Empathy is the gift of being able to put yourselves in someone else’s shoes and feel things as if you were them. However, there are several different types of empaths, each of which has a different set of empathetic abilities.
The 6 main types of empaths are:
The emotional empath is one of the most common types of empaths. If you are this type, you will easily pick up the emotions of others around you and feel the effects of those emotions as if they were yours.
The emotional empath will deeply experience the feelings of others in their own emotional body. For example, an emotional empath can become deeply sad around another individual who is experiencing sadness.
For emotional empaths, it is important to learn to differentiate between your own emotions and those of others. In this way, you can use your ability to help others without becoming drained.
Those with this type of empathy can pick up on the energy of other people’s bodies. They intuitively know what ails another person. Many people with this type of empathy become healers either in the conventional medical professions or in alternative ones.
Physical empaths may ‘feel’ an awareness in their physical body when treating someone. They may also ‘see’ blockages in a person’s energy field that they sense need treating.
If you are a medical empath, you may pick up on symptoms from others and feel them in your own body. Taking on the physical symptoms of others may lead to health problems.
Some people with chronic illnesses such as fibromyalgia or autoimmune diseases might find it helps to strengthen their own energetic field so that they can turn this ability off when necessary. Taking some training in a form of healing can also help to hone this ability.
Geomantic empathy is sometimes called place or environmental empathy. Those with this ability have a fine attunement to the physical landscape. If you find yourself uncomfortable, or really happy in certain environments or situations, for no apparent reason, you may be a geomantic empath.
If you are a geomantic empath, you will feel a deep connection to certain places. You may be drawn to sacred stones, groves, churches or other places of sacred power. You may also be sensitive to the history of a place and be able to pick up on sadness, fear or joy that have occurred in locations.
Place empaths are highly attuned to the natural world and grieve for any damage to it. They watch with horror when trees are cut down or landscapes destroyed.
If you are this type of empath, you will probably need to spend time in nature to recharge. You may also find helping in an environmental project very healing for you.
It is also important for you to make your everyday surroundings as harmonious and beautiful as you can. You may feel happier if you fill your house with plants and natural scents. You might also like to choose natural materials such as wood and linen for your clothing and furniture.
If you are a plant empath, you intuitively sense what plants need. You will be green-fingered and have a true gift for placing the right plant in the right place in your garden or home. Many plant empaths choose to work in parks, gardens or wild landscapes where they can put their gifts to good use.
In fact, if you have chosen an occupation that involves plants, then you are probably a plant empath. Some people with this gift actually receive guidance from trees or plants directly by hearing it within the mind.
If you are this kind of empath, you will already know that you need a lot of contact with trees and plants. You might like to strengthen this bond by sitting quietly by a special tree or plant and attuning more closely to its needs and guidance.
Many empaths have a strong connection with animals. However, an animal empath will probably devote their lives to working for the care of our animal friends. Those with this gift will know what an animal needs and may be able to telepathically communicate with the creature.
If you are an animal empath, you probably already spend as much time with animals as you can. You may find that studying the biology or psychology of animals helps you to refine your gift.
You could also consider training as an animal healer as your special talent can enable you to find out what is wrong with an animal and treat it accordingly.
If you are a claircognizant or intuitive empath, you will pick up information from other people simply by being around them. One glance at someone can give you all kinds of insight into that person. You will immediately know if someone is lying to you because you can sense the intentions behind their words.
Those with this gift resonate with others’ energetic fields and read the energy of others very easily. This is closely related to the telepathic empath who can read another person’s thoughts.
If you have this ability, you need to surround yourself with people who you feel aligned with. With this gift, you may need to strengthen your energetic field so that you are not constantly bombarded with the thoughts and emotions of others.
Being an empath is not easy. You may find it confusing, disorientating and exhausting. However, understanding which of the types of empath you are can help you to use your gifts and abilities to help yourself and those around you.
Sharing our experiences of being an empath can increase our understanding. If you relate to any of these types of empaths, please share your experiences with us.
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I definitely feel I am the majority of all as well, I'm trying to understand myself so I can find healing. After loosing my Dad I'm on a quest to find peace.
