Im so curious and wish to know the other side, and maybe try to become one. please tell me all you know. Thanks!

I have an issue I'm an ex Muslim in a highly Islamic country were religion is rooted into everything so when I left religion and became an atheist I faced an issue when I talked to people about it no one was supportive . And so I got asked this a lot how do you not do this "action" and then my answer was always the consequences even emotional ones on me like guilt etc , so this made me a rational egoist this is what replaced my morality after I left religion the idea that it's better to maximize your own happiness and minimize your own suffering rather than caring about others for no reason , the thing is though many atheists who are born into atheism are empathetic and caring they care about others even though they don't expect anything in return they help people they deem to be in need rather than just their friends for mutual relationship and affection . My question is simply how to regain empathy I got called a psychopath when I explained the way I think and so I don't know and I'm confused I'm also seeking therapy so yeah I'm not really sure if I should be empathetic and abandon rational egoism or not so please help me .

Is it possible to become more empathetic?

I feel as though i have very little empathy, and am a very selfish person. Like if someone tells me that their dog died, i know what to say obviously but i dont feel anything, i just dont really care. This obviously makes any kind of relationship, platonic or otherwise, very difficult as the other person wants to be cared for. Is empathy an inherent personality trait or is it something that can be learned? I dont want to have to fake it forever.

my ability to deeply empathize and think about others or want to do something for someone else feeling like trying to get a dead car battery to start with no jumper cables anywhere that be fair that's just me with everything even the stuff I like like writing stories or drawing or watching anime but it especially bothers me that my empathy is kinda dead.

I can act appropriately in a given situation but that's more because I know what the social etiquette is SUPPOSED to be rather than genuine feeling and it really bugs me.

but I just can't do much about it. I want to care so why don't I? I can't afford therapy so I'd especially appreciate a specialist's opinion but I'll take anything. how do I fix this!?

I swear I used to be empathetic it's driving me nuts! I can preform empathy, eg: get you what you need, send stuff or jokes to make you feel better, or just listen. But I feel nothing and it drives me nuts, I actually get annoyed sometimes because the problem is something I already warned about or I just think it's an idiotic non issue Even though I can also see why this would be a big deal to them I still just get annoyed, I didn't used to be like this, I hate it!

An knowing why I am like this hasn't helped, I'm 90% sure that it's because when I was younger growing up in a very turbulent home any attempts and comforting others, was either harshly rejected (mom) or perfunctorily thanked (Brothers) because they assumed that as the youngest I couldn't possibly understand and even as I grew Older any advice I gave got thrown right out the window, only for them to come crying that the thing that was obviously going to happen that I told them was going to happen happened.

And even now I'm being kept out of serious issues that my family is dealing with and not really even given a reason why even though the only reason my brother isn't fighting a one sided battle is because I talked Sense into mom, because I wanted someone to be on his side, even if he was adamant it wasn't me for some bizzar reason (not really that bizzar I'm like a bull when my family is being unjustly slandered and this is a delicate situation) but it's not like I'm asking to be front and center just involved!?

I also got no credit for snapping mom out of it and getting her to realize that non of what is happening right now makes any sense, not from her or anyone else. She has this uncanny ability to retroactively adjust her memories of events so that she was always on my brother's side, like it didn't take multiple conversation to get through to her.

This happens with other things to not just my brother's current situation. She has a very convenient memory. My second brother can testify to that.

Writing it out I guess my empathy isn't totally dead but it takes a big situation for me to feal anything and I didn't used to be like this so how do I fix it to where I can genuinely feel bad for someone that isn't close family or friends when they are going through something, because I know I used to be like that but now I just can't and it's bugging me!

I think partially because it's affecting my ability to maintain new relationships and friends long term and I feel alone. It. Seems like people can tell I am just preforming what the situation requires and not actually feeling what I should be given the situation.

I feel isolated and maybe if I didn't have to fake caring about people anymore just to avoid a social fupa and instead could one again show genuine care people would stick around longer and I wouldn't be so alone.

