WHAT IS AN EMPATH?
Empaths have an extremely reactive neurological system. We don’t have the same filters that other people do to block out stimulation. As a consequence, we absorb into our own bodies both the positive and stressful energies around us. We are so sensitive that it’s like holding something in a hand that has fifty fingers instead of five. We are truly super responders.
Orloff, Judith. The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People (p. 2). Sounds True. Kindle Edition.
Are you an Empath? Read my post about discovering if you’re an Empath to learn more. If you’re here, then you are already aware of your ability.
Being an Empath can have its downfalls.
Especially if you’re not sure how to manage your gift and protect your energy from energy vampires or more so to protect yourself from absorbing other people’s energy.
For me, I’ve struggled with not being able to deflect other people’s energy and holding it as my own. Which, in turn, causes me to be very heavy with emotions and tense. I can feel the physical weight of these emotions, which can only be cleared through sage or energy clearing.
Are You Struggling with Your Empath Gift?
If you’re struggling with managing your ability and need extra help, the following books may be of help. I’ve read these and found they helped shed light on some deeper issues with being an Empath. For instance, what are you feeling, how to protect your energy, how to develop your gift, why is it a gift, how to be in a crowd or large store (that’s my issue) without being overwhelmed by the energy, and so much more?
Reading books, articles, and blogs on Empaths can be very informative if you’re reading an article written by an Empath. These books/articles tend to have more direct information and answer specific questions you encounter daily.
In reading these sources of knowledge about Empaths, you’ll find that the same information tends to get repeated over and over. Which is excellent and beneficial in the beginning stages of realizing you are an Empath. You want to consume all the information you have just discovered about yourself.
Then there comes the point when you do everything like practice shielding, using crystals, removing or identifying the energy vampires in your life. You’ve done that and are looking to gain more knowledge and understanding of your gift or ability.
It is an ability as not all people have this gift. Being an Empath, it seems crazy that other people do not feel this way.
Once you realize this, you immediately realize that you must learn more about what it is to be an Empath and how to use your ability better. But how?
Reading, of course. Then implement what you’ve read and find what works for you. Concerning health and wellness, I believe that no two people are the same; therefore, no two people will have the same outcome or experience. We must find what works for our bodies and, in this case, our Empathic ability. You may experience some forms of protection like shielding that can work and help you tremendously, while others like myself find that it doesn’t work as well.
That is okay; know that you’ll need to find what works for you and best suits your needs. Try different things and make some tweaks to customize it to fit your needs.
I’ve been searching for a book that helps with specific steps to protect your energy, strengthen your abilities, and use your Empathic abilities to help others—something beyond the how-to shield and visualization techniques I’ve read over and over.
The following books are helping me to dig deeper into my Empath abilities and offer newer information on how to expand. I hope they do the same for you; read the book(s) that speak to you most when reading over the list.
Empath: A Complete Guide for Developing Your Gift and Finding Your Sense of Self by Judy Dyer
This book is great at touching points on all the highlights of being an Empath. There is a chapter that focuses on normalizing and maintaining your gift. This is not always focused on in other books about normalizing this ability in everyday life. If you’re still working on this in your day-to-day life, this is a must-read chapter.
If you’re unfamiliar with Ho’oponopono, this book will teach you how to heal yourself with Ho’oponopono. I’ve not read this in any other Empath book but enjoyed reading about it here as a tool for Empaths.
As a bonus with the digital book, I received a copy of Hygge: Discovering The Danish Art Of Happiness. I’ve been interested in learning about Hygge, so this was a happy surprise bonus.
Book Excerpt
Oversensitivity to people’s energy and noise is a common reaction to energy acceleration, as you ascend to higher heights in your spiritual development, you should expect to experience this. When you begin to accelerate in the spiritual realm, you may feel like a radio signal picking up a million signals at once. When there is a shift in spiritual vibration, your sense of intuition and your emphatic channels are open causing a heightened awareness of the thoughts and feelings of those around you. Spiritual hypersensitivity can manifest physically causing third eye dizziness, hypersensitivity to energy, odors, light and noise.
Dyer, Judy. Empath: A Complete Guide for Developing Your Gift and Finding Your Sense of Self (p. 32). Kindle Edition.
Self-Care for Empaths 100 Activities to Help You Relax, Recharge, and Rebalance Your Life by Tanya Carroll Richardson
This is a book to read if you are ready to learn more and dive deeper into the next level of being an Empath.
I found this book to offer more in-depth, 100 activities, as in the title, ways of expanding your abilities, such as addressing psychic pathways, gut health, using astrological charts, decorating with intention, to taking your focus off someone who is triggering you. The book even comes with a few quizzes to access yourself along the way.
I love this book because the author gives you clear and direct steps on how to do everything she is talking about. The steps are clear and broken down, so you can do the activity and understand why you’re doing it. If you’re someone who likes to know the ins and outs of why things are done a certain way, this is the book for you.
Book Excerpt
THE FOUR MAIN PSYCHIC PATHWAYS
To better understand yourself as an empath, it helps to learn how the four main psychic pathways—clairaudience, or hearing intuitive guidance; claircognizance, or knowing intuitive guidance; clairvoyance, or seeing intuitive guidance; and clairsentience, or feeling intuitive guidance—operate in your everyday life. When you understand your own system, you’ll know how to better nurture it, and part of an empath’s system is a strong intuition or sixth sense. Your intuition, which gives you guidance via the four main psychic pathways, helps you navigate the world—and it can also help you navigate yourself.
Self-Care for Empaths 100 Activities to Help You Relax, Recharge, and Rebalance Your Life (p.13) by Tanya Carroll Richardson
The Empaths Survival Guide by Dr. Judy Orloff
If you are new to discovering your Empath abilities, this is a great book to get you started. Not only will you find the basic building blocks of being an Empath, but you will also begin to take a deeper dive into everyday life as an Empath.
Dr. Judy Orloff is an Empath and physician. She specializes in treating highly sensitive people, which I think is fantastic. She has a unique view and takes on being an Empath and helping other Empaths with a doctor’s background. This is reflected in the chapter in her book dedicated to Empaths and addiction, which includes everything from Alcohol and Overeating. That is not something you find in all the other books.
The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People also includes a quick reference guide on protection strategies, so you can easily access it and not go back and reread or try to find that part in the book.
Book Excerpt
An empath’s body is different from other people’s. We feel everything. Our bodies are porous so we absorb the positive and negative energies around us into our muscles, tissues, and organs. This can affect our health in many important ways. On the positive side, we’re able to sense other people’s vitality, happiness, and love within ourselves. This feels amazing and is such good medicine! However, we can also feel other people’s physical discomfort, stress, and negative emotions, such as frustration, anger, and fear (even when they’re unspoken). As empaths, we can get tired and sick when we’re around toxic people, noise, violence, rushing, and yelling.
Orloff, Judith. The Empath’s Survival Guide: Life Strategies for Sensitive People (p. 29). Sounds True. Kindle Edition.
Again, read the book that is speaking or jumping out to you and read that first. Find a quiet spot and snuggle up and start reading. My intention with this list is to help you learn more about yourself and your awesome gift.
Interested in reading more about spirituality? Check out these Top 5 Spiritual Books.
Happy reading and learning! Take care and be well.
