How to be an Empath without Suffering

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The term empath denotes an individual who is more sensitive to the energetic experience of others, whether it be people in close physical proximity, or some type of non-local interaction such as over the phone or online or simply thinking of a certain person.

In all actuality, every single individual is empathic and intuitive. We all have the ability to fine-tune our sensitivities and increase our clarity of awareness.

We all feel the energy flow of those around us to some extent, but most of this may go unnoticed. Without really understanding the details of our energetic connections, we will react to the energies and emotions of those we interact with every single day, but on a subconscious level. That is, unless we become aware of our empathically sensitive nature.

Some of us may identify with the term empath in order to justify why we feel like a victim to other people’s energies. It’s a somewhat common understanding of the empath persona to feel so deeply that we feel overwhelmed by other people’s energies quite regularly. Some may feel so overwhelmed by erratic emotions, especially when in large crowds, that we determine we just prefer the more solitary life of an introvert and decide not to go out very often. In extreme cases, we feel it’s best just to stay home, except for very specific outings we feel obligated to accomplish, such as work and grocery shopping.

 

You Can be Empathic Without Suffering

 

To become more reclusive because we are energetically sensitive is unnecessary. There is a way to be an empathically sensitive individual who can comfortably go out in large crowds, even for long periods of time. We can interact with others and not get upset by the chaotic or the seemingly ‘low’ energies that others exude. I know it’s possible, because I am also extremely sensitive and empathic myself.

Empaths are very sensitive to energies, which means being highly sensitive to emotions (energies in motion). The reason why is because empaths have naturally very wide-open heart centers.

The empath’s heart chakra is extremely strong, open and intensely tuned-in. We are sensitive to other’s emotional (energetic) states because our energy field is in tune with the flow of energy between ourselves and the individual(s) with whom we are interacting.

Our heart is our emotional facilitator: and when it’s strong and open, we are emotionally very aware.

Being so energetically tuned in is why some of us get overwhelmed in large crowds. It can feel extremely chaotic and challenging to clearly understand what we are experiencing within ourselves versus what energies we may be sensing from others.

What we call emotion is simply our personal impression of the creative life-force energy flowing as, through, and within our being. This vibrant life-force energy is always flowing as a divinely orchestrated harmonic symphony, the quality of which is impeccably perfect and isn’t logically understood by analyzing, but only experientially realized as it’s felt and known within the core of our being.

When we experience this creative life-force flow clearly, we tend to become transfixed in a state of complete reverence and awe for the utter beauty that encapsulates us. Vibrant wellness is our natural state when we allow energy to flow through us. Being in an energetic state of absolute allowance, in each moment, is experienced as total peace with What Is.

 

Allowing the Ebb and Flow of Life

 

We may perceive the life-force energy flowing within our being as potentially negative or positive. But those thoughts are just our personal judgments, based on whether we are openly embracing that moment or if we are viewing our experience through the confused lens of fear and insecurity, creating resistance to that moment as it is.

The energy of life exists as the infinite flow of creation, and is neither negative or positive… yet it does ebb and flow, expand and contract. We cannot escape this flow or the cyclical shifts within it. We can only honor the entire flow in all its glory, so that we may be at peace with What Is.

What we may consider negative—such as death and destruction—is simply the creative process of eliminating what’s no longer vibrantly useful, opening up space for more expansion, and essentially creating the new from a fresh foundation.

All is a part of nature’s creative flow.

Yin and Yang occurs in this physical life experience, no matter how much suffering, struggle, and pain we may scream out against as a plea for it to stop. All is extremely sacred and vital, no matter how we may perceive it in the moment.

When we see clearly, we experience all as the sacred flow of infinite love. Struggle and suffering occurs because of our resistance against the contractual ebb of the sacred flow, not as an actual component of the flow.

We ourselves exist as the sacred flow of life. We are all innocent expressions of this sacredness in physicality. Our feelings exist as our individual impression of this creative flow as it coincides and connects with our personal experience.

