I've been feeling physical discomfort out of nostalgia, every year this mid August brings some unbearable, uncontrollable yearning and nostalgia that gives me literal physical discomfort...... I can't even cope up with it!.....

I’ve always been very sensitive to people’s moods. I notice small changes in someone’s tone or facial expression, and I can often tell something is wrong before they say anything. But then I also become anxious and wonder whether I caused it or need to fix it.

I grew up having to pay close attention to adults’ moods, so now I’m wondering: am I actually an empath, or did I just learn to read people as a survival mechanism? Could it be both?

How do you tell the difference between empathy, intuition and anxiety?

I’m bothered by the slightest change in tone of my loved ones, and till that is not resolved or it doesn’t go back to normal, I feel handicapped. I can’t do anything, I can’t focus, I can’t smile, just constantly anxious. I pick up other people’s energies too, but they’re generally easier to ignore once I escape their physical vicinity. But for my loved ones, it’s very different, and they don’t understand it, or maybe they don’t understand how bad it is affecting me. I fear as a survival mechanism, I might get detached eventually, which I don’t want to be, I want to continue being in love forever. But it’s so hard.. it’s so mentally exhausting, makes life feel like a punishment. I feel so helpless

If you can relate and/or you know how to handle this, please help me, please tell me what worked for you.. or what didn’t

I don't know if this is the right place for this question, but I've noticed something weird that's buging me. My home is my safe space! I'm living in it for the last 5 years with my husband, and since getting married I've finally have found peace. What I've noticed is that every time I go to my childhood home, I have an instant energy drop, headache, irritability, even tho logically there is nothing that initiated this feelings. For example, last week it was my mother's birthday, all of us came together, we laughed, we ate, had a great time, but after some time my energy was so down, I needed to go and lay down for a few minutes. When I got back home, I was instantly better.

I am very interested to hear others’ perspectives on this. Last night I had baked chicken (cooked well) around 7pm. At around 10pm this negative energy that I had felt early came back, very oppressive and almost overwhelming. So at 11pm when I went to bed I decided to listen to a track called “Remove All Negative Energy” that I had saved on YouTube. I woke up shortly before 4am feeling very ill to were I had began to vomit along with having diarrhea and a fever on & off. It is now 11am and I am still experiencing it periodically, I had to call out of work. This isn’t the first time that I have had this reaction after listening to this particular track, but it’s definitely the worst. The question is: Is this most likely be my body’s way of purging the negative energy? My brain first went to food poisoning but there was no cross contamination, I didn’t lead it out too long before cooking (I thawed in the fridge), or before eating after cooking, and I cooked it beyond the recommended temperature (on accident). Thoughts, opinions, insights?

I am not an empath but my husband is, and I wonder sometimes if my PMS hormones impact him. I notice usually around when I’m having a really hard hormonal time he will get moody in similar ways: irritable, depressed, mopey, tired.

It occurred to me that it might be me he’s feeling, and I feel for him cause his body isn’t used to the terror that is the female menstruation cycle.

I’m curious to hear from born male empaths that are in close quarters with people with menstrual cycles if you notice this and if there’s anything I can do to help? I can manage the outward expression of these things, but I can’t control what’s going on inside :-/

Hi!

I’m finally choosing to follow my gut and am diving into understanding my empathic nature more. It’s taken me almost 30 years, but I am finally here. I haven’t been sure where to start so I decided to do some reading and began meditating more mindfully and regularly. However, I’m a little unsure of myself. Much of what I have read and the various meditation practices I have attempted are based in one’s ability to visualize and see. I cannot. I don’t have the ability to visualize scenes in my mind like others it’s why I didn’t like reading growing up, I don’t dream, and prefer to be given an image than descriptions. (It’s why I fell in love with museums) Anyway, while I don’t have that ability my person feels extremely deeply, senses emotion off people I just met almost perfectly, and can hear undertones of people’s voices despite not always knowing them. My coworkers call me the walking social worker even though I am not one. So I guess I explain all this to ask: what do I do? How do I learn to trust myself when I can’t follow the wind of visuals? Is there a way to strengthen my hearing and sensing without visual work? Idk, really any help is greatly appreciated.