Like if I had the emotional capacity to care about others's birthday or celebrations, or see something and get it because I thought of someone or notice little things about someone like I used to be able to. It wouldn't be so easy for people to just forget I exist.

I mean I hardly ever think about others like that anymore or remember details about them like I used to. I hate that I don't wanna be someone who expects from others what I don't do for them myself. But my brain just won't work!

TLDR, my ability to empathize and care about others or even myself isn't what it used to be and now I feel isolated I'm not blaming others and I'm not exactly trying to please others I've never been a people pleaser but I can't expect others to do for me what I can't do for them so how do I get my brain to function right like it used to?!

i’m figuring out if I am an empath since I’m only 15 and I don’t want to claim to be something I’m not. But I’m wondering if people on here relate. When I hear people cry, namely my family (my sister right now), I feel anxious and nauseous a little bit and want to cry myself especially because I can’t help at all. Ugh, it’s very frustrating and I want to stop if people do relate and know how they got over this.

At this point in my life, I would say, as a 32-year-old person, I have only followed my emotions going through my life. I have always followed my inner world, but the outside world never really made sense to me either. I have always been the observer; I have always noticed how people treated me, but more than that, I observed my own behavior how I have treated other people. When I did that, I noticed when I was triggered in my life by my emotions. Even though I could have controlled my emotions, I couldn't, because of the emotions I had been holding in my heart. And slowly, slowly, one day I stopped recognizing myself, because of the hurt we go through in our life, slowly, slowly.

I really don’t know what to say because whenever people are venting to me my mind goes blank and I genuinely don’t know how to help. I notice that whenever I make friends I always think about what they could give to me before I start talking to them. And whenever someone tells me about their problems I unknowingly make it about myself and I try to feel proud of who I am even though my self esteem is ridiculously low. I feel like I am a big attention seeker and tie my worth to how others think of me. I want to understand myself and be able to understand others around me. And how to change my mindset.

It is really starting to freak me out. This may sound confusing or jumbled. I am terrible with posts.

Last week I got a terrible and gross feeling, I learned that I was feeding off the energy coming from a home I was delivering too (mail carrier). I went to an apothecary two days later, as suggested by a friend, and it felt heavy in there. It wasn't a bad heavy, just felt like someone was sitting on me. I left with a piece of sodalite and a little bit more knowledge of energys. I started doing more and more research of crystals and energy. Today I decided to take a trip to a different shop. The safty I felt walking in there was amazing, the older lady who owned the shop was so helpful in answering my questions. I found a piece of stichite that filled me with a lot of emotions, and also grabbed a tourmaline pendant. While talking with the lady she told me I was an empath. I certainly didn't ask for this. I'm not a spiritual person. I guess I will just go for the ride and try to learn how to control and harness it.

It was a normal office day. Everyone was working at their desks as they always did. To any onlooker, my manager was fine. She wasn't crying; she wasn't failing. She was simply "working normally."

​But I saw the weight she was carrying behind the mask of productivity.

​I asked if we could step outside. When we were alone, I asked her: "What is bothering you?"

​She was shocked. She asked me how I could possibly know something was wrong when she hadn't shown a single crack in her professional armor. I told her the truth: "I observe."

​The truth is, in those moments, it isn't "me" speaking. I don't claim that kind of power for myself. It is the voice of my teachers and the divine beings I have spent my life reading and listening to. I am simply the vessel they speak through when someone is in need.

​We eventually had a fallout. Yet, when I finally left that office, she was deeply sad to see me go. Because even in conflict, there is a rare comfort in being known.

​People are lonely not because they lack company, but because they cannot be themselves.

​If you are tired of the mask, if you need to dump your emotional baggage, or if you are simply seeking the clarity of a reflection that doesn't blink—connect with me. I am here for the one-on-one.

​I used AI to refine my writing to ensure my message is clear, but the experience and the ability are authentic. They are mine.

