The below are covered in much greater details in The Empath Guidebook. Here they are in short. The book is free.
This list is what many people may experience if they are highly empathic. You may not experience them all, but some do. This list is not inclusive.
• You may be very sensitive to noises. They may not be loud, but they feel like they go right through you.
• You are sensitive to harsh lights, strong smells. The energy of these things can actually induce a state where you are experiencing strong feelings triggered by them.
• It's a real trial being at places such as parties, nightclubs where there are so many people that you can barely move, and the noise is so loud that you try to leave your body until it's all over and you get to leave. An empath will often try and leave such places as soon as it's politely possible. They cannot understand how people can go to these places night after night, or even how they could be enjoying themselves.
• You may also hate crowded places such as shopping plazas, train stations or just too many people in the same room. Normally it's a place where there is chaotic energy, and the people around you are stressed and just want to get what they are there to do over and done with.
• You may experience periods of anxiety for no apparent reason. No matter what you do, you can't seem to let it go, or get over it, and you have no idea why.
• You are clinically depressed, or feel depressed for no apparent reason. Once again, no matter what you try, you just can't 'get over it'.
• You carry a lot of guilt, even if it's for another's action or for something you have done that has been received in a way you did not expect or desire.
• You feel over sensitive to whether people want to be around you or not. Indeed, if you sense that you are not welcome somewhere or by someone, you will hastily make the quickest retreat you can or become ungrounded.
• You feel ungrounded. That is, you are all in your mind, rather than your body. When you are somewhere where you do not feel comfortable, or are bored, or just do not wish to be there, you will often retreat into your imagination, and travel to far off and distant places. Anywhere but where you are.
• You can always tell how someone else feels, even if they tell you something else. This is often taken personally, though generally, it's just the other person having issues, which have nothing to do with you. The closer you are to someone, the more you will fear it has to do with you.
• You tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. You make extremely sure that someone has been given every chance, and more, before you act to stop them from doing something that may be hurting or putting you under pressure. Even if this person is acting like a complete jerk, you'll still try to give him understanding and compassion. Sadly, in this current world, doing such things are often abused, or worse, you end up being the bad person.
• You feel a great connection to animals and things of nature, including plants and trees. Indeed, you may sense the energy of an area very strongly, be it positive or negative.
• If you see someone in distress, pain or who is suffering, you will automatically feel bad along with them, in order to show they are not alone. You may even feel their physical pain and certainly feel their emotional pain. You may actually feel guilty if you do not empathize with such a person and will often put aside your own needs, even if you happen to be feeling good. You cannot abide another's suffering.
• You may have an overwhelming desire to help, heal and save others from themselves. It is important for the empath to not jump right in and try to 'fix' someone who they perceive to be going through a rough time. This is a trap many empaths can fall into, but often their help is not always welcome, or worse, their help is abused, and the empath ends up being used and drained of emotional energy and resources. An empath has a way of discerning if they should be helping someone or not. I call them 'Soul Calls'.
• You have an inbuilt lie detector. Someone can be telling you a bare-faced lie, but you will know if it's not true. The interesting thing about this is that you may not know right away, but you will know, and often quite soon. People will often have a window to try and fool you, but once you've had time to consolidate all those feelings, you will always know if someone is trying to lie to you, or manipulate you.
• Many empaths are natural healers, and have the ability to heal others either with the laying of hands, or from a distance. Empaths are generally drawn to healing, or a profession that aids others in some way.
• If someone find something funny or sad, or has a strong
opinion about a certain subject, you may find yourself agreeing with them, in order to match their energies. Then you may find yourself doing it with the next person who comes along. You always find yourself in agreement with who you are with and you only feel your true feelings when you are along. This doesn't mean you are wishy-washy or weak, it means that you are tuning in to who the person is and what they are feeling, and allowing their energies to overwhelm yours. Many empaths do this because they feel it will help build a rapport with the other, but all it really does is invalidate who you are, and no one thanks you for it either. Standing in your own space and power can be quite challenging for an empath.
• You don't feel like you belong to this world. Indeed, the empath will often feel like a fish out of water, and honestly believe that they don't belong here. That's because the behaviour of others are so strange and alien to them, they just can't relate.
• You may feel overwhelmed by too many people, energies or emotions happening all at once. Being an empath is like being a psychic sponge. If you do not have control over your abilities, and know how to purge, you will eventually go into toxic overload, especially when there is so much psychic pollution out there. Sometimes having a cleansing shower can work wonders.
• You and others consider yourself a highly sensitive person. Even the smallest change in moods can be picked up by you. It can be very disconcerting.
