Calling all Empaths

[shaamansu]

I'll answer the questionnaire too.

1) Are you a natural empath?yes
2) If not, can you do empathy? If no, please do not continue
see #1 above
3)How long have you known you were an empath?all my life since early childhood
4) how old were you when you found out you were an empath?
5 why/o
5) How or where did you find out you were an empath? as a small child, I sensed emotions of other people, and some places were 'noisy'
6. How did you feel when you found out you were an emapth? relieved? curious to find out more? scared? curious to find out more. I thought everybody was, like I have always seen auras. When I started lst grade...I found out most people could do neither
7. Can you shield/ Do you shield/ When and where do you shield?
Yes, I know how to shield/ yes I do shield/ when necessary..depends on amount of "chatter". I enclose myself in a bubble sometimes/I have my condo shielded from others as it is my quiet place, I do a little maintenance work when it needs it

8. Do you have a lot of friends or just a few? Do you like most people you meet? Do you think empathy factors into this?
Mainly a few friends/several acquaintances/most people yes...a few I try to avoid...like 2 opposite sides of a magnet/yes, by all means empathy factors into that..
9. Do you attract a lot of people who need to vent or to tell you their problems/do you mind this?Yes, I attract plenty of those, and no I don't mind.
10. Do your friends, on and off line tend to be empaths? about 80% are either empaths or gifted in some way
11. How do you deal with empathy overloads? retreat to my safe place..condo or room, work my way to the perimeter of the crowd/shore up my defenses..whatever works.

12. Did reading and understanding about empathy help you understand what you are? It v erified things for me as I could identify with what it said.
13. How does empathy affect your day to day life? It just simply is part of my life same as breathing is, and the ability has proved itself invaluable time and time again over the years.
14. Do you like the fact that you are an empath/why or why not?
Yes, don't what I'd do without it.
15. If someone found out they were a natural empath and wanted to know what they could do to help themselves, what would you tell them/any tips or warnings? Anyone who is a natural empath will have had things occur throughout their life, that they didn't understand and didn't know how to handle. Finding out will be a relief..NO..you aren't nuts. Hopefully they would have chance to find out before they worried to much about why these things manifested, why the volume was too loud...etc.. . I would talk with them and answer their questions, help them feel more confident about themselves, suggest some books or reputable websites to visit . I would also stress not to take just one person's opinion as Law. Check several sites. Ck wikipedia to make sure they were getting reliable information. There are too many pretenders out there with blogs, myspace..etc. etc...who are fluffy bunny ignorant but make you think they know it all. When you run across a site that uses a lot of words, but doesn't actually say anything...move on.

[Mat Ethers]

1) Are you a natural empath?
Yup

2) If not, can you do empathy? If no, please do not continue.

3) How long have you known you were an empath?
5-6 months

4) How old were you when you found out you were an empath?
14

5) How or where did you find out you were an empath? Online? from a friend, from a book or article, chatroom?
Forums, Research, books, MSN basically I checked everything just to be sure.

6) How did you feel when you found out you were an empath? relieved? curious to find out more? scared?
Didn't bother me I'd had it all along, now I just had/have to learn to control it a little better.

7) Can you shield? Do you shield? When and were do you shield?
Yes but only very basically my shields don't last long. Since I learnt to shield I haven't really been in a situation where I need to.

8) Do you have a lot of friends or just a few? Do you like most people you meet? why or why not? Do you think empathy factors into this?
I have many friends but only a select few "close" friends. I believe this is because empathy lets people feel like they can trust me but it also lets me know when I can't fully trust them.

9) Do you attract a lot of people who need to vent or tell you of your problems? Do you mind this?
Yes all to many. I don't mind it until they start asking me to solve their problems, or if they continually rant without letting me get a word in edgeways. It is also quite annoying when they ask you for advice that you know will work and they don't take it and start telling you why your wrong.

10) Are your friends, on and off line, tend to be empaths?
Offline no. Online some but by no means a large amount.

