by your sensitivities.

The First Step

The first step to dealing with empathic sensitivity is to know what is yours and what isn’t. If you are not prone to headaches, yet all the sudden you have one, look around and see who nearby is holding their head or has a furrowed brow. Empathy can happen with people who are nearby as well as with people you are strongly connected to. You can see why empathic people can feel a sensation without knowing it isn’t theirs. So what to do?

Here is what to do!

When you experience a sensation, emotion, pain, mental stress, etc that comes on quickly, take a moment to see if there is any reason that this should be occurring. Say you are in a restaurant and suddenly feeling very emotional. Did anything happen today that would lead you to be emotional? Is the conversation you are having over lunch making you stressed? If you can’t think of anything, look around. It might be the person sitting next to you or the waitress taking your order. Is your friend telling you about an argument they had with their spouse this morning? It isn’t as important whose experience you are having, or where they are located, as much as you determine that it isn’t yours.

Now what?

Once you have determined that you are not the source, there are a number of things you can do.

1. Repeat your name to yourself, while feeling your feet on the ground. This ensures that you are in your body and connected to yourself, not whoever is having the problem.
2. Imagine a ball of very bright light in your heart center and explode it outward, clearing your body and telling yourself, “I fully release whatever is not mine.” After that, ask the Recycling Angels to come and take away whatever is released and send it to the light for healing. Then recheck and see if it is still there. You will need to be honest here. Maybe your friend was dumping on you one too many times and that anger you were feeling was yours. Usually though, by then the sensation has been cleared out. You can finish up by surrounding yourself with golden light as a healing salve.

Empathic people tend to be like an energy sponge, sucking up every energetic yuck that flies by. Excess energy can be overwhelming, even if it is good energy. Just like a sponge can be wrung out, so can you.

Another Exercise

Here is a third exercise that gets rid of excess energy.

1. Take a moment to be aware that you have taken on excess energy.
2. See whatever is bugging you as energy and depersonalize it. You can imagine it is a color in your body.
3. Imagine or know that you have a root that runs down your legs and into Mother Earth.
4. See the energy you have taken on running down your body and into the Earth.
5. Breathe deeply and continue to release the energy down into Mother Earth.
6. Thank Mother Earth for dealing with this energy and affirm you will become more aware and not take others’ energy on so easily.
7. Now picture the golden light coming from above your head.
8. Allow that golden light to enter through the top of your head and fill up your entire body.
9. The Golden light also flows down through the roots, washing out any remaining color of that excess energy you took on earlier.
10. This golden light is healing you and to Mother Earth.
11. Allow that golden light to just flow from head to root for a minute or two.
12. Now see the golden light filling up your entire body and expanding out in a 5-foot radius. It is like a circle of light above, below; side to side, and behind you.
13. Once your entire circle is as full of golden light as possible, allow it to dissipate.
14. Ask the Recycling Angles to come pick up what is released.

One Last Tip

There is one last way to release that excess energy. Imagine that your body looks like Scotty is beaming you up and allowing the energy to just flow through you and not stick.

There are many ways to work with excess energy. The important thing to remember is that sensitive isn’t a good or a bad word. It describes the awareness of energy that cannot be seen. Although it can feel really icky and overwhelming until you can develop ways to work with it. Use these tips to help you turn your empathy into a tool for better awareness.

Cindy Griffith, Psychic, Spiritual Development Teacher, Blogger, and Author of Soul Soothers: Mini Meditations for Busy Lives is excited about her latest book, co-authored with Lisa K., Grow Your Spiritual Business. Cindy teaches throughout the US and Tokyo. Find more about Cindy, her articles, books, meditation CDs, and Psychic readings at http://www.CindyGriffith.com

Looking for more? Check out Cindy’s Empath Classes

PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON HUFFINGTON POST – under the name 4 Coping Skills for Empathic Overload.