When we are in a state of full allowance, being completely open energetically and by embracing all just as it is, we feel the emotions as being extremely pleasant and positive. The energy flowing unimpeded is what causes us to feel peace, serenity, contentment, calm, inner reflection, grace, limitless expansion, creativity and reverence for all.

 

Fear is Resistance

 

When we doubt, or buy into fear, we are seeing this energy through a perception that interprets the flow of energy as harsh, upsetting, disturbing, and antagonistic. We may have thoughts that tell us there’s a potential problem, and we may get caught up in the idea that something needs to be solved, resolved, protected against, proven, defended, or justified. We may feel stressed out, sad, angry, or uneasy because we buy into beliefs that lack may be our ultimate destiny.

Fear that all may not be well distorts our perception, causing us to experience the energy flow as uncomfortable and undesirable. Many of us tense up to resist the flow of energy when we fearfully perceive it as negative, because we think we should avoid feeling it in order to protect ourselves. We may suppress feeling anything we perceive as negative because we think we must ‘be positive’ to keep ourselves in a ‘higher state of vibration’ or to effectively create the reality we desire.

Our emotional state is always our own individual interpretation of the sacred flow of life.

Allowance is our naturally harmonic state of pure being which honors everything we experience and feel. Resistance, due to inner fear and feeling unworthy, is an effort to try and restrict the flow of energy within our experience, with the intention of keeping us safe—and yet doing so keeps us struggling against what is and only offers us suffering along the way.

 

Judgement Disrupts the Flow of Life

 

When we are empathically sensitive and feel uncomfortable when interacting with an individual, we may determine the other individual’s energy as ‘low’, ‘dense’, ‘heavy’ or ‘negative’. That’s when many of us empaths may determine it’s time to leave the situation to avoid that which we don’t prefer.

If we have determined another’s energy as ‘low’ or ‘negative’, that is an indicator we hold judgments and are buying into a belief of inferior and not ‘good enough’.

We only judge that which we fear. We only judge that which we deny and that which we’ve ignored within our own selves.

We judge another’s anger when we’ve suppressed our own anger. We resent another’s flow of joy when we’ve sacrificed our own joyful flow. We may also misinterpret or take another’s ‘negative’ energy personally, because we don’t realize we have unresolved insecurities within ourselves.

Our level of comfort or discomfort is always our own perception of the energetic flow. We do not experience another’s interpretation of the flow of energy, as that is filtered through their own state of being, beliefs, and awareness.

When we allow the life-force energy within our own field to flow freely (even during the ebbs of contraction), we will not determine (judge) the flow of energy within another as negative or bad, ever, no matter how the other individual experiences their own energy. We will honor the flow of energy as we and they each choose to experience it—without our personal judgments of how open or closed, dense or light, low or high we think their flow of energy may be and without feeling the need to analyze all the potential reasons why their energy may or may not be flowing.

 

Become Empowered as an Empath

 

The best way to become empowered as an empathically sensitive individual is to strengthen and increase our conscious awareness of our own connective flow to the sacred energy of life.

If we take full responsibility for our entire experience of life, we will choose to honor our own creative flow.

We can follow our heart and our knowing, and create our own amazing experiences from the joyful passion of our innermost essence. In this way, we are not actually increasing the energy itself, but are simply becoming more consciously aware of the sacred flow of energy (life) and our individual connection to it.

 

Strengthen the Solar Plexus to Ground Emotional Experiences

 

Finally, we can become more conscious as we perceive our individual energetic flow as an aspect of our power center, our solar plexus chakra. The solar plexus is the energy center within our gut that determines our level of confidence in our physical expression. This is our power center because it’s where the flow of life-force energy is most directly felt within the physical body.

As this chakra is located directly below our heart, it’s the main energy center uniting the physical human aspect of our being with our more etheric energetic essence; it is the bridge between our more intuitive senses/aspects and the physical component of our being.

Our heart and solar plexus unify our cosmic universal energy within the active physical expression of our being in human form. Our solar plexus is the vital energy center which provides us the means to actualize our fulfillment here in the physical world.

