For anyone who’s sensitive — to energy, to emotions, to the vibe of the world — these last few months have been pretty rough. When you’re an empath and you absorb the energy and emotions of the people around you, it can be easy to get swept away in a tide of feeling, or feel static-y and unfocused.
You can’t always change what’s going on in your external life — how the people around you act, what decisions your government officials make or what stressful events happen. But you can take charge of how you respond to it. Realize that a lot of the emotional overwhelm you feel isn’t really yours. It may be triggering your emotions, but much of it doesn’t actually come from you. If you can sense someone’s mood or energy by looking at their picture, getting a text or receiving an email, you’re empathic and picking up their emotional energy. Multiple that by all the people you connect with via social media and it can easily knock you off your emotional center.
The earlier you notice that you’re being affected by the energy of the people around you, the easier it is to maintain your stability and center. Here are some of the things you might be feeling if you’re taking an empathic hit that’s bigger than you can deal with:
- Feeling anxious
- Feeling edgy
- Feeling cranky
- Feeling wired, but unfocused
- Feeling compelled to keep reading news or checking social media
- Having difficulty sleeping or getting going in the morning
- Using distractions such as alcohol, illicit and prescription drugs to numb yourself
Any of those sound familiar?
If so, it’s OK. There are things you can do to help yourself get centered again and feeling better.
Go for a walk
Often, when you feel overwhelmed, you become stuck. So put on some shoes and get outside. Walk. It doesn’t have to be fast or far, but the forward movement of your body changes things inside your brain. It helps you release stuck thoughts and emotion.
Walking is a great way to ground yourself and to let go of emotional baggage that isn’t yours.
Take a shower
The shower is a great place to meditate. Let the warm water flow over you, really feel yourself in your body, and release everything that isn’t yours and doesn’t serve you. Breathe. Let your mind relax. Enjoy the sensation of the water on your skin.
Consciously release it to Spirit
When I realize I’m taking on the emotions of the world, especially the ones that go down the road of fear and anxiety, I take a step back for a moment and acknowledge what’s happening. Then I say, “Hey, Spirit, if it’s not mine, I don’t want it.”
I let it go. I let it release from me.
Spend time in nature
You might be able to combine this with going for a walk. If not, go outside and hug a tree. Sit in your yard or local park and connect with nature. Trees are an excellent way to ground out energy and reconnect with the Earth. Their roots go deep into the Earth and their branches raise up into the sky. Plus, trees can handle whatever you’ve got to give them.
If you’re not much of a tree hugger, then connect in with the energy of the plants around you.
Meditate
Whatever form of meditation works for you, do it. Spend some time, however much you can give it, in meditation. It’ll help you get grounded and centered and connected to your inner self and Spirit. Whether you prefer mindfulness meditation, guided meditation, channeling meditation, meditation where you go up and out of your body to connect with Spirit, meditation where you bring the presence of Spirit into your own body, it doesn’t matter. It’ll help.
Even if you’re feeling too anxious or off-center to meditate, give yourself the grace of one minute. Here’s what you do:
- Close your eyes.
- Breathe in, filling your lungs, allowing your chest to expand. In your head, count 1.
- Breathe out. Allow your chest and stomach to move back towards your spine. In your head, count 2.
- Breathe in again. Let your breath fill your entire abdomen. In your head, count 3.
- Breathe out. Exhale. Count 4.
- Inhale, 5.
- Exhale, 6.
- Inhale, 7.
- Exhale, 8.
- Inhale 9.
- Exhale 10.
Open your eyes. You’re done. You gave yourself 1 minute of presence and allowed your fight, flight or freeze response to calm down a notch, you lowered your blood pressure and reduced your heart rate.
Repeat as needed.
Reach out to people
Humans are social creatures. We need others.
When my husband was going through the end of his last relationship, we spent a lot of time talking and afterward, he’d tell me, “You make me feel human again.” What he meant was that our human connection helped him feel grounded and heard, it brought him back into the present and helped him focus on how he felt and what steps he could take to feel in control of his life again.
Find the people in your life that help you feel human (even as you’re a spiritual being having a human experience) and reach out to them. Do that physically, in person, if you can. Hug them. Go for a walk. Talk. Have tea (I’m English, it’s always tea for me). Let yourself be reminded that you’re not alone.
Get enough sleep
Sleep is an essential thing. Do what you can to ensure you get as many hours of uninterrupted sleep as you need each night.
I realize there are many reasons this isn’t always a doable thing (being a parent of young children, for instance). But do what you can. Allow yourself to rest.
Remember that self-care isn’t selfish. You must take care of yourself in order to be here, in this body, and function in this life. Without that, you can’t share the gifts you’ve brought into this lifetime. And we need your gifts, your love, your sensitivity now, as much as ever before.