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I tried to base this list on what I experienced before becoming a completely awakened empath. Some examples of experiences are from when I was young and some as recent as 10 years ago. Now that I am a skilled empath I look back and all of my past makes sense now. I hope you find this list helpful.

Weak Emotional Stability - picking up peoples emotions and not knowing it I often experienced mood swings. Some not so bad and others quite extreme. I could be fine one minute and totally pissed the next. I could be happy one moment and then sobbing uncontrollably the next.

Feelings Easily Hurt - Often I was called “too sensitive.” I would take criticism really hard. I can’t even say how many times I would be at work and have to go into the bathroom so no one would see me cry. My feelings were easily hurt deeply.

Always Friends With or Trying to Help The Underdog - I didn’t understand it but I was feeling the emotions of others to the point where I felt drawn to befriend them, try to help them, or just offer kind words even if it was a stranger I didn’t know. I once offer a co-worker who was crying (and had been crying for at least 30 minutes) the money she needed ($300) for her over drawn bank account if she would just stop crying. Yes, I was quite serious and would have wrote her a check on the spot if it would have gotten her to stop crying. My saying that to her did make her stop crying because she though it funny how desperate I was to get her to stop crying. She laughing for a couple of minutes and then to my horror when right back to crying again. lol. The best way I can describe it is that it is a feeling of “I don’t want to just console you, I want to cry with you.” You remember the saying “I am not laughing at you, I am laughing with you.” That says it all!

Not Loud Noise…loud Negativity - There is a big difference! Loud noise is fireworks on the 4th of July. Loud Negativity is being present or near and feeling the negative emotions of an argument between two people. Loud music to me is just loud music…and I get my groove on and enjoy it! lol. A difference of opinion between people who get a little loud when it comes to making their point and have a lot of emotion behind it because they greatly disagree with the other(s) view point is negative noise that I feel I want to get away from. For example, I love watching The View. But, pre-election when they would get into heated debates I would have to turn the channel…my stomach gets all knotted up and I start to feel like I could hyper-ventilate at any moment.

Knowing Whether You Are Liked- I always knew what someone felt for me. They wouldn’t have to say anything to me or about me for me to know. I could not only sense it but also sense the reasons behind it. Some times with a simple “hello” I knew it all. With just one word said to me Icould pick up the feelings behind it, so I was really good at sensing fake emotions or when someone was lying to me. There were many times before I knew I was an empath that someone could say one innocent word and I would have to fight off the tears because of the truth I felt behind it. Being an empath is very much about knowing the truth. It can’t be hidden from you no matter how hard someone tries because you can feel it.

Movies and the News Affect - You may or may not have trouble watching sad or violent movies and news stories. I didn’t always…it was something that started subtly and grew until it was so noticeable to me that something was up and I could no longer ignore it.

Relationship Problems- In relationships my emotional needs never felt satisfied. I really sorry I can’t elaborate on this. I honestly can’t explain it. But to give one example…I ended a relationship quite suddenly because of sudden feelings I picked up. I didn’t know where they came from but they felt like mine and boy did I act on it! I broke up with him on the spot and drove away with tires screeching, and as I drove away I racked my brain trying to figure out what had just happened and why I just ended my relationship. Empathy can sabotage a relationship when you are unaware that you are an empath and therefore act on emotions that are not your own. The hardest thing for an empath to get good at is knowing what is theirs and what is not. Once that is learned and you get a good handle on it life gets so much sweeter!

Exhaustion- When unaware that you are an empath and you are just walking around like a sponge sucking up all those emotions and making all those connections that go unbroken for days and days and just build up…it is very draining. Eventually you feel as though you have run out of energy in a big way. You may go days feeling tired. Maybe the drain of energy is happening during one of those long phone calls with a friends where they unburden themselves on you, about their day, their relationship, their co-workers, their parents, their kids, etc. They talk and you listen (maybe you are a great listener). This is draining to an empath and also considered a energy vampirism with the talkative friend being the energy vampire.

You Dont’ Think, You feel- I one day realized that I very rarely stated a sentence by saying “I think…” No, it was always “I feel…” I related to everything by feeling but didn’t really realize it. I often foudn it hard to explain myself to people. Of course, because often it was about feelings for me and I found it hard to put what I felt (what I knew from feeling) into words. I was once told by my father that I was very smart and good with computer but that when it came to explaining things I was very confusing. I know what I know…or rather I should say, I know what I feel but I have a hard time putting it into words that make sense. You can translate Spanish, French, etc but what about translating empathy and what you pick up as feelings?

I know this list is not very long, but I feel it is (and hope I don’t offend anyone by saying) more true to what a pre-awakened empath may experience/notice. Oh, see I did it again…notice I said “but I feel it is…” instead of “but I thinkit is…” lol.

Hi all! I am always fishing my mind and surroundings to come up with posts that will be useful and helpful to readers. I thought and often think to myself about the time way back when I was trying to figure out if I was an empath. For years and years I thought I was but didn’t even have a clue how to figure it out mainly because of not understanding at the time what an empath really was. Even after reading definitions of what an empath was  I would still sit there and say to myself “Well, that still doesn’t help me figure out if I am in fact an empath.”