By strengthening our solar plexus, we balance our huge heart center with the grounded, physical components of our being, uniting our sacred divinity within the physicality of our human vessel. We more readily actualize our fulfillment within the physical as we apply our inner knowing confidently, by aligning our choices in each moment with our gnosis, as we balance and strengthen our solar plexus to match our already-huge hearts.

Having a huge heart but not being able to physically express that energy will only result in feeling emotionally unstable, as a victim to our circumstances and the people that form our experience, while feeling unable to physically manifest our greatest dreams.

When we embrace that which is unconscious within, enveloping all the potential unknowns with total compassion, we will no longer judge that which is unconscious within others.

Embracing all that we avoid, reject, suppress, ignore, and deny with absolute compassion offers our wounded innocence solace.

 

Allow Life to Flow with Unconditional Compassion

 

By fully facing, acknowledging, and shining the light of awareness on that which we fear, that which may appear hideous in ourselves or others, we can then perceive the exquisite beauty of our wounded innocence. We make that which is unconscious conscious.

Everything we have determined as either good or bad in the outside world exists as a mirror, reflecting that which we honor and embrace within or those aspects which we reject, deny, and resist within ourselves.

Unconditional compassion is not threatened, bothered, or upset by anything.

When we sense another’s unresolved pain, we will feel compassion if we’ve offered our own pain compassion. We do not like that which we’ve denied within. We are bothered only by that which we do not embrace within ourselves. We judge what we deny within. We reject in others that which we reject within ourselves.

As empaths, when we use all that we experience in our world to more clearly know our divine Self, we offer ourselves the gorgeous gift of taking total accountability for and embracing all aspects of our being with unconditional compassion. We recognize our entire experience is a miracle, a divine gift of eternal sacredness—and not a burden, test or struggle we must endure.

By accepting, embracing, and honoring all aspects of our own being, we will naturally offer the same compassion to all those with whom we experience the journey of life.

 

headshot_Anna Horst

 

Anna Horst is Creator, Energetic Empress, Psycho-Spiritual Consultant, & Empowerment Adviser at ConsciousManifesting.com

Living in the Breath: A Meditation of Divine Consciousness

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About the Practice

All is one. Each of us is a unique embodiment of One Consciousness which is the first cause and from which all of creation flows. The dance and dancer are not separate, just diverse expressions of the whole. The wave and ocean are not separate or divided, but both aspects of the same fluid essence.

Within the absolute, there is no division and no separation. Within the realm of the absolute all is one, all is whole and all is united. The essence of infinite pure being, pure awareness, pure presence, pure consciousness in expression constitutes the whole of un-manifested and manifested creation.

Non-existence or non-being is not an experience which can be known or realized. Therefore, it doesn’t exist except within the perceived absence of awareness. There is no such existence that all-encompassing consciousness truly isn’t, so the concept of actual death is merely an illusion we’ve temporarily bought into. How can we come to know our self completely until we’ve perceived what is seemingly not-self? All experiences in our life form the journey to know and express our authentic self.

Going inward, we’ll find presence, awareness, pure being. When we look for and seek this treasure outside of our self we may temporarily feel comfortable but always end up feeling emotionally chaotic, agonized, pained, and like life is a struggle. We can never be truly separate, but sometimes it may feel that way when we are, seemingly, looking in the wrong direction. Seeking the greatest treasure outside of our self creates pain and struggle, while going within brings peace and harmony.

Aligning with our authentic whole self regularly until the point of becoming one with pure being, pure presence, absolute awareness as a constant state, is what is commonly called enlightenment or self-realization.

When we awaken to our infinite nature that resides within we have access to the force that breathes life into all of creation. By giving birth to our authentic self, we allow our physical form innate connection to infinite divinity expression. To express from our inherently divine nature each moment is what the mystics term self-actualization. We each have a connection to the force that creates worlds within our very own being. When we allow that alignment and express from that awareness, we will start to create a life beyond our wildest dreams!