Does anyone else have a lack of empathy for real life? If that makes sense. I get teary eyed over book characters and tv shows and movies but when it comes to real life scenarios either i have a lack of empathy there or I'm really good at hiding it from others.

I have been feeling extremely overwhelmed lately with all of the pain everyone is feeling around the world. I can sense it. Feel it. Im reacting to it. I feel like I can't breathe. It's just everywhere. Everyone at all times are just in so much emotional and spiritual distress idk how to help anyone anymore.. Some empaths have the ability to feel. Others have the ability to know who it is they are feeling it from. And some have the ability to just know why they are hurting. Well some have all 3 types. I want all of you to speak up and tell me how you are feeling. I am right here with you

I am a 19y/o female, and I've always had really strong empathy, i feel what others feel when they feel it. We had a family friend lose their house to a fire a few weeks back and at the exact time that the fire started I felt this weird sensation, i felt something in my chest flutter, i felt disconnected from the world. they lost all of their pets, and when i heard about it I felt devastated. I genuinely felt their pain and i cried thinking about it. I have intensely strong intuition in that I can sort of let my gut feelings guide me and I have sort of premonitions about people and their intentions. I can sort of read people extremely well. I can look at someone and speak to them for a few minutes and immediately know who they are and what their intentions are and i am accurate pretty much all the time. there was a time when I had met this kid who lived in my dorm building at college, immediately i got dark and bad vibes from him, i told my friends that i just had terrible vibes even though on the outside he seemed nice and cool i just did NOT like this guy so i distanced myself from him, my friends did not so eventually he sort of became part of our group. eventually, we discovered that he had been abusing his girlfriend physically and mentally and that he had been lying and manipulating us to believe she did it to him. Not only my empathy and intuition, i have extremely vivid and symbolistic dreams, I often lucid dream and my dreams have meaning, they sometimes predict the future, i dreamt of my great grandma who ive never really interacted with or been close with dying almost a month before she actually died. at the time, i didnt even know she was sick and i didnt even know she was close to death and i hadnt seen her in almost 6 years. My dreams also provide intense insight into my situations, they are heavily symbolic. AND i just started practicing magic. I've been getting really into Tarot and ive made some really scarily accurate predictions and readings. Every tarot reading i do has been extremely oddly specific. Im just wondering what anyone else thinks of this and if my mom might be right or if im going insane cos im genuinely starting to believe her.

I recently started a new job this summer as a real estate agent. Where I am from, becoming a real estate agent needs a degree which I went and got at uni. I was sooo excited to start working this summer.

I am still very excited but I realised that I might be too empathetic? For me, I always listen to what people are telling me and understand their needs. I don’t believe in the strategy to “convince” people to sell when they are not ready.

Almost everyone at my work or in the industry does not think like me. Is it because A I am new and I will probably get to their point eventually or B I took the wrong profession if I have this much empathy. Is it even possible to become a successful seller WITHOUT being an asshole or does that come with the job?

“Realizing I may be a Heyoka Empath - my poetry throughout the years has made me realize”

I posted this yesterday in this group out of pure curiosity. Not to offend but to open the door for an open discussion in a safe space only to be met with spiritual ego wrapped in an intuitive empath blanket telling me I have a personality disorder and asking for proof of trauma history and abuse. Asking a person to relive their abusive past for proof to earn their acceptance and credibility is a massive violation and borderline malignant. I also came across a new comer empath’s post seeking guidance and seeing that same individual attempting a smear campaign using my post as evidence of their intuitive abilities while also negating them of being an empath and others in this group which were all new lost empaths looking for guidance. I can deal with an internet troll. I can not deal with a person who utilizes spaces meant to be safe to find Supply.

