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Empathy in most common and basic sense is the ability to sense what is/has happened to another person/animal/etc. Throughout my time being pagan, while having empathy. I have heard people saying empathy is a gift, power and etc. Really whatever you call it is up to you. As hearing what Empathy is considered? I also heard there are different types of Empathy. Most commonly two type Emotional and Cognitive Empathy. Now being a beginner you may think that make sense.
Emotional Empathy occurs when you feel physically along with the other person, as though their emotions were contagious. This kind of Empathy makes someone well-attuned to another persons inner emotional world.
Cognitive Empathy i s having a consciousness of the need to imaginatively put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely understand them, which requires the consciousness of our egocentric tendency to identify truth with our immediate perceptions of long-standing thought or belief.*A*
Well I do not believe so. I believe there is more types than such. What I believe-Empathy can be based off of Animate or inanimate subjects.
The Common Empath- This is what most people I believe think empathy is. The ability to sense ones feelings emotions and etc. This allows Compassion and care. But can overwhelming the Empath by not able to tell what they feel verse the people surrounded by them.
Question I get from this. How can I keep from being overwhelmed by empathy? Practice, Moderation, Meditation, Concentration, and being aware of everything around you. Solitude is also good. I often suggest for people to take an hour a week to be away from civilization if possible**
Earth/Natural Empathy-This is an amazing type of Empathy the ability to sense anothers feeling from animals to plants. Including celestial beings-Moon etc. They have a tendency to have a good accurate guess at the weather based on their Natural Empathy. People with this type can grow deeper into it. But it can be overwhelming as well.
Question I get from this. Are you born with this type or can you learn it? I say yes to both. It is both born with it and we can all learn. Grounding and meditating outside and observing the moon cycles are simple ways for us to attune to our basic sense.
Physical/Material- They have the ability to senses someones body functions from diseases and so forth. Not a very good thing looking at it. Some people I have met with this type often have a range of disorders from diseases and chronic pains. Grounding is a good way to help as well as often meditating and cleansing. Also they tend to have this unusual uncanny ability to touch an object and sense that it belongs to.
Question I get from this is Do I need to set up Boundaries? Yes.. Yes you do. We all have boundaries. Whether we see them or not. You should make a list of what may leave you vulnerable or overloaded. Think of the times of what caused you to be overloaded-Trigger. Such as the jitters, hunger, being around certain things etc.
Solar Empath- These are the empaths that know things and do not know why they know them. Gut sense you could say. But they have an issue of proving what they know with cold hard facts. These people can read what others feel think of believe. At random or with practice they learn how to access this. But this can overload and distract people. Such as an overload of information, whether useful or not. Some people I have come across suffer Anxiety attack.
Lunar Emapthy- They tend to be able to if someone is lying or not. They have the ability to see someones spiritual goals or needs. As well as spiritual purpose. But they can often get bogged down by negativity of others and end up depress.
Question Who wouldnt want to be empathic? A lot of people actually but they learn to accept it. As you have seen there are negative sides to this as well as positive.
All round- These type of Empathys are able to go through all the other stages or types. They often know the bigger picture and have access to the visual families the person may or is connected whether alive or dead. This can be overwhelming if not scary.
Question how do I cope? Some people make amulets charms and etc. Other I have met figure out how they dealt with this as a child others refer to the basic-solitude or meditation solutions.
*A*
http://empathicperspectives.blogspot.com/2009/06/cognitive-empath-vs-emotional-empath.html
**Another lesson to come soon. ~Solitude.~