Can empaths take away pain? (A Complete Guide)

In this article, we will discuss Can empaths take away pain?. We will do that by defining empaths and explaining how empaths can be natural pain absorbers. We will also explain how pain absorption can be harmful to empaths, the signs of a physical empath, and how they can use different strategies to stay healthy. 

Can empaths take away pain? 

Yes. Empaths can take away the pain of other people through their skills of detecting the emotions and thoughts of others and letting the other person know that they understand them. A few empaths also absorb the emotional and physical pain of other people. This can be exhausting for them as it drains them at a physical and mental level. It is important that empaths learn to establish boundaries and take care of themself if they want to avoid being hurt and prevent an overspill later on. 

Empaths

An empath is a person who is highly sensitive to the feelings, emotions, and thoughts of other people.  They can detect when something is wrong.  These people are highly intuitive and can pick out connections and patterns among things that other people usually can’t.  Empaths are able to see and understand the world from another person’s perspective.  They extend their support and compassion to people who need it. Consequently, they can be very good leaders.

Empaths: Natural Pain absorbers

Empaths often absorb the emotions of other people and can mistake them for their own.  This can be quite draining for them and exhaust them mentally and physically.  Even watching violent and tragic content on social media or the news can overwhelm them because of their sensitivity to the pain of other people.  

It is hard for empaths to see people in pain and not help them.  This is because they are natural healers.  Whenever they are in public,  groups of people and their emotions can be overstimulating for them as they are highly sensitive to the emotional energy in their surroundings.  

When other people are sick or injured,  empaths start to feel their physical symptoms.  It is sort of like empaths mirror the other person’s physical experience into their own body.  This makes them truly exceptional caregivers who relate to other people’s pain and make them feel at ease. People feel calm in their presence and are able to overcome their unhealthy patterns. This is because empaths help them to process their emotions and see the world in a neutral way.

How pain absorption can be harmful to empaths

Although empaths make wonderful healers because of their ability to take away the pain of other people,  many times it acts as a disadvantage to them.  A lot of people approach them in order to share their life problems and frustrations with them. Listening to so many life stories can be quite draining and exhausting for an empath. This explains why they need alone time to recharge.

During the process of listening,  empaths do not only listen. Rather, they absorb the pain of other people.  Such types of empaths are also called physical empaths.  These type of people are someone whose body is Porous enough to absorb the symptoms of other people.  Other people have defenses to screen out things but physical empaths lack these defenses.  They usually need to learn how to protect themselves and establish healthy boundaries. Furthermore,  they need to learn how to give back the energy they have absorbed from others.

Sign of a physical  empath

In order to identify physical empaths, we have stated the most common indicators and signs of them as follows:

  • They are usually labeled by other people as oversensitive or hypochondriac.  This means that people think that they are mostly having some sort of physical problem and are thin-skinned.
  •  When they sit next to someone,  sometimes they experience their body slowing down and getting sleepy. 
  •  Crowds and areas where there are many people can overwhelm them and they start to feel exhausted,  sick, and uneasy
  • People who are aggressive and hostile can also make them feel drained.
  • They visit multiple doctors and have many tests conducted on them but usually, they are told that there is nothing wrong with them.
  •  They always feel chronically tired or have many unexplained physical symptoms 
  • Being in the outside world for too long can be overwhelming for them. So, they prefer to stay at home.

It is important to state that physical empaths are not deceiving others.  They are also not acting like hypochondriacs and creating issues to get attention.  People may think they are sensitive but they are usually blessed with a gift of healing and taking away the pain of others. This can be managed if they follow a few simple strategies. 

A physical empath’s guide to staying healthy

How physical empaths can manage surviving without getting drained by other people’s pain and symptoms,  can be tricky but it is possible.  These people can learn to stop absorbing other people’s pain and still be compassionate and giving. They can learn how to prevent this gift from taking a toll on their health.  We have stated a few strategies that they can employ to stop absorbing the pain of others.