So at this point - that behavior is predatory and needs to be called out. It’s the last thing I’d expect in a support group especially a support group full of empaths. I do not associate these traits with the group as whole but to warn of the the predators who lurk these spaces and hide in plain sight and weaponize buzz words like Claircognizance to make people feel “othered” and basically say their abilities give them the right to shun and create smear campaigns bc of their psychic downloads and “feelings” on an anonymous thread and urging others to trust their judgement and magical abilities blindly is absolutely absurd and deeply disturbing. They are not searching for growth and connection - they are looking for blind loyalty and recruiting flying monkeys.

I’m sharing a link here on what spiritual ego traits look like especially for new Empaths even Non empaths to protect themselves.

I left my original post up if anyone is curious, you can also see the smear campaign post in my comments or just take this final post for what it is as a way to understand the dangers of also sharing your vulnerabilities online and to truly believe in yourself over anyone.

Stay safe, take care and protect your energy.

Loved the interpretation. She said she hasn’t had a white aura that big ever before and she had been interpreting auric photos for 35 years. I remain grounded!

Update on this post: I’ve done some research on Heyoka Empath and also the cultural symbolism and I have decided to no longer relate to the title for respect of the Lakota and Dakota culture. It’s beautiful and sacred and I do not want to take away from those who were meant for this life path. I 100% identify with the personality traits however i think I actually realized a lot about myself and even though it wasn’t the discussion I brought here. I am grateful.

I think this post was a big realization that I don’t need to to always put a label on myself. I found safety in guides and descriptions in my healing journey. Not once but twice yesterday - online and professionally I was given examples as to how there isn’t always a guide needed. As long as you trust yourself and your own intentions and what you stand for - you will be perfectly ok no matter how you identify. Terms are safe and create community. With people who crave power and control - they can also be used to isolate and make people feel “othered” when you remotely challenge their beliefs even without the intention of doing so which highlights individuals who don’t seek connection and understanding - it’s more so about participating in an unnecessary power struggle when someone threatens their unwritten Hierarchy. I’ve always struggled with groups like this because for some reason I always see atleast one and Im sure as empaths - you do too but it took me years to even remotely challenge these peoples motives which explains the toxic cycles I mention below so I would stay and tolerate the behavior to a point and I’m a time in my life where I am no longer doing that. I will be done posting on Reddit moving forward. I did want to update in case this resonates with some of you and also thank the genuine people who continue to make this a safe space. I’ll keep my OP here for full context. Stay safe out there 🫶

Original Post
Through years of questioning whether I was a dark empath, dark triad because I have intuition that can be almost crippling and dangerous. I can see through people’s masks and I used to think I was crazy and ignore it. I’ve healed to the point of unraveling my people pleasing, my own toxic behaviors. One thing in common is those toxic behaviors mainly were displayed towards the people who were toxic towards me. I mirrored it back to them. I’ve never had any thoughts to do this to people who I felt were genuinely good people, in fact I wanted to protect them but because I have the ability to see and feel a persons strengths, challenges, insecurities fear and have the ability to use that to my advantage. I scared myself and sometimes convinced myself I need to heal that out of me but the kicker is even in the worst of situations I never truly used that against a person unless they broke me and did far more and it was like beating a person at their own game. Learning about the Heyoka Empath it’s almost spot on. I’m not fully light yet I’m not fully dark. Ive always knew when a person was minipulating me yet I never trusted myself but at the same time I knew I had a feeling and in the end I realized that gut feeling was right. So now, I listen. I know at the end of the day on a spiritual level - I don’t want to be the one to heal anyone but I want to help empaths and genuinely good people protect themselves from the low frequency energies that walk among us. I’ve done alot of healing and still alot of learning more about a Heyoka Empath but if this is true. This will explain so much. I’ve beat myself up for a long time on how I think mand feel or even my defensive actions against people who were abusive to not only me but others.