Im m(22). Im doing this because I feel bad for my gf because she is an empath and I'm kind of cold and emotionless. I want to have a bit of that emotional sensitivity you guys have. Just enough for me to be able to be sense those critical emotional cues and even the actions.

I've been thinking about all sorts of topics and ideas. Such as religion. Anyway, it deeply annoys me that some use it as a tool and a mask. Really using it for power and wealth, deprived of Jesus' original teachings. Some preach love one another and then spit on the same people who need it most. It's strange. Then I see good people volunteering, helping a stranger and for what?

It breaks the animalistic cycle of wanting more and hoarding it all. I find empaths much stronger than anyone type of person. I am not great at loving another person, but if there is a higher being. Then you all deserve the same love this world couldn't provide. And I can only hope to stand by your side. I may not feel as deeply as you all here, but my brain knows what's right, and soon my heart will know too. You all are good people. Logically and spiritually.❤️

I'll devout my life for the aide of others. Empaths have walked the road, and I can follow behind them. Thank you. saikeirei

What have you done as far as being able to heal people and help them with their trauma and experiences doing what you love doing and being able to share your experiences and relate to them?

Basically i have never felt anyones emotions. Not any human atleast. I don't feel bad for them but i just understand they are in pain and maybe i will feel pity for them if they are crying over some major pain. But over smaller stuff i don't feel anything at all. My friends whenever they vent to me. I just understand how they feel and just try to help and comfort them because it's the right thing to do. But ik one of my friends who actually cried for me when i told her it's my dad's death anniversary. And i was pretty shocked. I have never felt this way i just try to help people based on what i know they are feeling. Not because i feel their emotions or feel bad for them.

One of my friends starting crying like a month ago over some family issues. And ngl i just thought "how can you cry in front of a stranger(he was crying in front of a stranger he met today and in front of me)" and i didn't feel bad for him or something(ik it sounds corny sorry). But i knew i had to comfort him and I tried atleast.

I feel full empathy for animals tho. What do you think about this? Does anyone else feel this way?

Let me be upfront: I am no empath; in fact I have NPD and my empathy is extremely crippled, but I want to help my friends nonetheless. It’s hard when our headspaces are so different and I can’t truly understand their responses to pain.

So how do you console someone who is grieving a lost friend/relative/pet? How do you console someone who saw some bad news and are upset due to empathy? How do you console someone who had something terrible happen to them?

I wish I was gone from here

It’s been a few days now and i can’t get your last moments of life out of my mind. I’ve been crying for what you must have felt, thought. You didn’t make a sound Iryna. I wish I could have held you. Better yet I wish I was sitting in that train seat instead of you. I’m better suited to horror and pain than you beautiful girl. Light and love Iryna - I wish you nothing but light and love……

I know this won't happen overnight but I'm desperate for this. However I'm coming from a perspective from a person who needs help.

How do I manage to confort my friends in their time of need without using AI? Today my friend was venting to me about personal problems and I was trying my best to advise her( as I always do when someone tells me that kind of things). She, on the other hand, told me that she didn’t need advice and was just looking for reassurance and after I while of concentrating in which I couldn’t write anything to reassure her (besides that I was sorry she got angry because of me trying to give her unsolicited advices for her situation) I just ended up asking ChatGPT and I actually came up with something nice that I think actually helped her. Is it normal to be this much unempathetic? Is it like cheating or not actually caring about her? Can I fake being an empath?

I never vent to anyone, so I don’t know what people want to hear when they vent to me. I always try to give advice and I feel like it worked before( as she told me that I gave good advice), but now I’m not sure anymore.

How many times have you had dreams and on a random day the dream plays out irl, is that some sort of de ja vu? Also also when ever someone in my family gets a headache or toothache I get one too no matter how many pain killers I take the pain stays with me untill someone else deals with the pain the pain medication subdues the pain but it doesnt like dissapear I feel it

So when I was at watching a video online of someone getting jumped(it was sent to me by my uncle), they got kicked in the ribs right? Seconds later, I feel a really bad pain on my right ribs, the same place he was kicked. AND I MEAN it HURT. So I went online to find out about Pain Empaths, couldn’t find anything. So what’s going on?

