What is empathy and who are empaths, is it easy to be one?

It is very important for a person to become happy, to live surrounded by loving and understanding people. In order to feel the harmony and happiness of life, you need to be able to sympathize and understand other people. The amazing feeling that this opportunity gives is called empathy.

Explaining what empathy is, this gift can be defined using knowledge of the Greek language. In Greek, “empathy” means “compassion, empathy.” Simply put, an empath person subtly perceives the feelings and emotions of others, he knows how to deeply sympathize with people. At the same time, the empath does not lose control over his own feelings.

Empathy - the ability to feel others

What is Empathy?

Definition. Empathy - (“empathy” / “empathy” from the Greek “empatheia”, where em - “in”, pathos - “passion, strong feeling, suffering”, later also acquired the meaning “feeling”, “sympathy”) - conscious understanding of feelings , states, emotions in which the other person is. Empathy is an ability. The ability to penetrate into the inner world of another person and look at the world around him through his eyes. An empath can much more easily determine the mood of the interlocutor, lies, hidden motives, experiences; he empathizes with the other person's condition, but at the same time has a clear understanding of the external origin of this experience. He doesn’t need to analyze a person’s facial expressions or gestures to understand the mood; he perceives with his feelings. An empath has access to many levels of people’s feelings and sensations at once, he reads information in volume and, thanks to this, can see not only what the person himself is aware of about himself; a good empath can feel the whole essence of a person at once. We can say that empathy is one of the ways of perception, such as hearing or vision. A person with developed empathy is able to absorb information and feelings without visual contact with an object, sometimes while at considerable distances. Sensitive people, who have an “inner vision”, developed perception and visualization, talk about their experience in empathy. They have interpretations of what this quality might look like in a subtle sense. For example, it may look like a connection between people in the form of a channel or light, usually located in the chest area, an area that is so often associated with the strongest feelings. There are no distance limits for this connection. You can also read information with your head, but this already refers to the concept of telepathy. You've probably heard about the hundredth monkey effect? This is a primitive and simple example of the dissemination of information in the field among animals. So, empathy helps to perceive and process, in volume, sensory information, already in the Human environment, which in itself should be a higher level.

What science says.

In 1990, scientists discovered the so-called mirror neurons, first in monkeys, and then they were discovered in humans and some birds. Neurons are located in the brain and are activated both when performing an action and when observing another animal performing that action. It is believed that they can be involved in the process of empathy. Expensive and promising research continues, but the full mechanism of action of these neurons has not yet been described.

Empathy can be divided into types:

• cognitive empathy, helps to understand how another person looks at things;
• emotional empathy, allows you to feel what another is feeling;
• compassionate empathy, gives a willingness to help someone;

We'll look at Empathy more comprehensively. Why is it worth learning and developing empathy, sensitivity and feelings? At the beginning, we will describe what main advantages this quality gives us, what opportunities come to us with the development of this ability.

Definition, classification and levels

Empathy can manifest itself when a doctor communicates with a patient.
Empathy is the ability to empathize with other people and respect their feelings. A person who is prone to empathy reacts very sharply to the emotions and feelings of others, he feels them on himself. An empath is a hypersensitive person, always ready to help.

In psychology, there are five types of empathy.

1. Emotional. It is typical to perceive people's feelings on an emotional level.
2. Cognitive. There is an intellectual perception of the feelings of other people, while turning to analogies, comparisons, and drawing parallels.
3. Predicative. The ability to identify in advance an individual’s possible reactions to certain events and behavior in specific situations.
4. Empathy. There is an identification of oneself with a person who experiences some emotions, experiences of his emotional state.
5. Sympathy. The social aspect, which expresses the empath's state of mind regarding the worries of another individual.

You need to understand that empathy begins to develop from childhood. As an individual grows up, he gains life experience and becomes able to recognize people's feelings. However, regardless of how old someone is, there are manifestations of sensitivity to varying degrees. So there are four main levels.

1. Short. There is a weak craving for empathy. Such people rely only on logic and real facts; they are not familiar with actions that are committed under the influence of emotions. Such individuals do not understand the feelings of other people, they look at all problems only from their own position, without thinking that for someone they may be more significant. It is extremely difficult for these individuals to get along with others, they try to avoid companies, rarely communicate with neighbors and colleagues, and have very few friends. Among men, non-impatiens are four times more common than among women.
2. Normal. This level of empathy is typical for most people. It is also called standard level. Characteristic of 80 percent of people. Such individuals can understand the emotions and feelings of others, but they do not worry too often and do not think much about other people’s feelings. Such empathy is characteristic of almost every second person; they often remain indifferent to the problems of others. They are sensitive to the emotions that they themselves or those around them experience.
3. High. Such people don't come along often. They are called empaths. They understand the emotions and feelings of other people very well, listen carefully, notice all the details, and empathize in any situation. Such people are socially active and easily make new acquaintances; they have many friends. Thanks to the ability to communicate with people, they achieve great achievements in their personal and social life, and career growth. A person who is at this level empathizes with others without experiencing discomfort; the emotional perception of other people’s feelings does not cause anxiety or suffering.
4. Elevated. For such individuals, the feeling of empathy causes discomfort. A person has difficulty distinguishing his own problems from those of others. This condition is accompanied by the following manifestations:

• excessive impressionability;
• severe vulnerability;
• acute experience of the feelings and emotions of other people;
• the emergence of feelings of guilt for the pain felt by others;
• worry and suffering for the problems of others.

