This is an interesting topic for me to discuss. It is also a very personal one. Until I became an adult I really did not understand or could not even define the word empathy in a way that made sense to me. I certainly did not know what an empath[1] was. When I started to realize that there was something different about me, other people did too. I was told at one point that I was an empath. The younger Dru, always looking for cool labels to define her and boost her ego’s need to tell the world who she is, was curious about what that actually meant. Maybe some of you are too. Maybe those of you reading or listening to this blog are wondering if you might also be an empath.

Before I share my take on this topic, it’s important to note that the information and understanding I have, comes from experience, research, and an intuitive knowingness. I am not a mental health professional. I am a spiritual practitioner and  teacher, so I communicate this material from that perspective only.

Let’s begin by defining what empathy is. Empathy is one’s ability to be able to understand and perhaps tune in or read what another person is feeling. Some people need to voluntarily put on their empathy cap to try to understand the emotions and feelings of others. Other people find their empathy cap is always placed firmly on their heads and have no choice but to continuously feel empathy for others. These individuals know and feel things beyond what they have been told about an experience or situation.

As I was sharing this blog with my husband he said, “So, the word empath means empathy on steroids, right?” I laughed. He can always lighten up my sometimes too serious mood and make me laugh. Yet that definition sounds just about right!

Everything is energy and has a particular vibration and frequency. Thoughts, feelings, and emotions are therefore energy. Every living thing is also energy, including human beings, of course, so we are all able to tune into the energetic vibration and frequency of others. That means that almost all of us can experience empathy to one degree or another.

Let’s give an example of empathy. A friend is struggling with the breakup of a relationship with their spouse or significant other. They are sobbing and choking on their words as they describe their anguished pain and devastating feelings of loss to you. Your energy tunes into theirs and you can feel their emotions deeply and understand what they are going through. You may not have even experienced such a distressing loss in your own life. Yet, you can still share their experience on a heartfelt, energetic, and soulful level.

Now let us look at the same experience from and empath’s view. As an empath you hear the same story. You feel the same empathy for your friend but your ability to read further into the narrative is much stronger. You hear the words and the understand and feel pain behind them. Yet, you can also feel things that are unsaid by your friend who is suffering. You sense, without having any knowledge, that the person’s pain is more about the feelings of rejection and abandonment rather than the loss of that particular person. You also sense that beneath the heartache are feelings of, yet to be realized, relief at the end of a very dysfunctional relationship even though you don’t have all the details. You realize that this experience for them was a necessary challenge in order for them to release and heal from their deep fear of being rejected and or abandoned.

This does not mean that the person sharing their heartache is concealing things from you. They may not have even begun to understand the reason or the lesson behind and within their heart-wrenching adversity. In time, when the profound emotional pain subsides, they may begin to, but for the moment it is all about a raw and deeply human tragedy for them. An empath is also aware that, though he or she has been made privy to this information at that time, it is most likely not the best time to share our insights.  

Exceptional empaths are usually born with the ability. Yet, we can all strengthen are capability to see beyond what the five physical senses perceive. When I was about seventeen and working in a restaurant, a coworker who was in her forties told me all about her struggles in her marriage. I had never had a serious or mature relationship with anyone at that point, so I had no experience to fall back on in order to help her. Yet somehow, I knew things about her she wasn’t telling me. I began sharing with her what I heard beneath her words and feelings that she was unaware of. I helped her to see the situation differently and she was astounded and so was I. How did I know those things? I wasn’t sure. Yet, I knew that day that there was something different and hopefully weirdly wonderful about me and the life I was meant to live.

Today, at sixty-seven years old I have been through tremendous gut-wrenching adversity and beautiful transcendent and spiritual experiences. I rose and I fell more times than I’d like to admit. My flawed yet gifted and very human part took me down dark ominous alleys and dense terrifying and unnavigable forests. Yet, my soul, was ever present, patient, and persistent as she continuously guided me back to my true path. With each mindless mishap, a mystical lesson was learned, and an evolutionary step followed for my soul.

As a teacher and an empath. I profoundly understand that a spiritual journey is rarely a straight path forward. We all chose this earthly experience because we still have lessons to learn and gifts to share with others and the world. Empathy is one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other. It is also one of the best ways to expedite our soul’s evolution. Why?

I believe it is because being empathetic to the pain of others brings forth many other qualities of an enlightened, wise soul which is what we all are. We just forget that truth some or much of the time. When sharing empathy, we are kind, compassionate, sensitive, caring, forgiving, tender, tolerant, generous of spirit, and most important loving. The more we practice empathy the more empathic we become. Our ability to see beyond what we hear and see with our physical senses heightens because our vibration and frequency rise. It becomes more attuned to the vibration of our team of light and thus, we can bring forth information and truth that we were previously not able to access.

Each day, may we greet the day with a prayer.

“Dear God, today may I be of service. Every experience that unfolds and every person that crosses my path, may I find a way to share my love and appreciation for all of life and its people. Please provide me with the wisdom, insight, and a honed sense of empathy, so that I can make a difference in my life and the lives of those I meet along the way. Amen!”

[1] Empath is a metaphysical or spiritual term. It cannot be found in the dictionary.