Healing Hands, Healers,

Highly Sensitive People

and Empaths

Welcome back to our fascinating on-going discussion about topics of interest that you will not only enjoy, but will be able to identify with and Journal about.  If you are new to our Blog Sessions, we welcome you!

We had previously been discussing Psychic Vampires, Energy Vampires, Highly Sensitive People or Person (HSPs), Empaths, and those who are inherently empathic.  We journaled about ways in which we can protect ourselves from psychic attacks, and from those individuals who drain our energy.

Today, we are going to discuss Healers, those with healing hands, Highly Sensitive People (HSPs), and Empaths. 

You'll want to get your Journal out, because we have lots to discuss . . .

Open your understanding by Journaling

First off, you'll need to write down the definition of a "Healer" . . .

Healer ~ a person who is able to cure a disease or injury using special powers that they are "gifted" with by God; One who Heals; a person who has the power to cure ill people without using ordinary medicines; a healer is a person who heals people, especially a person who heals through prayer and religious faith.

Prayer ~ a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship; an address (such as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought; "She said a prayer for the success of the voyage"; a set order of words used in praying; an earnest request or wish; the act or practice of praying to God or a god; kneeling in prayer.

Some individuals have discovered by accident that they have the ability or "gift" of healing others.  In fact, you may be a "Healer" and don't know it.

There are Christian Healers for example, they stumble upon their "gift" of Healing.  It is normally called "Faith Healing".  Faith Healing is the ritualistic practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice.

Touching upon another area that is not discussed much, there is the world of Shamans.  Because modern culture doesn’t have a role for the shamanic archetype, many people who grow up outside of indigenous villages are in fact Shamans (Healers), who have access to the spirit world — and they are not aware of it.

Shaman ~ a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America. Typically such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practice divination and healing.

There is a segment of individuals who may unknowingly be a Shaman, but because of lack of knowledge, they may naturally wind up in overtly healing professions, such as medicine, psychology, or life coaching, because they do not understand that they have a Shamanic gifting.  They'll take part in various forms of sacred activism and spend their lives healing the planet, for example, rather than healing people.  But some wind up in professions where they may feel like they don’t fit in at all.

Know Thyself

To know thyself is the first step in gaining knowledge and wisdom. . .

"The body is the house of God."

 That is why it is said: "Man, know thyself"

Journal Thoughts

For your Journal ~ What do you think of yourself?  How do you feel about yourself?  What are the "gifts" that you have inside of you?  Do you feel good about your "self"?  Do you feel that anything is needed outside of your "self" to make you feel whole or better?  What is the reason that makes you eager to wake up each day?  What is it in life that you seek to do or accomplish?  Could you possibly be a Healer?

What about Hypersensitive People or Highly Sensitive People?

Are you a Highly Sensitive Person

or a Hypersensitive Person?

The Highly Sensitive Person

Is this you?

• Are you easily overwhelmed by such things as bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens nearby?
• Do you get rattled when you have a lot to do in a short amount of time?
• Do you make a point of avoiding violent movies and TV shows?
• Do you need to withdraw during busy days, into bed or a darkened room or some other place where you can have privacy and relief from the situation?
• Do you make it a high priority to arrange your life to avoid upsetting or overwhelming situations?
• Do you notice or enjoy delicate or fine scents, tastes, sounds, music or works of art?
• Do you have a rich and complex inner life?
• When you were a child, did your parents or teachers see you as sensitive or shy?

You are not alone . . .

• Your trait is normal.  It is found in 15 to 20% of the population–too many to be a disorder, but not enough to be well understood by the majority of those around you.
• It is innate.  In fact, biologists have found it in over 100 species (and probably there are many more) from fruit flies, birds, and fish to dogs, cats, horses, and primates.  This trait reflects a certain type of survival strategy, being observant before acting.  The brains of highly sensitive persons (HSPs) actually work a little differently than others.
• You are more aware than others of subtleties.  This is mainly because your brain processes information and reflects on it more deeply.  So even if you wear glasses, for example, you see more than others by noticing more.  (Spiritual Sight as well).
• You are also more easily overwhelmed.  If you notice everything, you are naturally going to be overstimulated when things are too intense, complex, chaotic, or novel for a long time.
• This trait is not a new discovery, but it has been misunderstood.  Because HSPs prefer to look before entering new situations, they are often called “shy.” However, shyness is learned, not innate.  In fact, 30% of HSPs are extroverts, although the trait is often mislabeled as introversion.  It has also been called inhibitedness, fearfulness, or neuroticism.  Some HSPs behave in these ways, but it is not innate to do so and not the basic trait.
• Sensitivity is valued differently in different cultures.  In cultures where it is not valued, HSPs tend to have low self-esteem.  They are told “don’t be so sensitive” so that they in turn feel abnormal.

