Raising a Child That is a Empath -What you need to know.

And why the world needs them.

As a child, I was sensitive. I was closed off, shy, introverted. In primary school, I had trouble making friends or speaking up. Having lunch on my own or being bullied were the norm.

In high school, it was slightly different, still introverted and shy. The friends I had were not the cool kids or popular kids. I was happy about this. I didn`t like the attention and preferred my own company or the company of my art pad or book.

I spent my Saturdays as a child in art class. It was there I felt like I fitted in with others like me. To paint or make a ceramic item allowed me to be creative. A welcomed escape into a different reality for a few hours.

I was also quite emotional as a child, even though I did not speak a lot. For a lot of my childhood, I had to keep my emotions contained. The result of this caused only further issues. I had outbursts and threw pretty good tantrums, creating unhealthy cycles.

I did not know how to handle the emotions or show them, so I kept them inwards only to express them in my diary. I was sensitive to other`s feelings. I still am to this day.

I could intuitively feel many emotions of others, harder to explain to my peers that were what was happening. Nor did I come from a family of “feeling” anything. You just pushed it away and got on with it.

Loud noises, voices, or too many people all over yelling each other forced me to go and hide out somewhere in my home. Usually in the corner of my room, staring out the window, wishing I had magic powers that I could disappear or transport to another place. It was strange because I should have been used to all the noise.

I am of Mediterranean background, and we are far from quiet. The overwhelming feelings made me shut down, only reinforcing my introverted-ness. I also refused to sit down with my extended family at our Sunday lunches. I also refused to eat anything. My stomach was consistently in a knot.

I was overloaded with the emotions of others so much that I became good at absorbing them. I was numb with feelings. My senses were also numbed by all that was going on around me. I slowly stopped being me. I gradually became bits of other people, all molded into a false identity created out of desperation.

Fast forward into my late 30s and the beginning of my spiritual awakening, I learned about Empaths. For some, it is a blessing and a curse. For others, it is a curse, and the rest it sways between it all.

Initially, I felt it be a curse, another burden on top of my introverted and shy nature, especially when it came to relationships. The feelings of others combined with mine felt as if I had become plugged into a short circuit board. Moments away from setting on fire.

A steep learning curve as I learned to differentiate between everyone’s emotions and mine, leaving me feeling ungrounded a lot of the time.

I suffered from anxiety and the feeling of going crazy often. I became battered energetically. Like someone had a bow and arrow, releasing from one`s grip one after the other towards me and me, I was the target.

My aura, the energetic bubble around me, had become a sieve, holes in many places left by the arrows. I soon learned from my peers how to deflect. How to distinguish the emotions of others from those were my own. I learned tactics clear and re-balance my energy. More importantly, the seriousness of grounding.

Now, in my 40s, I see looking back how it shaped me into who I am now. An initiation of walking on fire, I had to endure. It was so I can teach others now on life as an empath and see it as a gift. Not the curse, which is the shadow of the light empaths bring to the world.

Both aspects I guide others to acknowledge. I remind myself also when I get too lost in my feelings, or feel I am not fit for sometimes a harsh world.

I talk to parents who have children. Labeled by society that they are too sensitive, or they lash out. Unexplained invisible triggers of emotions rising like a volcano.

Except that it is not invisible unless you know what to look for, noticing the subtle signs before becoming overwhelmed. It is here, where we can learn from them.

Encourage expressive outlets like drawing to release the pressure and communicate their feelings if they are uncomfortable speaking or feel they do not have a safe space to be heard.

It is at the time of childhood up until they reach the age of 5 to 7 years old that they are open to all that is unseen.

It is not until they get to school that their imagination becomes stifled. Molded into an out dated society desperate for change and evolution.

Parents un-equipped on how to handle what they do not know. Understandable, of course. I am sure my parents felt the same way at the time.

Empath children choose incarnation to teach their parents and peers around them sensitivity and compassion. Show us our shadow aspects of ourselves, the darkness that demands to be integrated and loved as one. Exhibit the expression of an open heart working alongside an open mind and a soaring spirit. Through their eyes, see their wisdom and how it can benefit society.

To be different and unique is who they are, not who we try and make them be.

Final Thoughts

Parents and peers who nurture and develop Empath children, are guided to remember they incarnate here for the most part as old and wise souls.

Their mission is to bring love to the earth and change the world. As do all children.

We have to allow them too, and hold a safe space for them to do exactly what they came here to do.

I know it is part of my purpose to be part of their world with them. Holding their hand, knowing that they are not alone.