Are You an Empath?

Are you someone who always picks up on the energy that is swirling around you? You’re probably an empath – as intuitives and deep feelers, we are always picking up on the energy that is swirling around us. Being an empaths means that we are highly sensitive in so many different ways. Here are 5 ways to tell if you’re an empath:

1. You’re Super Sensitive

If you’re an empath, chances are that you’re super sensitive. You’re the person who jumps when there is a loud noise, you’re sensitive to foods, and to the amount of sleep, you’re getting, to your energetic output. You’re a super feeler! You’re someone who sinks in deep into the feeling world.

2. You Can Feel the Emotions of Everyone Around You

This is a huge telltale sign of being an empath. If you can tell how people are feeling just by being in their energy, welcome to the empath party. Not only can we sense how others are feeling around us, we act like sponges and absorb the energy of the people that are around us. This is important because if we’re not aware, we can absorb the vibration of what’s going on around us. This can leave us vulnerable if we’re not grounded in our energy. Once we can notice what is ours energetically and what is some else's, we can start to establish energetic boundaries so we don’t get drained by other people's energy.

3. You Need Alone Time

You need alone time to recharge. Since we’re feeling the energy of everyone around us, it’s important to unplug from the whirling dervish of the people around us to check back into our own energy. Because we get drained from being in the outside world, we need time to be alone to replenish. It’s essential to give ourselves time away from the noise to recharge.

4. You’re Really Intuitive

As empaths, we feel the world around us. We don’t experience the world through our intellect but through our intuition. This means that we have to trust our vibes! Living in a left brain world can cause us to doubt ourselves, since we don't live in the intellect. Our intuition is our superpower for navigating the world around us. It’s key to develop your intuition and to trust it.

5. You Have a Giant Open Heart

Empaths have giant open hearts! We experience the world through our heart space. Our wide-open hearts allow us to see and feel the world in a way that allows us to connect to the beauty but also the pain. When we see someone struggling, we feel it in our heart spaces, and it actually causes pain. Although we wear our hearts on our sleeves, this also allows us to be extra loving and compassionate to other people. We’re generous of Spirit - sometimes too generous if we’re not aware of our own boundaries and what we need.

As an empathy, we have to be as sensitive to ourselves as we are to others. This also means that we have to develop grounded techniques to be protective ourselves and our energy. We can have a tendency to take on too much energetic responsibility – when someone around us is feeling a type of way, if we’re not paying attention, we can absorb their energy and all of sudden, we are having the same emotional experience.

It’s vital that we stay in our bodies so that we don’t get flooded. Having a grounding routine is instrumental in allowing ourselves to not get sucked into the energy fields of others around us. That might look like a mediation routine or a daily yoga or running practice. It’s important that we take space in order to recalibrate our own energy. What are your favorite grounding routines?