I'm 17 years old and I just found out that I am an empath and a little bit psychic. This is the first time I have told anyone this because my family doesn't really believe in this kind of stuff. I can feel people's emotions and I can even sometimes manipulate different people's emotions. For example, while I was working I was really annoyed with a fellow employee and most of the customers were annoyed and impatient. I don't mean to change people's moods and emotions, but I can't control it.
These feelings have affected my life in both positive and negative ways. First, it hurts to know what your friends really think about you and it has ruined relationships. I sort of push new people away because I already know what they are really like just by walking past them. It's like being able to read someone's mind without the words or images. I just feel what they feel. However, having this gift I can pretty much tell if someone is lying to me or not.
I also think that I am psychic, but it could just be the feelings or being an empath. I tend to know what someone is going to say before they say it. For example we were trying to figure out were we wanted to go shopping one day and I was thinking of Pac Sun and all of a sudden she said exactly that.
Yes, empathy is a good gift and a curse at the same time. Knowing more about what people think of you is something that you sometimes do not want to deal with. With ungrounded/unshielded empathy, you do not have a choice for this. However, there is a way that you can control it and not get overwhelmed by it without having to block it. This is called shielding. We have a blog on our MySpace page about it, maybe you'd be interested in checking it out? Email us if you have any questions or comments.
-Blessings & safety; Vendettas.