I list my dad 3 years ago and am still struggling but you gotta let yourself feel and be close with loved ones I've been resisting alot in my life and it hasn't helped so don't run away from grief. Alot of feelings come up even negative ones and it's very important to feel those.
Would you let me help you?
Emotional empath definitely fits. I feel things that go on around me and a very deep level. Even so much as if I see a news story about a child that is sick or has died and my empathy for the parents goes way into hyperdrive.
Sometimes being in a big crowd is overwhelming simply because of the emotions going on around me. I've actually left buildings or public places because I just felt suffocated and that something was very wrong. Only to find out later that a fight broke out or something bad happened.
Hello. I have always as a young child has been able to pick up on peoples emotions. And found myself talking with strangers about their life's some very personal. I never understood it, but as I got older I felt that there was something different about me I just never quit understood what? Just a few weeks ago I was at a local swimming hole with my family and this older woman and started chit chatting and next thing I know she's telling me things about her past. Some I would say very personal. She then says (after about an hour of us talking) "WOW I haven't talked about that to anyone in a very long time. I am sorry to burden you with all that, I don't know what came over me??" and i could tell by the look in he eyes that she was embarrassed and some what ashamed that she had opened up to me that deeply. I just smiled and told her its fine and believe it or not it happens all the time. Don't be embarrassed your fine and I smiled and winked at her. She really didn't say much after that. I just ran across this article on my FB page and I think I might be an emotional empath. If so how do I control it better? I find myself so tired all the time even though I get 9 hours of sleep a night,
I'm really confused I fit into all the one of these categories and that's the first one. So what am I?
I have always been skeptical when it comes to the subject of spirituality, the paranormal or people having extraordinary 'gifts'. I prefer to seek the 'scientific' explanation behind seemingly strange occurrences before I am anywhere near comfortable enough saying "this is extraordinary". Often I conclude that the most likely explanation is a keen intuition, or simply the brain assigning a feeling to memory or the memory of dream in hindsight of the event. Still, I try keep and open enough mind and when reading the definition under "Geomantic Empath" - I couldn't help think "THIS IS ME! This is something I could never give a reasonable explanation for." The house my moved into when I was 17 had a welcoming feeling I couldn't quite describe. To this day, when I go back to visit my family, the grounds and house itself still welcome me. They have been very happy and very fortunate in this house. Animals come into the garden often and the herbs and vegetables grow well. I had only learned recently that my little sister always had nightmares in a house my family stayed in when we both very young. I never liked that house. Unhappiness seeped from the walls. Our dogs, both healthy and well cared for died soon one after the other. A few years after we moved out, the house burned down. There was a problem with the electrical wiring.
I cannot claim to know how people feel or what they're thinking - I can read people pretty well most of the time, but this is because I note of how they talk, how they carry themselves, what they talk about.. I use my own judgement and reasoning to asses people.
The energy that lingers in my surroundings influence me heavily. So much so that I times I become reclusive. I have been to a club once in my life, it wasn't even bust\y yet, but I felt invasive feelings of discomfort, fear and confusion. When mentioning this to a friend, she proceeded to tell me stories of people suspecting a bartender of spiking women's' drinks.
I am like you in the difficulty in believing in things that are not able to be proven, I love facts and statistics, basically anything that is definitive/proven. I struggled for many years always feeling different, sensing and knowing things about people that I didn't know other than in passing. I always felt heavy. Long story short (won't give ya book on my life lol) I went to a psychiatrist thinking maybe I was struggling mentally. Best decision I ever made as he looked at me and said "you aren't crazy, you don't need antidepressants, no need for any mood stabilizers....You are an empath" ummmm what.... ummm no... thats just people reading peoples body language, Empathy doesn't actually exist. I thought he was nuts. He then printed something and handed it to me... Empathy has been scientifically/medically proven. He handed me a medical journal and it changed my life. Our Brains produce Mirror Neurons which Im still researching to completely understand. Here is one of the articles that my Dr forwarded me which has helped me understand the best....
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11299-014-0160-x
From one fact driven mind to the other I wanted to share, its a great read and it solidified my brains need for evidence other than what I was "feeling" ...