23 Traits of an Empath

Empath

/em-path/

(n.) A person who experiences the emotions of others

Have you ever walked into a room and felt the tension from an argument that happened before you arrived? Empaths can sense and absorb energy, including emotions and physical sensations from other people and their environment from the subtle electromagnetic energy waves emitted from them. Empaths are also sensitive to the life force in humans (called Shakti, Chi, or Prana in Eastern Traditions).

The origin of the word empath originally comes from science fiction. In his 1956 book “The Empath,” Scottish author J.T. McIntosh described empaths as alien humanoid beings with supernatural empathetic abilities, The original Star Trek TV series 1968 episode “The Empath” featured a character who was a deaf woman with the ability to experience and be heal the wounds of other people.

In her story “Vaster Than Empires & More Slow,” Urula LeGuin featured a character who was an empath. In the 1984 Marvel Comics X-Men, a mutant empath who could perceive and manipulate emotion was featured. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the character Deanna Troi was a Betazoid empath with the ability to sense emotions.

You may be an empath if you:

1. Feel the emotions of others.

You often feel other people’s negative and positive emotions including fear, anger, frustration, guilt, loneliness, depression, overwhelm, resentment, sadness, jealousy, hope, love, inspiration, awe, happiness, joy, serenity, and excitement. We frequently struggle to understand the source of these feelings and how to manage the overwhelm that accompanies them.

2. Feel physical pain or discomfort of others.

You may feel the physical pain or discomfort of people who you are near (sitting next to you in a crowded movie theater for example) or even people who you have an emotional connection with when they are not present. You may feel sick when a loved one is ill or experience other unusual physical symptoms that don’t belong to you or your body.

3. Sense the energy or vibe of a person or place.

You may feel good or bad vibes, the tension of past arguments, or depression experienced by someone who inhabited the space before you arrived. You likely have good intuition when meeting new people and can sense their motives, good and bad. You may sense other empaths when first meeting them and feel a kinship with people you have just met without a rational explanation.

4. Are highly intuitive.

You may have a deep sense of knowing things about other people or future events without having been given this information through traditional forms of communication. You may have prophetic visions or dreams or a deep sense of knowing without being able to describe how you know what you know.

5. Are Deeply connected to nature, animals, and/or plants.

Do you love being in the mountains, in the desert, or near water like oceans, lakes, or rivers? Empaths frequently feel more grounded and centered while in nature and have a great appreciation for the natural beauty of the world. Furthermore, empaths frequently report feeling rejuvenated when near the water, especially near the ocean. Beaches, waterfalls, lakes, and rivers produce negative ions which are invisible molecules that are believed to increase our levels of the mood chemical serotonin which helps relieve stress, increase our energy and alleviate depression. Animals may be drawn to you and you may have been called “a green thumb.”

6. Have a calling to help people, are a healer or natural leader, and want to make the world a better place.

Many empaths are healers and feel a strong sense of passion and purpose in helping others. While this can be a wonderful quality, empaths must choose careers that are not overly emotional and draining. For those empaths that are called to help people and/or animals and make the world a better place, some great techniques can help with emotional overwhelm and keep empaths centered, grounded, and protected.

7. Are easily overwhelmed because you absorb the negativity, pain, fear, and insecurity from everyone around you.

You become overwhelmed with the sensations of other people’s energy and emotions which can be very confusing for a newly awakening empath. You may become overwhelmed with clutter and distracted by social media. Multi-tasking is often overwhelming and you often have difficulty figuring out where to start when there is so much to do and so many distractions.

8. Have had strangers often open up and tell you their problems because you make them comfortable and are an excellent listener.

It is very common for empaths to report total strangers open up to them and share their struggles in life. You may have met someone at a party or a bus stop and suddenly this person has told you incredibly personal things about themselves and their life. While this can be helpful for empaths working in helping or human services fields, it can also feel one-sided when it occurs in our personal life. It can be overwhelming and exhausting as well.

9. Are frequently targeted by narcissists, energy vampires, and other toxic people.

You may have wondered why so many narcissists, energy vampires, and other toxic people are drawn to you. You are highly empathetic by nature and these types of people are drawn to you as they often lack the gifts you have. They may attempt to mirror your empathy and other emotions or draw you into their dysfunctional lives in the role of a rescuer or savior. You may have issues with wanting to rescue or fix people because you care so deeply and can’t stand to see others in pain.

10. Have the ability to perceive insincerity, judgment, and deception.

With your strong intuition, you may perceive insincerity, judgment, and deception, especially if you are an aware empath. You likely have a strong distaste for “fake people” and others who are superficial. If you are an awakened empath, you are likely a human lie detector. For a young or unaware empath, this can be very confusing and cause self-doubt.