 Question yourself.  While listening to someone pay attention to how your body is feeling and what emotions are going through your mind. Gently ask yourself if the emotions or symptoms you are experiencing are yours or someone else’s. It can be both but in case they are not, try to understand the source of these symptoms. You may seek professional help if it is difficult for you to know the cause of your experience.

Distance yourself.  If you identify the source of these symptoms, and if it is possible to move away from such people, establish a space between the two of you. Do not hesitate to avoid offending others. Politely and subtly change your position and location if you feel like someone is imposing their symptoms on you.

Identify your sensitive body parts. A physical empath’s body may have certain points that are more vulnerable to absorbing the stress of other people. Identify your vulnerable area by scanning your body. Once you know which part is sensitive, focus your mental energy on that area and send positive vibes to it. You can try visualizing distress as a red light that is going out of the body and imagine a green light being sent by you to that area, relaxing it. If you have a long-standing physical condition like this, you can use this method daily in order to strengthen your body.

Focus on your breath. Whenever you identify that someone else’s symptoms are taking over you, focus your attention on your breathing. Engage in deep breathing for a few minutes. This will connect your back to your body and ground you.

Practice meditation.  Learn how to meditate every day for a few minutes Try to calm yourself and push away emotional and physical distress. Even if you are at a public gathering, find an isolated space, and go there to breathe deeply and meditate.  This will help in relaxing your body and in generating an aura of positivity around you.

Establish boundaries.  Even though it is difficult for empaths to say no to people, sometimes it is important to establish boundaries for your own mental health.  Identify your limits and learn to politely say no to people when you are not feeling up to the mark. 

Visualization.  You may employ visualization techniques to give you a sense of protection from the negative rays of other people.  Imagine that there is white light around your body that pushes away the negative rays and protect you from energy vampires.

Focus on your lower back to relieve your body of pain.  The human body has vertebrae that is most effective in eliminating pain from the body.  It is important that an empath learns to focus their energy on that area and visualize pain going out of the body from it.

Take a warm bath and shower. A quick and effective way to relieve stress is to take a shower at the end of the day. This can help in washing away the exhaustion and purifying one from negative vibes of people.

FAQs: Can empaths take away pain?

Can an empath heal?

Yes, empaths are able to heal the pain of other people. However,  it is not easy for them because multiple people’s trauma is absorbed by them.  This can be difficult for them to handle and it can often burst out of them when it becomes too much.

Why do empaths get hurt so much?

Empaths of an get hurt because it is hard for them to ignore other people’s pain.  They are highly sensitive and take on the positive and negative emotions of other people.  They feel the emotions of others too extremely.  Many people tell them to be thick-skinned and stop being too sensitive but it is hard for an empath to click an off button. 

How do empaths set boundaries?

Empaths can set boundaries by learning to say no in a polite and tactful way. They can try to find compassionate ways to say it without hurting others. They can use text messages as one means to express themself in a comfortable way without directly confronting others. Gradually, they can build this skill and use direct means to refuse. 

How do empaths avoid negative energy?

Empaths can avoid negative energy by learning to establish boundaries. They can try engaging in mindfulness and visualization techniques to regain energy. Journaling and going out in nature can also be helpful. Planning a backup plan for emotional overload is also important. 

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed Can empaths take away pain?. We found that empaths can take away the pain of other people through their skills of detecting the emotions and thoughts of others and letting the other person know that they understand them. A few empaths also absorb the emotional and physical pain of other people. This can be exhausting for them as it drains them at a physical and mental level. It is important that empaths learn to establish boundaries and take care of themself if they want to avoid being hurt and prevent an overspill later on. 

 I hope you found this article interesting. If you have any queries or comments, please state them in the comment section 😊

Citations

https://www.sageandstone.org/blog/2018/5/22/31rbht07sb3izam0sd78wxx38qq5xb

https://kripalu.org/resources/i-feel-your-pain-empath-s-guide-staying-balanced

https://highlysensitiverefuge.com/empath-signs/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/the-ecstasy-surrender/201402/are-you-physical-empath

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