Coworker revelations

[fuzzyred]

I was talking with a new coworker today and they said they were an empath; someone sensitive enough to other people's emotions and energy to be affected by them themselves. I didn't realize this was a thing that you could actually be, and I think it might apply to me too. I'm not always able to pick up on non verbal cues or energy that tells how someone is feeling, but verbally expressed feelings tend to impact me pretty hard, especially ones like anger and disappointment. If I actually an some degree of empath, does that mean I can learn mental shielding so other people's emotions don't rain on me as much? And if so, how would I do that?

I think I have some research to do, and some new things to think about. And it might be a good reason to go back and read some of ysabetwordsmith's poems in Polychrome Heroics about those kinds of powers. Maybe I can learn something useful.

Comments

[technoshaman]

You can totally learn shielding. Everybody's different in that respect... but I was taught just to _visualize_ a shield.... YMMV.

[fuzzyred]

I may have to give that a try. Does it work to keep unwanted spillover emotions out?

[technoshaman]

From others, yes. From yourself, that's a different skill.

[fuzzyred]

I may need to work on the "from myself" bit later, but I think shielding against outside emotions would be helpful in that. Or maybe I have that backwards? Self first, then others?

Either way, to me, it seems like if I don't have other people's emotions influencing me, I might be better able to recognize and manage my own, and spend less time upset when I don't need to be. Thank you for the shielding idea, I will definitely need to looking into that.

[technoshaman]

Totally the right order. As for the actual shielding? More or less just visualize it, and believe in yourself. The rest.... you'd have to get somebody local to show you; this one's a little tricksy to show remote.

Experiment

[fuzzyred]

Ya, instinct said the outside emotions were a bigger problem and to deal with those first. My imagination and logical brain have always interacted a little oddly (my brain can be very literal and detail oriented), so I'm picturing something slightly different than a shield. I wanted something that would still let some emotions through, because knowing me, if I visualize something that blocks all the emotions, I'd miss a bunch of cues.

I'm kind of picturing a stained glass dome, with different scenes on the panels, with little holes poked in the glass to let emotions through; and reinforced somehow so that a giant wave of emotions all at once won't shatter it. We shall see how it works out.

Re: Experiment

[technoshaman]

Ooh, yeah. That reminds me of the first time I ever did it... I left a wee hole around the phone line, because that was the source I *wanted* to come in...

*sometimes* you want it *all* shut down... but yes, mostly you just want to slow it down drastically, not stop it all...

I'd say you're bang-on the right track...

Re: Experiment

[technoshaman]

Remember, too, if you can imagine it, it can be real... this stuff works because we believe it does. So make it *yours*.