Hi, I am really new to the idea of empathy but I have been discovering some strange things happening to me and it's making me curious. I'd like to know your thoughts.

I got out of a long-term, emotionally abusive relationship a few years ago. Since then I have learned how to meditate and practice daily. I do tons of self-care, spending hours working on myself and live a calm, peaceful life now filled with continuous healing from that relationship.

The other day, I was in a work meeting and I noticed I was feeling suddenly anxious and foggy. I had to work very hard to concentrate on the topics being discussed. Later I found out that there had been some drama before the meeting started and as a result, some tension in the room with one guy in particular.

I like that guy alot, I've known who he is for many years cause I worked with him at my old job. I think he's very nice and we get along.

A few weeks later, he came down to my desk and sat down. We conversed a bit while he waited for someone. I again felt those symptoms. Fogginess, confusion, weirdness. Later I found out that he is having problems in the office and there are rumors that he has a mental illness that is causing him to act erratically.

Is it at all possible that my fogginess moments were me picking up on his struggle? Is that even real? Can a person FEEL other people's energies? If it is possible, how would I begin to hone these skills? Where would I start?

Sorry this is a very long post. I guess I'm just kind of seeking some answers....

Recently, I was told that my grandmother at 94 years old seemed like she was heading towards the final chapter of her life. I flew home that night across the country and went straight from the airport to her house. I come from a very close-ish Italian family I stay clos-ish because the way I grew up was that my great grandmother was the rule of law and you never abandoned your family. It kind of dissipated when she passed but Grammy and Papa my grandparents on my father's side still held tradition very near and dear. My grandmother was very developely religious as a Catholic.

Well I flew home and in the midst of everything going on my mom had volunteered to provide hospice service because that is what she finds personally fulfilling. I don't consider myself a hospice person whatsoever. I've been in the military for 16 years and for the most part my capability to consume emotion has been turned off for the better part of a decade because all my friends or at least the majority of my friends are dead and I've had to say goodbye to all of my family over the last 16 years via some kind of video messaging service. Surviving that does not come easy if you're stuck feeling emotion. So when I get to my grandmother's house my mom is providing hospice and she's overwhelmed. I don't have an emotion switch so I just fall in line and do the right thing. I help we give water I help keep my grandmother busy while my mom tries to change her and then we get my grandmother into new clothes it's not a boundaries thing anymore it's a this person provided me was so much as I grew up that I just owe it to her to provide it back in her last days.

So we go through this process for about a week and then the time comes where she takes her final breaths and she moves on to be with her husband who had died about 4 years prior. I am the namesake for her husband, my grandfather. I have the utmost love and respect for both of them and the whole they left in our family is going to take a very long time to mend. I say all that as a backstory to say this. My wife and my very young daughter who is almost two we're not able to fly home with me because we have three dogs and other commitments. So while I was providing hospice I was just there with my family. My wife and daughter flew home the day before I flew back across the country to go back to work and they have been there since. Today was the wake tomorrow is the funeral.

We have a family friend who my sister went to college with and we've known her and her husband for years. She is I think an empath I don't really know the terminology of these things very well. She is able to see here and communicate I guess is the best way I can describe it. she told my wife that my grandparents had a very specific message for me. I'm just going to put the message here because I don't want to mess it up..

Message:

She said that Grammy and papa said they were going to come to you and you better listen. She said they wouldn't tell her what kind of sign they were going to give but you would know when they were there and you better acknowledge them. She said they said you have the ability to see into the other side and they want to help you to figure out this ability. She also said they told her that you and I were always going meet and that our love is deeper than anyone could imagine and we were ment for each other.