Our goal today is to recognize the various aspects of the people we come in contact with, as well as understand our innate "self".

To understand our "innate" self, we must keep in mind those things about us that are inborn, inbred, inherent, indwelling, natural, intrinsic, instinctive, intuitive, and unlearned.

NOTE in your Journal those things about you that are INNATE:  Originating in or arising from the intellect or the constitution of the mind, rather than learned through experience, for example an innate knowledge of good and evil. 

Healing Hands

Our hands are instinctual healing tools.  If you have ever experienced your Grandmother's or mother's outreach when you were sick as a child then you understand how naturally love and touch together will bring about healing.

Holistic medicine is a form of healing that considers the whole person -- body, mind, spirit, and emotions -- in the quest for optimal health and wellness.  In this way, if people have imbalances (physical, emotional, or spiritual) in their lives, it can negatively affect their overall health. May 1, 2015

In Holistic Healing Therapies, hand applications are used. There is also a level of healing that also takes place during Massage Therapy.

Massage therapy is manual manipulation of soft body tissues (muscle, connective tissue, tendons and ligaments) to enhance a person's health and well-being.  There are dozens of types of massage therapy methods (also called modalities).

Empath ~ a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual.

One item that we have not mentioned is SPS . . .

Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS), a personality trait, a high measure of which defines a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), has been described as having hypersensitivity to external stimuli, a greater depth of cognitive processing, and high emotional reactivity.

Emotional sensitivity refers to the ease or difficulty with which your children respond emotionally to various situations.  Some children are highly sensitive emotionally to their own feelings and feel things very deeply, while others do not seem to be aware of what they are feeling at all.

Journal Exercise

For your Journal Exercise this evening, take time to write down your thoughts and feelings about the topics we have discussed today, and make sure you indicate anything that you've read that rings true for you personally.  You may also be able to identify others that you know who have some of the traits that we've discussed here.  If you practice Journal Writing daily, then you will find out a lot more about yourself, and you'll be all the better for it!

Friends, until our next Blog Session . . .

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

© Copyright - René Allen - JUNE 2017 - All Rights Reserved 

BLOG SESSION

JUNE 2017

Welcome back Blog Readers, Followers & Visitors ~

We're back from our Coffee Break, and before we go into our next topics of interest, we are going to take a brief moment here now to focus on our Journals.

When we were last here, our Blog Session centered around the topic of "Empathy".  If you have been following along with us for our Blog Sessions, then you will already have a wonderful Journal that suits you perfectly to take notes during our Blog Sessions.  You'll also have a separate personal Journal to keep track of your daily activity, notes, research projects, and daily items of interest that you'd like to make a note of so that you do not forget.

A personal Journal is the one thing that you will find to be really helpful for you.  Your personal Journal will help you to keep track of subject matters that concern you or those you care about.  Personal Journals are a view into your life from your interior point of view.  You may not realize it, but when you write, you normally write from a place that you rarely tap into.  Test this theory out by writing something and leaving it in a drawer somewhere, then come back to it a year or so later and see if you recognize the personal voice of the Writer on the pages.  What you will find is that the person who wrote the words on the page is someone that you know (like a friend), but not necessarily will you view that person as yourself.  Because what Journal Writing makes you do is write from the heart.  Heart~felt writing can be felt deeply by both the Reader and the Writer; and is very different from Research Papers.

Journaling is like therapy for your soul.  If you label each of your Journals with a subject line that reminds you of what made you start your new Journal, you'll quickly be able to go back to your Library of Journals at ease and put your hands on the Journal you're looking for.  For instance, if you are a person who is looking into matters about "health" -- be it physical health, mental health, psychological health, emotional health,  etc.  Labeling your particular Journal about the exact topic you are concerned about helps to keep your thoughts in order, and makes your personal Journal more useful.

