The Three Types Of Empaths
Have you ever been told you're too sensitive? Do you feel like you don't fit in with most crowds? Do you feel overwhelmed or anxious in big groups? If you answered yes to all three questions, then you might fall under the category of being an empath. When people surround you, their energy can be too intense that it could overpower your energy. So instead of being around large groups, you prefer one-on-one time with friends or new people you meet.
Generally speaking, being an empath means understanding other people's experiences and feelings without needing to relate to your own. When someone shares with you what they're going through — whether exciting or tragic — you feel like it's happening to you. For example, if your friend loses a loved one, instead of sympathizing and telling her everything will be okay, you can sense and feel her pain even if you've never lost a loved one.
Empathy allows you to understand what someone is going through, and being an empath makes you feel what they're going through. People being empaths isn't scientifically proven. Instead, it's a strong belief that empathy and compassion share similar characteristics. However, empathy draws from more profound emotions. There are three widely recognized types of empaths. A particular person might gravitate towards one empathetic style more than another.
Emotional empaths
An emotional empath can feel someone else's emotions as their own. In retrospect, it can be wonderful to feel happy when a friend is going through something exciting, but it can also be draining if a friend is constantly negative. For instance, if your friend got engaged to the person they love, you'll feel as though you got engaged whether you have a partner or not. But if your coworker lost a pet, you'd feel like you also lost one.
The downside of being an emotional empath is being overwhelmed and drained by people complaining about everything. While there are some things we hope wouldn't happen, bad things are a part of life, yet people who always look at the negative side can be exhausting to be around. In addition, narcissists who make themselves the center of attention without ever opening up about how they're genuinely feeling can drain emotional empaths. Therefore, you should limit your time with people who focus on the negative to keep yourself in a healthy mental state. Always practice self-care, recharge, and separate your emotions from people's negative ones.
Physical empaths
Even though intuitive empaths make you feel as though you have a sixth sense, being a physical empath makes you physically feel other people's emotions. You absorb their feelings into your body by being attuned to their physical symptoms. For example, if your sister has a stomach ache, you'll feel some pressure in your stomach as if you had pain too. Or, if your mom has a migraine, you'd feel the tension in your temples. On the positive side, as a physical empath, you can be energized by someone's well-being. So, if someone you know always has good energy and feels happy, you'll also feel their lightness and happiness.
However, if you find yourself around too many people who feel ill, it can drain your body physically. To re-energize yourself, positively talk to your body by thanking it for being strong and receiving the symptoms. By being kind to your body, you'll be able to help remove the ill symptoms you might've developed from the person you were around. If you dwell on the symptoms you're going through, you can make them worse. Instead of the symptoms going away quickly, you can prolong them.
Intuitive empaths
Intuitive empaths have characteristics similar to emotional empaths, but instead of only feeling strong emotions, they can sense the unspoken. As a result, you have a strong connection with the energy and emotions around you. Psychiatrist and author Dr. Orloff states, "Intuitive empaths experience extraordinary perceptions, such as heightened intuition, messages in threes, animal and plant communication, as well as pick up other people's emotions." Being an intuitive empath is powerful and is usually perceived as a gift by others.
When we say intuitive empaths are powerful, we mean it. While they can sense different energies around them, they also know when something will happen. You might know this as following your gut, or the feeling when you sense something internally that's strong enough not to be ignored. The downside to being an intuitive empath is getting attached to people who might not be suitable for them. They don't like seeing people suffer, so they try to help them as much as possible, even if it negatively affects them. Intuitive empaths must protect their energy to avoid getting drained from deep negative energy. You won't find them in crowded places due to various high energies, so they usually stick to themselves.