This level has a negative impact on the life of an empath, impairs his communication skills, and is often a factor influencing the development of mental illness. In such a situation, it is important to engage in psychotherapy to correct hyperempathy.

Manifestations of empathy can be different. It is worth considering that, for example, psychological and pedagogical empathy are not similar to each other, however, both are subtypes of the same ability. Let's look at examples that appear in different situations.

1. Pedagogical. It appears when the student communicates with the teacher. A teacher with empathic abilities will be able to easily establish contact with a child; he will recognize his needs, feelings, take into account his inclinations and personal characteristics, will not challenge his point of view and will unobtrusively guide him in the right direction.
2. Psychological. It appears when the psychologist communicates with the patient. The specialist listens carefully to him, recognizes his emotional state, and expresses true empathy.
3. Creative. Characteristic of an actor getting used to the role. In order to play well, he needs to try on the image of the character, imbued with his emotions, feelings, and understand the reasons for his actions. As a result, when the viewer sees the performance of this person, he will be convinced of his professionalism.

About the benefits of Empathy

• Naturally, a person with a developed quality of empathy and sensitivity has a more holistic perception of the world. Due to the greater number of feelings and information that he receives, his life becomes bright and fulfilling. Almost every day of a developed empath can be full of discoveries, understandings and insights. Such a person is not inclined to get bored, he is always interested and nothing seems ordinary. It looks like real magic! Agree, for this reason alone it would be worth trying to develop empathy, but there are other benefits.
• A person capable of empathy quickly adopts the experience and skills of other people, which means he can learn faster and more effectively than others. If the quality of empathy is strong, such an individual is literally able to see and feel, one might say, even be the person from whom he learns or would like to adopt something. Some actors, for example, have this skill. There are common cases when, almost instantly, having entered a state of empathy, a person reproduced the manner of speech, voice, gestures, facial expressions, movements, even the way of thinking and the habit of humor in a specific way. Great, right? That is, for some time the boundaries between him and another person are erased. Thus, it becomes possible to adopt the life experience, qualities, skills and abilities of another person in a very short time! And some people developed not only certain skills, but also talents in just this quick way, by absorbing information. Such a skill necessarily requires certain understandings and qualities, which we will describe below.
• If you combine developed empathy and analytical thinking in a person at the same time, you get a personality that is a generator of great ideas. An analytical mind alone may not be enough. You have to really feel what other people need in order to come up with a really good and useful idea.
• The ability to accurately determine the mood and deep essence of another person, thanks to good sensitivity, gives you an advantage in communication and interaction. Such communication will always be more interesting for both you and the interlocutor.
• When you understand a person better and understand their feelings, you can help more effectively. This will be useful in family relationships and at work. This quality is necessary for bosses who must feel all their employees in order to effectively manage the company, be a leader, select a team, and provide an individual approach to each employee. And, also, to people of all professions who are involved in helping others. In the modern professional world, the benefits of “emotional intelligence” have begun to be recognized at the proper level. Although, this concept does not convey the whole essence of the qualities of empathy.
• An empath intuitively senses lies and tricks. It is difficult to deceive him and lead him astray.

Interesting, isn't it? But what contributes to Empathy? Why does it manifest itself much more strongly in some people? More on this below.

What human qualities contribute to Empathy and are necessary for its manifestation?

Empathy initially manifests itself in those who are open to others and the world, and are sincerely interested in what is happening. In fact, empathy can be called one of the manifestations of Love, since there is selfless empathy. Let us define the accompanying qualities that are inextricably linked with empathy.

Accompany and enhance Empathy:

• openness;
• sincerity;
• unselfishness;
• Love;

Some may argue that being always open is difficult in the modern world, that every ability has its own conditional negative side, and ask the following question:

Concept in psychology

Empathy is a very rare ability that is manifested by a subtle understanding of the feelings and emotions of another. It includes additional aspects:

• a chance to feel like you’re in someone else’s shoes;
• the desire for empathy and feeling the mood of another.

These traits show the character of a person to a greater extent than his psychological state. Empathy in psychology has been considered by scientists for more than a decade.

They argue that this ability not only has a subjective understanding of the outside world, but also the ability to sense the negative and positive emotions of the interlocutor.

But what about the negative aspects of this ability?

Someone might say the following about empathy:

“This is all good and, undoubtedly, everyone would like the positive properties of empathy to help him in life. But, for sure, along with good sensitivity, a person gains the ability to feel not only the joy, but also the pain of other people!”

Let us also remember those disadvantages that are now so often described in articles about empathy.

1. The state of a sensitive person can change depending on the people with whom he interacts and, often, not for the better. Can lose oneself and easily succumb to the influence of others. It is difficult for him to manifest himself;
2. his vitality can be spent quite quickly, depending on how much he worries about some unfavorable situations associated with other people, “gets stuck” in other people’s painful feelings - it is difficult for him to separate them from himself;
3. he can quickly get tired in crowded places; noisy places, parties and chatter get on his nerves, drain him and overwhelm him. Because of this, an empath may sometimes avoid communication;
4. Other people's fears and pain can be felt as if they were your own. Also, it is difficult to observe lies and lies;
5. It may be difficult to refuse others;
6. empaths feel alone in this unfeeling world.

That is, many are afraid of empathy and consider it a negative quality, because it allows you to feel the pain and negativity of other people, and therefore suffer with them. In fact, this is just a low level of understanding of this ability. The important thing here is not to be scared and understand the situation.