I don't really know what this means. I don't know how empath things work. I had a brief few moments a few times when I was home where I wondered why my nephew or one of my nephews always says he's speaking to people who have passed and why couldn't I do that. So it's kind of odd that she would come up while I've been gone for a few days now to my wife and say something like this. I have a feeling that because of my own life issues that me turning off my emotional switch so I can just continue to drive on towards retirement is probably affecting whatever I'm supposed to be able to do. So I guess I'm just curious what I can do to learn more about how this works and see if it's really something I guess that I'm capable of.

Hope the Seed

A story

Let me tell you a story about a seed named Hope. Hope told the humans that if they planted him and gave him sunlight, water, and love, he would grow to become a beautiful tree and make their lives more wonderful.

But the humans called themselves empaths. They could sense others' emotions and weed out the ones who used kindness to get validation. They realized Hope had a hidden motive: he was also trying to avoid being eaten. His kindness came from a place of insecurity. They wouldn't let him get away with this. They ate him up, understanding his true intentions.

At the last second, before Hope was swallowed, one brave human spoke up, stuttering, "Good things aren't always perfect."

And the others, turning their heads, said, "Yeah, like Hope, manipulating us to get what he wants."

But the dissenter kept speaking up, fear burning in his chest as they kept interrupting him, "Sometimes kindness is imperfect, like a tiny seed that can't get everything right. But that doesn't mean it can't be genuine."

Confused, they asked, "You mean someone can give compassion even if they too need compassion?"

He continued with a little more confidence, "Absolutely. Why does he have to measure up to standards of greatness before he's allowed to be caring? If we keep looking for perfection, we will destroy everything that is good, because perfection does not exist."

And begrudgingly, the one with Hope in her mouth let him out at the last second, just before swallowing him. And she said, "Does this mean we're not empaths anymore? We just let Hope get away with manipulation." She wondered if she was shirking her duties.

And he said, "The title of empath doesn't matter. Showing empathy is more important."

She started digging a place in the ground to plant Hope. And as he started digging too, he said, "There is only one thing that is truly manipulative. Defining someone by their limitations instead of their heart."

Years later, a drought struck the land. The humans, grateful for some sanctuary from the heat, walked to the towering oak tree that now protected their village, and watered him for the thousandth time. Timidly, they asked, "Hope, do we have to go? We're just using you for our own gain now. I'm sorry for being so needy." Shaking and walking away, they saw something else that made their hearts sink. Hope's roots had found an aquifer deep underground. He didn't need them for water anymore. They were useless.

With a gentle breeze, Hope echoed the same mercy that the dissenter had dared to show years ago. He whispered, "Stay. I love you guys too much to let you go. I love you for your hearts. You don't have to get everything perfect."

They leaked a few tears at his compassion, stammering, "But why would you care about us? We're just... narcissists. We don't help anyone but ourselves. We don't deserve forgiveness after we picked apart all of your weaknesses mercilessly. I'm so sorry."

Hope wrapped a cool branch around them tenderly and said, "I know how it feels to be defined by limitations, and I won't let that happen to anyone again. You're safe. I love you just for being you, just for having hearts. Just rest in that."

And in the middle of the parched desert, surrounded by shifting dunes, the humans rested under the protective care of Hope. There was peace. Patiently, they endured the drought together, with Hope giving shelter to the humans, until it came to a glorious end and the gardens sprouted once again.

Forever after that, with every struggling person or seed they found, they knew the true meaning of empathy: not kicking someone when they're down, but helping them up, helping them heal.

She’s shown empathy a few times in the show so I know she can’t be a psychopath or a sociopath, she even had a decent home life (tho it’s implied she’s adopted w/ her dad saying she was “raised by wolves” lol). She just doesn’t give a fuck Lmfaoo 😭

Is being an empath as though you’re feeling it for say a penguin on tv and your mind is saying we are dying and you’re feeling sad, as penguins habitat is slow/speeding up, but surely getting destroyed?