I hear it all the time from my clients… They feel invaded by other people’s “stuff.” And my clients, professional healers and caregivers that so many of them are, feel drained, burned out, overburdened. Too many needs coming at them. Too much highly sensitive perception. I start doing boundary work with my peeps. We do […]
As an empath, do you feel continually invaded? By others’ needs, their pain, their demands? And you are the one who “gets it” due to your sensitivity. So aren’t you the one to fix it? What if you DON’T WANT TO? (IT’S TIME TO CALL THE BOUNDARY BOUNCER!) So… Interpersonal Boundaries. Not an all or […]
Feeling overwhelmed by the distress in the world? I woke up early this morning, and trying to stay still so that my beloved could continue sleeping, I carefully picked up my phone and…(POOR CHOICE) started reading the news. Yeah, NOT the way to start one’s day. By the time she awoke, I was Awful Grumps […]
If you are a healthcare professional, my guess is you didn’t go into it for the big bucks or the easy schedule. You may have chosen some form of healthcare and wellness because you had your own crisis and transformation due to some highly skilled and empathic healers. Perhaps your own keen perception of others’ […]
The volunteer in the homeless shelter, seeing the parents battling their own demons brought on by years of poverty, lack of safety, racism and other forms of oppression, and the tremendous lack of resources to help their children escape this curse… The teacher, knowing how many kids in that classroom come from households where there […]
Can you relate to this? Scenario 1 You work intensely with people all day. It is 6:00 (of course you don’t get out right at 5!) and you have got to hit the road home. But a neighbor/co-worker needs a ride home today with you. So you don’t even get that alone time before you […]
A therapist (we’ll call her Lucretia) who uses her empathic skills a lot in her work complains of being tired all of the time. She says, “The world wears me down.” She notes her existential dilemma—feeling she doesn’t always fit in the world, not feeling understood, questioning if this work is right for her. Yet […]
Toxic People. Ugh. We will encounter toxic people, no matter how strong, differentiated, empathic, or perceptive we are at sniffing out toxicity from far away. At work, in our families, among our neighbors and acquaintances, in our spiritual communities…in short, anywhere we go. And when you are a super sensitive person, someone’s toxicity can creep […]
I frequently ask folks who identify as Empaths and Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) about what has been really hard for them in the last month. Here’s an issue I hear a lot, and my thoughts in response. THE PROBLEM: With the rancor occurring in our political systems (and not just in the U.S.), many of […]
An empath I know, let’s call her Imani, was at a laundromat doing the big washing of her pillows and blankets. You know how that requires some waiting time—all of those cycles running their course. You’re up and down, but there is a lot of sitting to be done too. A man came up to […]