How to do the Practice

Part One

Close your eyes, breathe deeply, having all the attention of your focus on your breathing; focus only on the movement of energy flowing in and out.

Allow all thoughts to come and go, but always bring your focus back to here and now, completely following your every breath.

When breathing in, allow your focus to follow the energy and breath coming into your being. Then on the out-breath allow your focus to follow the energy outward, allowing yourself to relax and surrendering your whole being, your body and mind to this very experience.

With each breath, allow your being to be more and more relaxed.

Each breath is a perfect expression of both yin and yang, allowing all naturally. Any forcing, trying or effort occurring should be relaxed by the focus of your out-breath. It is a natural flow, not an efforting practice.

The energetic aspects of this practice are allowing, being, surrendering, flowing, easing, relaxing and contentment. All thoughts within the mind should be allowed, but come back to your breath each time you realize you are thinking or following a train of thought.

Allow all the attention of your focus to be on breathing, relaxing your whole being and slowing your mind and thoughts.

 Part Two

When the thoughts have slowed completely down to the point of dissolving and you are very relaxed, release all focus entirely and just reside within the expansion of pure creative potentiality; allowing yourself to be the observer of all, attached to none.

Letting go of all control, force, and focus, we surrender to the expansive space of pure presence.

By not consciously directing our focus, we allow it to expand. No longer direct your awareness, just completely allow it its own direction.

Just be, not dictating anything, letting go of all.

You are no longer your body, but your body is the physical vessel contained within you. You are no longer the thinker of the thoughts, but thoughts are allowed and observed through this space of presence that is the essence of who you really are. It is no longer the processes of your being that you identify as, but the infinitely creative essence, the peace and the eternal awareness beyond all form, which you really are.

The pure presence of absolute awareness is the complete consciousness that you really exist as. Be that. Allow that. Honor that. Enjoy that.

Part Three

Now bring that awareness and pure presence of your authentic being fully into your physical vessel, as you live your daily life.

Feel your body. Feel through your senses. Experience what your sight shows you in your current view.

Allow your self to be aware of your experience without analyzing it; without thinking about it or dissecting it. Just allow it to be without judgment.

Experience the physical sensations you are currently feeling on or within your body. What sensations do you feel through touch? Maybe a whispering tickle on your head or something within your hands or on your fingers? Don’t think about or label everything, just allow it to be as it is. Just experience it, just feel it; feeling it purely without analyzing any of it.

Allow yourself to listen to the sounds you hear. Experience the sounds within this moment. Experience all the smells and tastes. Purely feel all the bodily sensations; allowing all sensations to really captivate your now moment experience.

Living fully is to experience without analyzing, labeling, judging and dissecting. It is what’s termed as living in the moment; divinity expressing in physicality.

We are bridging the gap between our meditative state and our everyday life, which is usually called walking or waking meditation. By embracing each and every moment fully, we truly live life as it’s meant to be.

Being present means we are fully aware and embrace our physical experience, but that we are not identifying with our thoughts. There is no psychological attachment to that which our mind perceives. We are purely living; we are thriving. We are living purely by feeling through our heart and feeling through our body’s senses.

Focusing on our breath, relaxing into now and letting everything go; letting everything just be, completely content as things are, in the still quiet space within, surrendering all focus, control and force, allowing our awareness to expand exponentially to encompass the all-pervasive energy of being, and residing within this infinitely creative space is to align with absolute awareness.

When we allow that space to be where we reside while engaging in life, we are expressing as pure presence and are fully ‘in the moment’. When we commune with nature we are connecting to this same essence, which is the foundation of all.

Being fully in the moment is to live in alignment with the realm of infinite wisdom. There is no question here, no doubt, fear, analyzing, labels, or identification with our mind and thoughts.

When we are seeing from the perspective of our inner heart space, we’re seeing from the perspective of divine consciousness.

headshot_Anna Horst

 

Anna Horst is Creator, Energetic Empress, Psycho-Spiritual Consultant, & Empowerment Adviser at ConsciousManifesting.com