May 31st, 2006

The first time someone told me they were a psychic empath it excited me. Up until that moment I felt unique, yet alone. Since, I've met quite a few people who claim to be empathic yet they weren't exactly where I was. So I have created a set of categories or stages to better understand the various stages of amplified empathy.

Stage 1: The Hyper Sensitive

This is the first step of evolution as an empath. A Hyper Sensitive is essentially someone who is, as the name implies, overly sensitive to stimuli. In particular they are extra-sensitive to emotional stimuli perceived via the five senses.

The Hyper Sensitive is often described (or critisized) by others as being "too sensitive". They're gifted with the ability to accurately read people's emotional states with very little effort yet they often lack the skill to distinguish other people's emotions from their own and can easily get caught up in emotional dramas either projecting their states on others or accepting others' emotions as the de facto reality. This is their Achilles Heal.

Other characteristics of the Hyper Sensitive include a very intense emotional life. Hyper Sensitives tend to be passionate and creative, though their creativity can be expressed through left or right brain behaviors (i.e. mathematic for one person, poetry for another). They may sometimes be diagnosed as being Bi-Polar or Manic-Depressive. Additionally, they are highly succeptable to picking up and mimicking others' emotional states as if emotions were no different than a virus. Last but not least after only a few days seeming strangers will often tell the Hyper Sensitive, "I feel like I've known you for years."

The volume of the emotional world is cranked up. They're easily aggitated by negative emotions, highly attracted to positive ones, and want to sooth suffering. The Hyper Sensitive couldn't imagine existing in a world without this intense perception of other people's emotional states.

Stage 2: The Imprinter

As a Hyper Sensitive develops they begin to realize the way they perceive the universe is different than what most others do. Though they don't have a sixth sense, per say, they have what you might call a lesser Super Power, the ability to infer highly accurate information about other people (and even animals) based on very little external input.

Not all Hyper Sensitives become Imprinters; this stage is purely optional. Yet in my experience Hyper Sensitives who have not somehow learned to experience all emotional states with a sense of calm whether they be positive or negative, tend to use their Hyper Sensitivity towards their own gain--and the fact is most people use what they have to get what they want.

Thus the Imprinter is born.

An Imprinter is someone who can read emotional states so well they begin to, consciously or otherwise, absorb, conform to, and manipulate other people's emotional states. And it's only economically logical. If someone wants love and they have the ability to imprint themselves on people they will do a little dance, sing a little song, and push, push, push, until it happens or they've driven the object of their desire away.

The irony is Hyper Sensitives want honesty and true intimacy in their friendships and their relationships and they tend to loath superficiality--yet because their emotional lives are so intense and they have yet to develop a strong ability to balance that intensity and experience it without being swept away by it they tend to imprint, push, or otherwise force others into emotional states, positive or negative, of their choosing. The important point here is the imprinter wants to experience an intimacy and force an emotionally congruous state, that is, they want people to feel they way they feel and if it's not happening...well, the imprinter will throw a tantrum.

The Imprinter will claim to love but demonstrate extreme animosity when they don't get their way.

Stage 3: The Empath

If the dictionary had a definition for Empath it would read:

noun. A mentally balanced Hyper Sensitive with a high emotional IQ.

The Hyper Sensitive is like a child that had a natural talent for art. The Imprinter is like that same child using their art to show off, feel good about themselves, and garnder favour. The Empath is like that same child who realizes they are not a master of their creations so they've studied, they've practiced, they've listened to the advice and criticisms of more knowledgable artists, until they are able to paint masterpieces--yet they're always learning to improve upon what they know.

In specific terms, the Empath recognizes their own emotional intensity and fallibity. They begin to question their perceptions and gain a level of both understanding and control over them that many would consider out of the ordinary. Though the Empathic person continues to have an overly intense emotional life they're in the constant process of learning to experience it without being a slave to it.

To reach this stage of evolution they must question their perceptoin of themselves, of others, of reality itself. On some level they understand that to improve their lives and their sensitivies they must also raise their emotional intelligence to a score of 150 or higher--and, consciously or not, they dedicate most of their waking and sleeping moments to this endevour.

They recognize that unbalanced their empathy leads to both the suffering of those and those they care about. They make it a priority to master their gift.