11. May suffer from chronic illness, depression, or anxiety.

Many empaths suffer from chronic illnesses like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune diseases, digestive issues, or chronic pain. You may also struggle with anxiety, ADHD, or depression. Because we tend to have poor energetic boundaries we often suffer from empathetic illnesses that are not really our own. In addition, we can take on empathy fatigue by caring so much. Our sensitive nervous and immune systems can become out of balance causing legitimate (not someone else’s) illnesses in our bodies that may be difficult to diagnose and often do not respond to traditional treatments.

12. Tend to self-isolate to avoid the invasive energy radiating from other people and need alone time to recharge energetically.

Do you ever come home from work or a social event and feel just exhausted, mentally and physically? It can be severely overwhelming to feel the emotions of everyone around us. Many of us tend to self-isolate to prevent the exhaustion of feeling everyone else’s emotions and physical pain. You may avoid crowds and social gatherings to preserve your precious energy. We frequently need time alone to recharge our batteries energetically.

13. Have been called sensitive, emotional, unstable, or weird.

Let’s face it: people often don’t understand our gifts and this leads to unhelpful labels like “too sensitive,” “fragile,” “overly emotional,” or just plain “weird.” Many of us have used these labels to criticize ourselves before awakening to our gifts. The science of empaths is just in the beginning stages, but some studies show we do have a higher level of empathy than average. As science moves forward in this area, I hope that we will be understood better by ourselves and others.

14. Know that someone is upset without them telling you.

Have you ever known that your spouse, your coworker, or the clerk in a store is upset despite their efforts to put on a smile and go about their day? We can pick up subtle energetic energies, emotions, and thoughts and frequently see through the smile, and know when something is bothering someone.

15. Tend to cheer for the underdog or disadvantaged.

Because of our highly attuned empathy, we notice and often try to help people who are disadvantaged or have trouble fitting in. Because we have often had trouble fitting in, we often go out of our way to make others feel comfortable. This may occur with the new kid at school or adult at work or someone who is bullied or picked on. We tend to make great social justice warriors.

16. Often feel like you don't fit in or are misunderstood.

Recent studies have indicated that 1-2% of the general population are true empaths and 15-20% are considered highly sensitive or what is now referred to as Sensory Processing Sensitivity. As you can imagine, being part of this minority can make us feel like we don’t fit in. When we begin awakening to our gifts, people often misunderstand or judge us because they have limited abilities in understanding our experiences. We often can’t explain how we feel or know what we do which leads to people thinking we are too “woo woo.”

17. Feel overwhelmed in large crowds and prefer one-on-one and small group interaction.

Have you ever gone to a large party, sporting event, festival, or even to the mall and just felt overwhelmed? Large crowds provide too much sensory overload for empaths and we often end up feeling our energy zapped or even physically ill. Some empaths avoid these types of crowded events altogether to protect their precious energy, while others use techniques like centering grounding, and shielding to manage the energetic overwhelm.

18. Prefer deep conversation to small talk.

Empaths tend to love to discuss philosophy, spirituality, and the meaning of life. Many of us dislike small talk and find it monotonous and boring. Empaths are inquisitive by nature and love learning about what makes people unique. The studies of psychology, sociology, and the neuroscience of being an empath are topics we tend to find fascinating.

19. Tend to get bored easily.

Empaths need to be stimulated or we easily get bored or distracted. Work, school, relationships, and conversations have to be interesting for an empath or we end up daydreaming, spacing out, or doodling.

20. Are spiritually open and connected to a higher source.

Empaths are unusually spiritually open and often enjoy learning about different religions and philosophies. While we may not be religious in the sense of following a particular religious or spiritual tradition. Many empaths are highly respectful about the personal beliefs of others, dislike religious intolerance, and go by the motto To thine own self be true.

21. Are overwhelmed in intimate relationships and need alone time.

Navigating personal and intimate relationships for empaths can be challenging. For young or unaware empaths, there tends to be enmeshment and often codependency in personal relationships. Empaths often fear being overwhelmed by their partner’s emotions. As we awaken to our gifts, many of us find that it is preferable to have alone time and our own space: energetic, emotional, and physical.

22. Are sensitive to disturbing media and news.

Many empaths become overwhelmed when watching the news, especially when images and words are used to describe a tragic or horrific event. While we often feel that to stay connected, hearing about and seeing people and animals suffer can be too much for us emotionally and energetically.

23. Become overwhelmed by things like bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, and coarse fabrics.

Like highly sensitive people (HSP) also known as Sensory Processing Sensitivity, empaths can easily become overpowered by bright lights, loud noises, strong smells, and coarse fabrics. We tend to prefer natural or dimmed lighting, quiet and scent-free or natural scent environments. We also may dislike tags and seams in clothing and prefer comfortable clothing made of natural materials.

Summary

The sensory overload experienced as part of living as an empath can be very confusing to young, unaware and unskilled empaths. I struggled with many of the things mentioned in this post for most of my life. It’s taken me years to learn to protect my energy and trust and interpret my intuition. My greatest passion is helping other empaths awaken to their gifts and become fully empowered and enlightened. Being an empath doesn’t have to be a curse. An educated and empowered empath is extremely powerful.

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