Since we are discussing the topic of empathy and Empaths in our Blog Sessions, I'm recommending that you use doses of "empathy" as fuel for your Journal writing . . .

How can empathy help you learn more about yourself?

Remember, empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.  If you'll remember from our last Blog Session, we talked about how empathy is seeing with the eyes of another; listening with the ears of another; and feeling with the heart of another.

Also remember, if we understand "empathy" to be the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner, can we not also do the same for our "self"?

Knowing that our understanding, awareness, feelings, thoughts, and connection with the experience of another person is important in connection with empathy.  It would also make sense that an Empath would be able to do all that is described in connection with "empathy" just by the very nature of who an Empath is.

So here is the question for you for today:  Are you an Empath?

Your mission for this evening

Empath Journal Assignment:  Write with empathy about your "self".

Tips:  Be aware of your feelings;

Use understanding as you explore your feelings;

Capture your thoughts as they appear while you write;

Be sensitive to both your thoughts and emotions;

Finally, Empathize with your "self"

We have much more information to cover.  We'll be back here on the Blog discussing how people with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) have the capacity to experience great emotional depth because of their hypersensitivity.  And we will also discuss the difference between Empaths and Highly Sensitive People.  You won't want to miss our next Blog Session!

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - JUNE 2017 - All Rights Reserved

BLOG SESSION

JUNE 2017

Sometimes babies know best...

We're back for another Blog Session, and we're discussing "empathy".  We had previously been discussing Empaths and Clairsentients on our last Blog Session.  We also touched on the fact that the idea of empathic people is becoming more highlighted in our consciousness as a society, and a lot of people have been able to identify with the definition.

The topic of "empathy" comes into view and should be discussed today for recording in your Journal notes.  If you are new here to the Blog, just so you know, we write in our Journals for every Blog Session.  If you do not have a Journal, please stop and pick one up, or grab your Notebook or some index cards for today's Blog Session.  If you are a daily Diary user, your Diary will work just fine as well.  We labeled our Journal for the month of June with the title of "Empath Journal" . . .

So now is the time to pull out your Journal and your trusty ink pen to begin your Journal Writing for today . . .

Let's start first with the definition of "empathy":

noun

1. "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another."

Lets go a little further with understanding "Empathy". . .

If we understand "empathy" to be the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner", then we can ascertain that our understanding, awareness, feelings, thoughts, and connection with the experience of another person is important in connection with empathy.  It would also make sense that an Empath would be able to do all that is described in connection with "empathy" just by the very nature of who an Empath is.

Empathy is so vital in terms of gaining a better understanding of others and also being clear about what the significance of "empathy" is that the 1st week in June is dedicated to it...

For your Journal Notes:  Scientific research currently divides empathy into the categories of ‘emotional empathy’ and ‘cognitive empathy’. Emotional empathy is the ability to respond emotionally to what another person is going through, and cognitive empathy is the ability to comprehend another person’s perspective or mental state.

Neuroscience, however, which has been dedicated to investigating empathy over the last decade or so, has found that there is a scientific explanation for how living creatures are able to empathise with others. Neuroscientists have called this phenomenon mirror-touch synaesthesia, where mirror neurons are activated when one animal sees another animal perform a particular behaviour.  It has been suggested that in the case of empaths, mirror neuron activity is particularly acute.

Empathy

It has been proposed that, like in the case of people with a very low empathic response, childhood trauma may be present to a greater degree in empaths than in the majority of the population.  The ability to empathise with the unpleasant experiences of another person may come, to some extent, from having had similar experiences.  However, having had similar experiences does not always mean that someone is able to empathise with others going through the same thing.

We all need to learn how to be more empathetic ~ "showing an ability to understand and share the feelings of another."

As we close out this Blog Session, I'll leave you with this entry for your Empath Journal about the POWER OF EMPATHY . . .

We have much more information to cover.  We'll be back here on the Blog discussing how people with Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD) have the capacity to experience great emotional depth because of their hypersensitivity.  And we will also discuss the difference between Empaths and Highly Sensitive People.

For now we'll take a brief coffee break and come back to resume our Blog Session . . .

Coffee Break!

~ See you back here shortly ~

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - JUNE 2017 - All Rights Reserved

    

The Healing Empath

Good Evening Blog Readers, Followers & Visitors ~

We've been discussing Empaths, Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) and Healers.  Tonight we are going to talk about Intuitive Empaths, and in particular those Empaths that have dealt with Narcissistic individuals.