Stage 4: The Psychic Empath

Once reaching this level of Empathy people experience a hightened state of awareness that grows as they raise their emotional intelligence. Although not always the case, this often opens them up to senses outside the 'normal' five of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. At this point they've become Psychic Empaths.

Because their default perception of the universe is an emotionally super-charged one the Psychic Empath begins to perceive a sixth sense reality via emotional inputs. Although they may have other psychic gifts, emotion (not sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch) is the primary conduit.

For instance if someone they care about gets sick they may begin to feel ill--even if they haven't talked for days or weeks and even if they're on different continents. If someone is thinking about them positively they tend to have that "nose is itching" sensation and if someone is thinking about them negatively they often get sick to the stomach.

After recognizing this gift the Psychic Empath will also begin to understand just how important it is to be able to not only distinguish other people's emotions from their own but also to remain balanced regardless of what they're perceiving on a psychic level. The inability to recognize this and adapt to it can, and often does, de-evolve the Psychic Empath to a state where they become lost in a sea of overwhelming emotions towards a state where they can no longer distinguish reality from fantasy, it all becomes a blur.

Stage 5: ????

I don't know what comes next because I haven't gotten there yet. And if you're asking if I really believe in this crap the answer is, "Yes, yes I do." After you go through what I have you can be as skeptical as you want--and ask Vipassana, I'm a pain in the ass skeptic--but one must accept what the universe presents as truth regardless of how weird and mystical it might seem.

 

Yesterday I was in a foul mood. When I tell my daughter I'm in a "foul" mood that's my hint to go anywhere else because I'm libel to bite and for no particular reason, with no percentage of fairness or kindness. Yesterday was the most foul I've felt in a long, long time.

I don't know when it started. I wasn't happy after I got up. I didn't want to go to work. At work I overreacted to nearly everything. The empathic perception of negativity from a co-worker would amplify itself a thousand times. I knew this wasn't normal but I didn't feel I had any control over it.

Other times this has occurred I've found I was under psychic attack. I'd learn, only later that day or the next, that this someone was focused on me in a negative way. And so I've learned to spot the psychic colour and smell of a psychic attack and put up emotional barriers to protect myself. That's not what was going on, though. I didn't feel attacked and no amount of mental sheilding did the trick.

It didn't make any sense.

There's a lot that's been going on in my life that's had me down this year, but nothing extreme or unbearable--and I was reacting to suble stimuli to the extreme. At several points during the work day I found myself typing with my eyes close wishing to simply vanish into the blackness of death; it seemed like the most attractive thing I could imagine. Screw everything else I had ever wanted or hoped for, the only realistic thing seemed to be the sweet blackness of the beyond.

And it didn't make sense.

That afternoon I left work a little early and met a co-worker at a motorcycle shop thinking this might help me get out of this funk but I found the motorcycle ride emotionally taxing, almost dangerous. I didn't want to be at the shop, I didn't want to be anywhere, but at least I wanted to be home so I could just lie down. And so I got back on the bike and the ride became more and more horrific and I couldn't understand why I'd ever liked riding--or why I was feeling so dissassociated from everything.

I felt completely lost.

After I arrived home my unfounded despair became so bad I nearly started crying uncontrollably and lashing out for no reason. I really didn't know what was going on, I mean, I have my ups and downs like anyone but this was rediculous. I just wanted to die and almost admitted as much to Vipassanna (I did not for reasons of honor and lessons learned). Then finally I just gave up, fell on the couch, and pulled the comforter up under my chin while stairing blankly at the tv.

I had not felt this way for a long, long time. And there was no reason for it!!!

About fifteen minutes later the phone rang. My immediate response was, "NO! Don't answer that, it's terrible, terrible, DO NOT ANSWER THAT! And if you do, let me stay here and hide!" Granted, I felt antisocial but the emotions I were feeling were utter terror. It didn't make sense.

Vipassana came in a few minutes later. A co-worker of hers had committed suicide. And suddenly I started to feel better and better. By the time I went to bed last night I felt almost compleely recovered. This morning I felt normal again.

There is nothing easy about being a Psychic Empath but I do know this, the gifts outweight the challenges and someday, somewhere, someone will simply accept it for what it is, accept me for who I am. That will be a wonderful day.