Are You an Empath?

🌻💕Ca Yesterday, I came across a new article on Psychology Today from one of my favorite people, Judith Orloff, MD. The article, titled The Importance of Self-Care for Sensitive People: The art of self-care for thriving as an empath, excellently describes the empath person and goes on to talk about how important self-care is to an empath. (Self-care is VERY important!  MOST essential!)  If you experience a regular high sensitivity to the feelings of other people and the world around you, I recommend reading this article and also looking up all of Judith's books.  

A couple of years ago, when I first read one of Judith's books called The Empath's Survival Guide a whole new understanding dawned within my soul!  This book has been immensely eye opening and helpful to me, granting me a greater insight into myself and a greater compassion and understanding for myself.  

Entering Deeply Into True Understanding

Photo by Tom Gainor on Unsplash

"When we want to understand something, we cannot just stand outside and observe it. We have to enter deeply into it and be one with it in order to really understand. If we want to understand a person, we have to feel his feelings, suffer his feelings, and enjoy his joy...To comprehend something means to pick it up and be one with it. There is no other way to understand something." 

--Thich Nhat Hanh in his book Peace Is Every Step

We find ourselves saying we want to understand, but we fall short or are unwilling to go as deeply as it takes to truly understand. True understanding can be painful at times. Yet, it is by walking through the pain that we find healing and freedom from the pain.

(This post is also found on my other website Feisty 'n Free Wholistic Living.)

Poem - I Will Live

I was inspired to write this poem after reading Dawna Markova’s book: I Will not Die an Unlived Life. The poem is a culmination of all of who I am, my life, and my experiences up to this moment in time.  It took four months (February-June) to finalize it from the initial draft penned in my journal.  That's a very tiny fraction of time considering that the poem has been over 51 years in the making since the day I was born. Today, I nervously shared it publicly for the first time with my yoga students at the end of class.  It is no longer my own hidden jewel; it now also belongs to others who touch my life and whose lives I touch.  From my heart to yours, my fellow traveler on this journey of life.

I Will Live

by MaryAnn Broussard

I will live

a passionately embraced life,

savoring every day as if

it is my first and my last.

I will be

graceful and confident,

believing I am worthy and valuable;

that what I have to offer is

more than enough.

The Ocean in One Drop

“So many of us are afraid of meeting ourselves, alone, without distraction.  

We have been taught to fashion an image of 

who we think we are supposed to be and show that to the world.”  

--Dawna Markova in I Will Not Die an Unlived Life, pg 22

We avoid ourselves at our own peril and to the detriment of a life well-lived with utmost fulfillment and healthier relationships.  Our constant states of distraction with the world and the people around us on social media, television, and computer screens drain and rob us of awareness, presence, and wholehearted satisfaction. 

Instead of creating our own inspiring, heroic life stories, we try to wear the stories of others and dress in ill-fitting garments which do not accurately represent who we are now and are still meant to be.  Little by little, we become strangers to the very personal essence of “who I am” and even come to develop fear and phobia of finding ourselves alone with our own company.

Walking My Way - Lines 1-2

A couple of months ago, I came across a most beautiful book titled Walking the Way: 81 Zen Encounters with the Tao Te Ching by Robert Meikyo Rosenbaum.  The book is the author's rendering of the Tao Te Ching: an ancient Chinese text attributed to a sage by the name of Lao Tzu and providing a foundation to Taoism.

The words shared in this book by Rosenbaum are so rich and full of meaning that I find myself hardly moving forward in the book.  I pick up the book and savor some of the text, think about it, and write my thoughts.  When I return later, I go back again to what I've already read and written and read it all over again, think about it again, and come up with new thoughts and inspirations.  For me, this book is like a tree full of endless, tasty fruit to savor and enjoy while also nourishing the soul.

A Shift of Perspective Brings Unity

Have you ever looked at a picture of the Earth taken from far out in space and considered how beautiful our Earth is and how from that wider perspective there are no territorial boundaries and no differentiation between religions, color of skin, ethnicity, country, government, or any other dividing label we place on ourselves and against others every day?

From way up high, implementing an expansive God's eye view of the Earth, we see that we are all one human race living on one beautiful planet. We are one people. We are us. I think if we were to regularly take some time to admire and thoughtfully consider that more expansive view within our thoughts and actions, we could become more united instead of continuing on so divided.

Being an Empath Requires Coping Tools

A year ago, a new friend told me about the book The Empath’s Survival Guide by Judith Orloff, MD.  I glanced at the book at the time but was too busy to dig into it.  Fast forward a year, after having spent it all in heavy duty yoga teacher training, and I was in much need of some me time, self-introspection, soul renewal and personal in-depth growth.  Something I saw or read a few weeks ago triggered my memory of the book, and I was ready to delve deeper.

I chuckled at myself taking the questionnaire in the book because I already knew the answer.  But of course, it doesn’t hurt to confirm it with a questionnaire, right?! 

Yes, the questionnaire shows me as a full blown introverted empath. 

I’m not sure at what point in my life I was able to put the word “empath” to my emotional and relational characteristics.  It’s only been in the past 3-4 years that I have understood the power (pleasant and unpleasant) this personal characteristic has had over me, my life, and my well-being.