11) How do you deal with empathy overloads?
Stubbornness and concentration. Consciously filtering my own emotions from those of others. however in really large overload moments (like where I should overload eg: when I go to Sydney) It's almost as though I subconsciously shield. One of the only times when I can truly be myself and think clearly without my head being clouded with emotion. (States like this also occur when I'm in the middle of no-where by myself or even with a few happy people)

12) Did reading and understand empathy help you understand what you are?
Not really I've always known I'm overly sensitive to other peoples emotions this sorta just gave me a word to describe it.

13) How does empathy effect your day to day life?
Makes it hard to think. High school is a very emotional place, puberty, etc. what can take me 2 seconds to do in my head in a city or a remote location, can take me 5 minutes to do on paper at school.

14) Do you like the fact that you are an empath? Why or why not.
It has it's pro's and con's they weigh out to be about even, however it is quite good when you can control it.

15) If someone just found out they were a natural empath and wanted to know what they can do to help themselves, what advice would you give them? Any tips or warning?
Learn to shield, filtering consciously is a pain in the butt.

[Bolthame]

1) Are you a natural empath?
Yes.

2) If not, can you do empathy? If no, please do not continue.

3) How long have you known you were an empath?
About 2-3 years.

4) How old were you when you found out you were an empath?
12, almost 13

5) How or where did you find out you were an empath? Online? from a friend, from a book or article, chatroom?
My mum noticed it, as she's talented at perceiving other people's abilities.

6) How did you feel when you found out you were an empath? relieved? curious to find out more? scared?
Curious.

7) Can you shield? Do you shield? When and were do you shield?
I've never tried, but I'm interested in learning.

8) Do you have a lot of friends or just a few? Do you like most people you meet? why or why not? Do you think empathy factors into this?
I have a few. I like most people I meet, because despite what they may show on the outside, my empathy shows me that on the inside they're really a nice person to know.

9) Do you attract a lot of people who need to vent or tell you of your problems? Do you mind this?
Oh man, I get thousands. I don't mind, though. I kinda enjoy it, I like listening and helping people with their problems.

10) Are your friends, on and off line, tend to be empaths?
To my knowledge, none of my friends are empaths. At least, I haven't noticed and signs..

11) How do you deal with empathy overloads?
Shut myself off from the world, retreat back into my Mindscape.

12) Did reading and understand empathy help you understand what you are?
I've never had to read about it, I just kinda knew already.

13) How does empathy effect your day to day life?
It doesn't effect me so much as I've always lived with it and I'm used to it, I don't know what it feels like not to be an empath.

14) Do you like the fact that you are an empath? Why or why not.
I like being an empath, I can discover things about people that they wont/can't tell me, and I can help them further.

15) If someone just found out they were a natural empath and wanted to know what they can do to help themselves, what advice would you give them? Any tips or warning?
I'd tell them definatley not to try opening their empathic senses (I'm not sure if others can do it, but to me it's like scanning but with empathy.) while in a very crowded place, it will almost certainly result in overload which for a beginner can be pretty nasty. Oh, and if you can't control your empathy (like me, mine is always active, I can only stop it by diverting my entire attention to something else.), stay away from particularly depressing looking places, like bad slums and such.

[shadow]

1) Are you a natural empath?
yes

2) If not, can you do empathy? If no, please do not continue.

3) How long have you known you were an empath?
about eight years

4) How old were you when you found out you were an empath?
between nine or ten

5) How or where did you find out you were an empath? Online? from a friend, from a book or article, chatroom?
that would be a hard one to answer.

6) How did you feel when you found out you were an empath? relieved? curious to find out more? scared?
curious

7) Can you shield? Do you shield? When and were do you shield?
no

8) Do you have a lot of friends or just a few? Do you like most people you meet? why or why not? Do you think empathy factors into this? two or three frinds and a few acquntinces

9) Do you attract a lot of people who need to vent or tell you of your problems? Do you mind this?
so many that people should give me a tharpy degree

10) Are your friends, on and off line, tend to be empaths?
one of my best friends some times is

11) How do you deal with empathy overloads?
i seprate from myself from people and find some where cool and dark to meditat and relax

12) Did reading and understand empathy help you understand what you are?
somewhat

13) How does empathy effect your day to day life?
it complicates it sometimes

14) Do you like the fact that you are an empath? Why or why not.
it depends on the day

15) If someone just found out they were a natural empath and wanted to know what they can do to help themselves, what advice would you give them? Any tips or warning?
id first have to learn how to help myself befor i could help someone else

[AnimalGurl]

1) Are you a natural empath?
Yes

2) If not, can you do empathy? If no, please do not continue.

