Do you feel like you’re overly sensitive? Do you feel overwhelmed in large crowds, in areas with strong smells, and even in online communities? If so, you might be an empath. You might be feeling into the sensations, thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the people, animals, and environments around you.. What most people don’t realize, though, is that when pain, strong negative emotion, or anxiety/panic arises within them, that these feelings are often being absorbed into their energy field from the environment around them, rather than emanating from within. So, what does it really mean to be an empath? For me, it means that we deeply and unconsciously sense, feel and take on the thoughts feelings, physical sensations, symptoms, and emotions of others in our environment. This can be people or animals, the land that we walk upon, people from our past that we suddenly think about, or it could even be people within our virtual environment. Separation is an illusion. See, we all have this basic human illusion of separation. We feel like we are individuals and that our physical bodies are separate from nature, separate from other people’s energies, but we are all so very deeply interconnected. We are all in an energetic relationship with one another and with every single thing in our environment, when we breathe, we are in relationship with the trees. And similarly, when we tune into any being or situation with our awareness, we are instantly energetically connected with whatever or whoever we are tuning into. I have a handful of patients that I can almost guarantee that if I think about that person, send them my loving thought waves, they call within a day or two. We are all intertwined with one another on a cosmic level and the seeming separation between us is an illusion. I might go deeper down this particular rabbit hole another day, but for now, this is just a good thing to keep in mind when learning about empathy. So, Are you an empath? To find out, follow along with this questionnaire (from Dr. Judith Orloff’s book: The Empath’s Survival Guide). Answer these with a ‘mostly yes’ or ‘mostly no’ to each question and keep a mental note as you go of how many “mostly yes’s” you get: 1. Have I’ve been labeled as “overly sensitive,” shy, or introverted? 2. Do I frequently get overwhelmed or anxious? 3. Do arguments or yelling make me ill? 4. Do I often feel like I don’t fit in? 5. Am I drained by crowds and need alone time to revive myself? 6. Am I over stimulated by noise, odors, or non-stop talkers? 7. Do I have chemical sensitivities or can’t tolerate scratchy clothes? 8. Do I prefer taking my own car places so I can leave early if I need to? 9. Do I overeat to cope with stress? 10. Am I afraid of becoming suffocated by intimate relationships? 11. Do I startle easily? 12. Do I react strongly to caffeine or medications? 13. Do I have a low pain threshold? 14. Do I tend to socially isolate? 15. Do I absorb other people’s stress, emotions, or symptoms? 16. Am I overwhelmed