I have a print out of every company credit card in my desk, as well as a few of the company owner's personal cards, so if I wanted to steal I could. I never EVER have these thoughts, but one day while ordering lunch for some of the higher ups the idea popped into my head to order something for myself under the justification that "they wouldn't even notice anyway since I get the statements." My personal ethics shoved that idea aside since I can't even order myself a can of soda without feeling guilty, but having the thought at all was what really bothered me. I couldn't figure out why I was judging myself so harshly just for a series of thoughts.
Fast forward a few days, I find out a former employee changed some setting in some system to deposit some of our credit card payments to their secret personal account. They wound up taking a lot more money than they expected, not realizing how much it would be in such a short period of time, under the notion that "they wouldn't even notice anyway since I get the statements."
This is just one example of what I believe to be "empaths at work." My previous post also had a similar experience, where I have these random unexplainable thoughts that bother me and just "aren't me." Sometimes I react very emotionally to them. How do I know if this is real or if I'm just grasping at straws? How do I protect myself from my own emotions if I am applying the thoughts of others to my own emotional health?
Let's say this is a "knowing," is it "normal" for these "messages" to "download" into my brain sort of garbled like this? Like I got the message but I'm translating Cantonese instead of Mandarin?
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An occasional thought such as popped into your head does not make you a bad person. There is a difference between knowing you can take an action and doing so.
That said, you may have received thoughts from those around you. That is more than possible. Also, I like your metaphor of translation very much! That makes a lot of sense. If these things happen frequently to you, chances are high that it is not coincidence. I don't know this is normal for most people in the world, but it happens to some of us.
You can distinguish between your thoughts or feelings and those of others by learning to put up barriers in your mind. Also, examining your own reactions to random thoughts, as you did, is a great way to distinguish.
Take care,
Nightingale