3) How long have you known you were an empath?
All my life.

4) How old were you when you found out you were an empath?
I have always known to some degree, if you mean by definition what it was probably in my early teens.

5) How or where did you find out you were an empath? Online? from a friend, from a book or article, chatroom?
I read about what empathy was on a website.

6) How did you feel when you found out you were an empath? relieved? curious to find out more? scared?
I wanted to find out more, how I can use it as a tool.

7) Can you shield? Do you shield? When and were do you shield?
Yes I can shield, usually in extreme situations like when family members die, I cant handle everyone else's stress and mine too.

8) Do you have a lot of friends or just a few? Do you like most people you meet? why or why not? Do you think empathy factors into this?
No I don't, there are so many stupid people in this world that are not worth wasting time on. Not usually so much empathy as intuition, of course if I find out someone is usually emotionally unstable I will stay away from them.

9) Do you attract a lot of people who need to vent or tell you of your problems? Do you mind this?
Yes I do for some strange reason, lots of people I barley know while waiting at the bus stop. I do mind when they cross the line from venting to "dumping" then they try to drain me. I fight back, shield, have it drain them then ground all the energy. They don't usually dump on me again.

10) Are your friends, on and off line, tend to be empaths?
I have more friends online, I am friends with quite a few empaths.

11) How do you deal with empathy overloads?
Negative emotions float in clouds around people amplifying everything they feel. I can usually tell if things are going to overload. Before that happens I make a construct to drain away the excess negative emotion clouds, including my own. People can still feel their emotions inside without wallowing in it.

12) Did reading and understand empathy help you understand what you are?
I already had a strong sense for who I was, research only told me what empathy was and how it functions.

13) How does empathy effect your day to day life?
It helps make me a better friend, since I can read emotions and project them I can usually understand people or get them to understand me better.

14) Do you like the fact that you are an empath? Why or why not.
Yes I do, but I am generally not so sensitive I get overloaded in crowds, even though I dislike them.

15) If someone just found out they were a natural empath and wanted to know what they can do to help themselves, what advice would you give them? Any tips or warning?

One thing, you have to be careful with empathy/telepathy if you use it to dig up information on other people, and the manner with which you use it. The people that aren't empaths rarely tell anything, but a lot of empaths can and many might resent it. Try to stay respectful.

[levinthross]

this seems like fun
1) Are you a natural empath?
Yes.

2) If not, can you do empathy? If no, please do not continue.

3) How long have you known you were an empath?
Three years

4) How old were you when you found out you were an empath?
ten

5) How or where did you find out you were an empath? Online? from a friend, from a book ora chatroom
online and a few books

6) How did you feel when you found out you were an empath? relieved? curious to find out more? scared?
I felt relieved that there were others like me and a way to stop others emotions from constantly coming at me

7) Can you shield? Do you shield? When and were do you shield?
I don't shield i do more of a re routing trick were you change someones emotions and put the new emotions back into them

8) Do you have a lot of friends or just a few? Do you like most people you meet? why or why not? Do you think empathy factors into this?
i have lots f friends who come to me for advice because my empathy helps me understand there problem and situation better

9) Do you attract a lot of people who need to vent or tell you of your problems? Do you mind this?
nope i think that if your power atracts you to them than its your duty to try and help them

10) Are your friends, on and off line, tend to be empaths?
only one put that can still be debated

11) How do you deal with empathy overloads?
I try and use all those emotions to could use either its training my ability to influence elements or use them to practice energy manipulation

12) Did reading and understand empathy help you understand what you are?
Yes

13) How does empathy effect your day to day life?
well sometimes it can be really could or horrifiyingly stressful put usually i feel good about being able to use my power to help others

14) Do you like the fact that you are an empath? Why or why not.
Yes 9chicks dig a man who can cry:)

15) If someone just found out they were a natural empath and wanted to know what they can do to help themselves, what advice would you give them? Any tips or warning?
find a way for yourself to apply those emotions we wouldnt want you to go all jean gray on us