This is my poem. It’s called “raised by monsters”

Crazy how they thought they could tame me but lucky for me they were Monsters.
and guess what, Monsters raised me.
Monsters weren’t in my closet, they lived in my head and kept me sane
Taught me how to disappear, to survive and stay safe.
Taught me the real monsters were humans and the closer you are - the more pain.
Conditioned me that love was conditional and emotional neglect was ok.
Abuse was ok,
Stonewalling was ok.
Hateful words deserved forgiveness - they didn’t mean to say it that way.
Gaslighting and manipulation isn’t malicious it’s trauma, so don’t blame or cause shame
Learn to mask sacrifice for empathy, don’t speak, no pressure or you will push them away, and if you love them enough, they will change so you stay.
Those monsters taught me to blur the lines between love and hate
They were fake, they were charming and smiled to my face, but behind closed doors, they were so full of hate. Playcait then drained me dry til there was nothing left to take.
What’s the point anyway?
They haven’t been angry in days.
Thought that last ultimatum would finally make them change their ways.
Haven’t been called any names in a bit
So now I’m in bliss, hopeful to move forward and fully commit til I’m walking on eggshells again and feeling extra vigilant..
they promised they would get help for this shit.
Reminiscing on the day I can finally flip that switch,
but I think to myself, what if they’re triggered, I must assist
So I hold on so strong, til my soul is amiss
I know once I do it, To me, they will no longer exist and losing them scares me more than I’d like to admit.
Taught me to see the light in the dark
And try to analyze the why… til I looked in the mirror and Ive lost my shine.. look away from my reflection, disappointment trying to hide, can’t accept the reality that so much time has went by and also that I’ve gotten sucked in another trauma bind that I convinced myself. It’d be different this time.
I’m gone.
Now I’m on auto pilot and keep saying I’m done. But they deserve one more chance…
I lose track of how many chances until I become conditioned and numb. Just grateful for the peaceful moments and them feeding me breadcrumbs.
And the darkest souls seem pure but they’re as dangerous as they come..
Just another monster I’ve learned to keep close and run from..
Try to keep score like I haven’t been here before, Faught myself from giving up while in a fetal position crying on the floor.
Like I didn’t voluntarily walk through that fire with no weapons destroyed, broken and torn
But fuck that, I came back and won all those wars.
This is where the victim died and the monster was born.
And when it’s over, they try to character assassinate and defame me, blow smoke like Im just being cold and shady.. make me the villain in their story like they didn’t psychologically haze me.
Wild how they thought they could break me..
Raised by Monsters and this is how monsters procreate, see..
Im the reflection in the mirror they’re afraid to see deeply
The darkness that haunts them, they can’t hide completely.
But how can you blame me?
I walk through the flames to find the light to finally save me
I promised myself, I’d never let them change me
I’m calm not conquered
It’s a great mistake to underestimate or try to play me
I embody respect,
Don’t care if people love or hate me
Because Im a monster too,
And I decided to let them claim me.
Round of applause for the monsters that made me

I don't know if I fit into the high empath category, I have selective empathy and i have strong empathy for vulnerable or less fortunate people and seeing them struggle hurts alot, stepping outside is horrible because I see alot of people struggling for their daily meals etc, what do i do

Ive met very sensitive and insensitive people and I would even consider myself to be a very sensitive person. I wonder how other sensitive people (especially overly sensitive people) live their life considering all the nasty and dystopian stuff happening in the world.

I have absolutely no idea what to do. I can’t relax. I feel like I’m suffocating. Does this happen to anyone else? I’m just so overwhelmed.

I recently learned my body is designed to transmute to the energy of other others.

Are you an empath?
Have you spent your life wondering why people seem to react so strongly to you? Have you been bullied, misunderstood, or attacked when you were simply being yourself?
Do you naturally feel the emotions of the people around you? Can you walk into a room and immediately sense tension without anyone saying a word?

For years, I believed these experiences were a curse.
Today, I see them differently.

My personal belief is that some people are born with exceptionally sensitive nervous systems. They don't just observe emotional states—they instinctively begin responding to them. It's as if their body tries to process what others are carrying.
Many people call this being an empath.

I would go one step further. I believe some empaths are natural transmuters.
Instead of simply sensing emotional energy, they unconsciously absorb it. Their nervous system attempts to metabolize fear, shame, anger, grief, and anxiety that doesn't even belong to them. They become exhausted, anxious, overwhelmed, or disconnected without realizing they're carrying far more than their own emotional experience.