A little about Intuitive Empaths ~ a person who has an unusual capacity for sensing and understanding the feelings of others.  Could you be one?

Intuitive empaths know what others feel without needing to be told, and they have an unusually sharp sense for whether someone is being truthful or lying.

For this reason, many self-proclaimed intuitive empaths go into the healing professions.  There’s a lot of reported evidence from psychologists for the existence of empaths, and it often seems to suggest that they are unhappier than others.

Empathy is present, in general, to a greater degree in women. A study from the journal of Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews stated that there are gender differences with regard to empathic response from infancy.  It has been suggested that females are more empathic as a result of neurological adaptation to the traditional role of child-rearing, as it requires a sharper understanding of non-verbal expressions.

With the information above kept in mind, imagine an Empath dealing with a Narcissist.  It would immediately strike you as odd, as well as a toxic mix.

One Empath tells the story of being involved with a Narcissist.  The Empath came to the conclusion that Narcissists are special people.  Although Narcissists are very focused on how great they are, the Empath realized that Narcissists are actually profoundly wounded.  The Empath also came to the conclusion that something in childhood (in most cases) got to them.  Something unraveled them.  That something also damaged them.  And, because of the wounds, the Narcissists now seek validation.

Here are the words of an Empath that dealt with a Narcissist:

"But here I am.  I'm an empath.  I'm a healer.  I absorb what other people are feeling, and feel it as if it were my own.  My own pain, my own anguish, my own hurt.  Narcissists rarely know an empath's boundaries.  It makes us easy to bond with.  We eat their pain like breakfast lunch and dinner." ~ The anonymous empath

Intuitive Empath

Let us turn our attention fully to the Intuitive Empath ~ What are the traits of an Intuitive Empath?

1.  You understand where other people are coming from

When empaths are in interactions with others, they’re able to understand how the other person feels and why they feel it.  This makes them excellent listeners and great friends. However, being able to put themselves in other people’s shoes and feel as they feel can be extremely stressful.  Apart from having to deal with the stress and difficulties which arise in their own lives, they take on other people’s suffering as their own.

2.  You are oversensitive

If you are extremely sensitive or have been labelled as being too emotional, you may be an empath.  Empaths seem to have the ability to experience emotions at a greater intensity than the rest of us.  This can lead to increased joy and pleasure in life, but when they’re exposed to negative stimuli, it can cause extreme anxiety and distress.  It also means that they’re more prone to mood swings than others, as stimuli from the environment can change rapidly from positive to negative.  Empaths are often very sensitive to noise and other disturbances, too.

3. You can’t stand witnessing the suffering of others

At one extreme of the empathy spectrum (the low end), there are people with disorders which cause anti-social and often violent, criminal behaviour.  Empathic people are on the opposite end of the spectrum, not being able, in some cases, even to watch violent films.  They also find things that many people laugh at, like the misfortunes of others, unbearable to witness.

4.  You aren’t comfortable in large groups

Because of the intensity and diversity of stimuli in situations involving a large number of people, empaths tend to find being around big groups exhausting and anxiety-creating.  It is common for empaths to prefer being alone or with one or two people.  If they have to be in social situations involving large groups, it is often necessary for them to withdraw early and take time alone to recharge their batteries.

5.  You have physical symptoms after emotionally intense situations

Empaths often find that they experience physical symptoms in response to high-intensity situations.  Headaches are common as well as fatigue.  Empaths may also be more likely to respond to the anxiety they feel by abusing their own bodies with drugs and overeating.

Journal Notes

For your Journal, please make a note of anything that you have found to be helpful.  You may also want to add the following information . . .

Empathy is something that nearly all human beings have, with the exception of people who have psychological disorders that prevent them from feeling empathy.  Empathy is, therefore, something which is found in human beings on a spectrum –  from high-empathy responses to low-empathy responses.

Scientists do not currently accept the use of terms such as intuitive empath just as they don’t accept terms like ‘psychic’ or ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception).  Scientific research currently divides empathy into the categories of ‘emotional empathy’ and ‘cognitive empathy’. Emotional empathy is the ability to respond emotionally to what another person is going through, and cognitive empathy is the ability to comprehend another person’s perspective or mental state.

Until next Blog Session

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - JUNE 2017 - All Rights Reserved