In this post I will say what I honestly think and feel about trying to figure out if your an empath.

First, if you have come to this blog and are doing some reading it is no big surprise…it’s hard to figure it out. Knowing what and empath is and what an empath does will not help you figure it out. Being told by someone that you are in fact an empath will not help you either if you are like me and need some almost solid proof. To figure it out for yourself is to really know yourself. Lets face it, we all want to know ourselves…not be told about ourselves. Right? Then there are all the empath designated sites like this one that lists the traits of an empath. I also have a Traits of an Empath post on this blog and honestly I would like to remove it. It won’t really help you figure it out. Ya know, I will humbly admit that looking back at when I wrote that post I was just repeating what I had learned and the truth is we sometimes learn things along the way and realize that some info was just not as good or useful or accurate as we had thought. For example, some list a trait of an empath as “Empaths often have multiple pets.” That is not a really good trait to list of course. And the one that says empaths don’t like loud noise. Well, I know there are many empaths that are not bothered at all by loud noise.

Now, there is a reason though why the traits list doesn’t work to figure out whether you are an empath. Because at the time you go searching for answers it is because you are exhibiting some (but not all) signs that you may be an empath. Possibly you are noticing that sad or violent movies are affecting you more than in the past. Or maybe suddenly you are feeling more in tune with what is going on with other people as though you are reading then. And maybe you notice that you have this interesting affect on people. So, enough is going on with you to begin to question whether you are an empath but here is the problem. If you have not open and cleared all your chakras, especially your heart chakra, then you are not fully open to your empath self. Like your empath self may only be 25% open…not enough to know without a doubt whether you are an empath or not though.

And that is the problem. The reality is that to really discover who you are you hve to open up fully to who you are. I know it is kind of like me saying if you want to know if your an empath for yourself then you have to go through the process of opening and clearning all your charkas just to really be able to see for yourself.

So think about it…if the empath in you is only open 25% then you may not be able to relate to most of traits on the “Traits of an Empath” list. Honestly, before I fully awakened my empath self I didn’t match up with even half of the list.

I really don’t want to leave anyone hanging and feeling like there is no answer for them out there. I am going to work on a list that hopefully will be more helpful for those of you looking for answers. In the meantime feel free to ask for help and I will be happy to assist any way I can.

Here is where you can find my list of traits —> http://myjourney11.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/the-real-traits-of-an-empath-the-list/

Basically it is simple. If you identify with many of the traits (although maybe not all) then that tells you that you need to keep reading about empathy because most likely YOU ARE AN EMPATH.

Still unsure and want some help getting down to the nitty gritty for once and for all…join a message board and explain the things you experience and get some feedback. That is not only a great way to find out but also you will probably get some really good advice at the same time. Here on my blog I have some links to message boards and forums.

Now on to the good stuff…

Empath is the ability to feel others emotions (actually emotional and physical) as though they were your own. Also empaths can read and understanding others as though they were them. That the simple no-nonsense definition.

TRAITS OF AN EMPATH

• Often quiet but emotionally expressive most of the time. 
• Some empaths have gotten so use to blocking emotions that they may seem the opposite from what an empath should be. Possible at times not wanting to be touched even by those closest to them. Often not feeling like being out in a crowd but rather alone or in a small group.
• Uncontrolled empaths can often spend more time focused on others and ignoring their own needs. Empaths often put others first
• Empaths often avoid tense or harsh situations. They may shrink away from any situation that proves tense.
• Empathsare emotionally sensitive to violence and general chaos. Yelling… oh yelling is not an empaths favorite to be in the midst of. Now let me say that some Spanish people tend to talk loudly any way but this is not a bad thing for empaths if the emotions are positive ones. I wanted to mention that cause I’ve had many of my friends bring that up to me and I wanted to set the record straight…I often spend time at my neighbors house and she is Spanish and husband is Islamic and with all the yelling sometimes I still feel right at home. lol. I just love them!
• Empaths can often feel something as they see it happen…for example, seeing someone cut their finger an empath may sense the pain as it happens.
• Distance does not affect what an empath feels and often you may be able to feel or sense something going on with someone at a far distance.
• Empaths are sensitive to loud noise.
• Empaths are sensitive to various television programs. In particular, television programs that depict emotional drama like the news and police shows as well as movies which depict certain emotional or harsh situations.
• Empaths have a hard time understanding cruelty and criminal acts that involves hurting others.
• Empaths are super sensitive to suffering in the world and are often idealists who theorise about fixing the worlds problems.
• Are often found working as volunteers, with people, animals or the environment.
• Empaths are often drawn to areas of music or the arts.
• Empaths are often very charismatic and have the ability to draw others to them. They often find that a complete stranger will tell them their life story while standing in line at the grocery store.
• Are great listeners as they generally have an interest in other people and to know more of what they already sense of a person.
• Can seem very moody with drastic mood swings. This is mainly due to picking up the emotions of others without realizing it and then with those emotions reacting to others.
• May have experienced other paranormal experiences such as out of body experiences, De Ja Vu, and just knowing as well as other psychic abilities. 
• Empaths often have trouble focusing and space out/day dream often.