Unlocking Your Potential: An Empath’s Guide to Moving Forward
I got these new cards for my birthday, the kind of cards where you choose one and it gives you a message. I decided that I could use the cards to choose my article topic for today, writing about whatever came up.
Today the card I chose is “moving forward.” I wondered for awhile how this might turn into the topic of my next article. The realization then occurred to me, that moving forward is exactly what I’m doing right now, and something I previously was not doing. I also decided that I would share a bit about my own perspective, which seems applicable to this card and this article.
Previous to moving forward I was feeling so stagnant. There were days when I even wondered whether I might be moving backward. I felt without inspiration. I felt tired and emotionally drained. It felt like the days passed and I was barely a part of the world. In short, I felt like I was going nowhere, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to find my way back to the inspiring, full of life person that I used to be. I wasn’t sure that person was even still inside of me. I missed that person, but did not know how to find her.
The next bit is going to require some explanation. Part of the reason that I am a hypnotherapist and a life coach, is because I can feel the feelings of others, and can help them from where they are. Most people call that being an empath. As an empath, however, things can get quite complicated. Sometimes I walk into a room and someone is really depressed, and suddenly, I feel really depressed. Similarly, when the whole world is feeling down, that collective feeling shows up for me. Sometimes I mistakenly believe that collective feeling is what I am feeling. It gets difficult to distinguish my emotions from those of others.
This, I believe, is how I became stagnant. I saw the world literally stop for the pandemic, people’s lives being shut down, financial lives being ruined, and division amongst the populace that we, as a nation and a world, have not seen for a long time. Emotional waves full of dark, angry, fearful emotions seemed to be hitting the shore regularly. The collective feeling that these circumstances created (and continue to create in some respect), is extremely strong, potent and divisive. People who don’t consider themselves empaths are likely to feel it as well.
Recognition was the first step – and it always is. It took recognition, on my part, to become aware that these feelings were not my own. It took strength to separate my own feelings from the feelings of the world, and lift myself up again. I know there is a part of me that will always be connected to the world in that way. This is the unavoidable truth, for we are all essentially one. But I also knew that I had to find my way back to the inspired, positive, motivated soul that is in inside of me.
How could I move forward with this collective weight on my shoulders? Blocking those feelings out, for me, was not an option. For me, blocking is like building a wall. The feelings would continue to pile up on the other side, until eventually I would have to build a bigger wall, or the feelings would start to spill over. Worse, they might demolish the wall and gush through to me all at once.
So one day I decided it was enough. I just threw all of my attention and focus into finding myself again. It is clear that where I focus, I place my energy. I also know that my energy is like food to all that I want to grow. So I threw my full attention and focus into my family, meditation, awareness practices, reading, exercising, eating right, writing, posting videos, cooking and doing my art. I put my attention on the things that matter to me, and thus I grew the things that I love.
In this way I am moving forward, gaining some momentum in a positive direction. For an empath, it takes a lot of strength, but in a sense I believe I am not only now moving forward myself, but I’m also contributing to the possibility of the world moving forward once again as well.
Stagnation and moving backward are counter to moving forward. That which is not growing (moving forward) is probably rotting and dying. Moving forward means positive change and growth. It means making the world a better place to live. Moving forward means creating a better today and a better now, in order that we may create a better tomorrow. Moving forward means being our true selves, and contributing to the world in a positive way.
Don’t get me wrong, death is a part of life too, but I’m not quite there yet. I still feel like I have a whole lot to contribute to the world.
If you feel like you could use some help moving forward, please take a look at my website and contact me, so that I might help you find your power and your way.
Blessings and Namaste