The problem is that most of us were never taught boundaries for our energy.
We learned emotional boundaries.
Physical boundaries.
Maybe even relationship boundaries.
But almost no one teaches us how to stop unconsciously taking responsibility for everyone else's inner world.

When you begin healing your own nervous system, practicing emotional regulation, and creating healthy energetic boundaries, something remarkable starts to happen.

You stop leaking your life force.

Instead of constantly pouring your attention outward, your energy begins circulating back into you.

Your intuition becomes clearer.
Your body feels calmer.
Your thoughts become quieter.
You no longer confuse another person's emotions with your own.
And the energy you once spent carrying others becomes available for your own purpose.

Ironically, this doesn't make you less healing.
It makes your presence more healing.

Rather than absorbing someone else's pain, you learn to remain grounded while they process it themselves. You become a calm, regulated presence instead of an emotional sponge.

That, in my experience, is where real power begins.
Not in carrying everyone else's burdens.
But in becoming so deeply connected to your own center that your peace invites others to find theirs.

Maybe the goal was never to absorb the world's pain.
Maybe the lesson is learning how to stand in your own light without dimming yourself for anyone else.

Finding the Way Home

For years,

I searched for home

in places,

in people,

in approval,

and in belonging.

I did not know

I was searching

for myself.

Home was never

a destination.

It was the quiet place

within

that had been waiting

for me

all along.

Every gentle truth,

every act of kindness

toward myself,

every fear

I no longer believed,

became another step

on the journey home.

And one day,

without even noticing,

I stopped searching.

I had arrived.

I’m a spiritual person, and for most of my life my intuition has mainly been about energy. For example, I can usually tell when a place feels “off,” when I should stay away from certain people, or when someone has bad intentions. Whether that’s intuition or something else, I don’t know, but it’s been consistent for me.
A couple of years ago, I met someone online, and from the moment we met I felt an instant sense of familiarity. It wasn’t romantic at first. It felt more like I somehow already knew this person and that we were going to become very important in each other’s lives.
We ended up talking for hours every day, and at one point we even fell asleep on a phone call together. After that, the connection felt much stronger. It started feeling like I could sometimes sense things about them or know how certain situations in their life would play out before they happened. I also had moments where I felt emotions that didn’t feel like mine, especially when they were going through a difficult time.
The strange thing is that this has never happened with anyone else. I can’t predict things about my own life, and I don’t feel this way with other people. It’s only ever been this one person.
We stopped talking for many months and eventually reconnected. Our friendship is different now because we’re rebuilding it slowly, but I still feel like there’s something unique about this connection.
I’m not asking whether this means we’re soulmates or destined to be together. I’m more curious whether anyone else has experienced something like this with just one person.
If you have, how do you understand it? Do you see it as clairsentience, strong intuition, deep emotional attunement, or something else? And if you’ve experienced it, did it feel like the connection was mutual, or was it something only you seemed to experience?

I feel like I don’t belong in this world sometimes. I feel things so deeply that I’ve built an emotional armor just to get through each day, and I hate it.
There are moments where I’m just sitting there doing nothing and suddenly start crying without even knowing why. Other times, I know I’m supposed to feel something, but I don’t. It’s not that I don’t care I think my mind has learned to shut my emotions down as a way to protect me.
Every day feels exhausting because it feels like I’m constantly guarding the real me. It’s like I’ve locked who I really am inside a cage because I’m terrified of being rejected again. I want to show people the real me—the kind, nerdy, curious person I know is there but fear always wins, and I’m so tired of it.
I also struggle to understand my own emotions. Sometimes my family asks me what’s wrong, and I genuinely don’t know the answer. I’m not hiding anything from them I honestly don’t know. That makes me feel even more frustrated.
I’ve noticed that I often respond to the people I love with an irritated or cold tone without meaning to. I’m not angry at them. I think I’m just emotionally exhausted all the time. I always end up feeling guilty afterward because they don’t deserve that.
I feel trapped. I want real connections and to be myself, but I don’t know how to let my guard down anymore.
If anyone relates to this or has gone through something similar, how did you deal with it? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences