How to Thrive as an Empath: 3 Reasons Being Sensitive is a Good Thing
*Being able to sense energy does not have to suck.* Being intuitive, empathic, or even just ‘highly sensitive’ gets a bad rap. When having these capabilities is talked about, all too often they are addressed almost like a curse: as a burden to carry through life from which there is no escape. I am here to tell you: this is not inherently a bad thing.
Rather, being able to sense energy is both natural and it is something that you can use to your advantage.
In my life, I have worked with over a thousand sensitives of various sorts and I am one myself. The difference between those who are struggling and those who are thriving is simple: accepting that you are a person with an advanced sensory system, information about how you work, and the willingness to do self-care to manage your energy.
I created the empath empowerment sovereign energy series to show you how to understand yourself, key factors of strain and drain – but instead of just stopping there- how to build up your field nice and strong so that you can proactively go about the world enjoying yourself.
In an online sea of psychological and spiritual approaches that focus on diagnosis and very simple understandings of what it means to be sensitive – I invite you to peel back a layer of the onion with me and go deeper.
Your sensitivity is not just an overloaded system. It is an advanced set of senses that gives you the privilege of seeing, feeling and experiencing life from the heart.
In today’s article and video, I am breaking down three of the best things about being sensitive. Not there yet? Take this as inspiration and know that you can be. If you want the steps – I am laying them out in this series. I’ll list the pieces in order you might like to approach them at the foot of this installment.
For a video version of this message: https://youtu.be/FiPNS8mDHGQ
Table of Contents
Reason 1: You Have a Strong Sensory System aka a Powerful Field
Have you ever noticed that you could get a good feel for a person or what is going on in a situation just by being there? Have you ever felt a wave of ‘energy’ when you entered a room?
One of the most important things to know is that if you pick up thoughts and feelings from others or can pick up on subtle ‘vibes’ like a shift in mood without anyone saying anything– you have a powerful energy field.
Humans sense energy in several ways. Sensitive people have their energy sensing muscles turned on and functioning more powerfully than your typical person. One of the key parts of your strength is your bio-field.
Your bio-field (aka auric field) is an extrasensory, electric part of you that sits outside of your body but also interfaces with it. Now validated by modern research – your field functions as a data network, transmitting subtle energetic impulses that tell your body different things about your daily environment (Rubik et al. 2015). Sensitive people are sensitive because this part of them is more powerful and developed than an average person. They feel more through it.
Everything has an energy field. Including computers. When a person who is energy sensitive goes somewhere, this invisible part of their body is interacting with energy from other people, devices and the natural world. If this is you – this energy gets picked up through the biofield and filtered back to you for analysis – typically through your gut, head and heart (the three processing centers). Sometimes those deep physical feelings in the body are information and messages about your environment that you picked up.
- *This is why so many sensitives have issues with gut health and migraines.*
While all people have biofields (aka auric fields), a sensitive person is aware of theirs – this means that they can sense subtle shifts in their environment. It also means that they sense their environments more than someone whose field is not as strong.
If you experience this – your field is not broken. It is stronger than the average person. That is something to celebrate. More on why this is positive as we move throughout this piece.
When it feels uncomfortable
The thing about biofields aka auric fields is that people often only pay attention to theirs when their senses are overloaded. This is why so many people only find out they are intuitive after they have had some form of brick wall moment + why ‘symptom searching’ is such a huge trend in this field.
When you feel overloaded and drained – it tends to mean that you have picked up ‘too much’ from the world around you and that your system needs a little energy management moment.
For people who have been taking a solely psychological or scientific view of being empathic or sensitive- what I am about to say next goes beyond what those fields consider reality.
Reason 2: You are Highly Intuitive
Have you ever felt like you just ‘knew’ things and then later came to find out you were right? Have you ever instinctively known where to go for a good time or when to leave to avoid a bad one?
These are signs that you have a strong intuition.
Building on part 1: your biofield is a part of you that can interact with energy and electric resonance in your immediate environment. This energy contains information.
For many sensitives, having a strong field means that they can read the energy that they pick up for information which they filter back through the gut, head, heart axis. This results in them receiving direct messages about their environment, the people in it, and even things that have happened before. Little pings of information pop in as the person processes what they picked up.
For some, this also extends into their non-immediate environment to include people they are talking to on the phone, internet, or perhaps even when someone like their children or a close friend needs them. This is incredibly positive (provided the sensations are not so loud they are overwhelming).
As noted above, sensitive people are often able to perceive this information internally, be it through having ‘feelings’ about a person and their intentions. This can extend into just ‘knowing’ things, and sometimes, even seeing imagery or receiving highly detailed ‘downloads’ about a place, person, or event.
This is excellent – especially when you learn to hear, discern, and apply what you pick up. Your intuition tells you who to trust, where to go, and what to do to achieve your goals and live a good life when you learn to decipher the messages you are picking up.
It also becomes much more satisfying when you have trained your field not to pick up certain things.
When it feels uncomfortable
Many intuitive people experience pick up the thoughts and feelings of others – whether they realize that is what is going on or not. Having mood swings and thinking random thoughts is a sign this is you. This can also lead to feeling exhausted and feeling bombarded by too many emotions and too much information when you arrive somewhere. This leads to crash outs at the end of a social event or workday, social avoidance, and feeling overwhelmed.
Intuitive people need silence. This often comes in when a person does not get enough quiet time to slow down, sit in their own thoughts, and sift out what they ‘picked up’ or ‘heard’ through their field. When you feel bombarded – it is a sign to sit with yourself and decompress.
Reason 3: You Meet People Where they Are
Do you ever feel yourself being called on to be a listening ear because people so value your ability to give good, grounded advice? Maybe you have been able to know exactly what your child needed even though they were not saying it.
Perhaps one of the most underrated but in my opinion BEST parts of being sensitive is that you can connect with people on a deep level and meet them where they are.
Having a strong field often means that you can ‘read’ what is going on in someone else’s just by talking with them. It also means that to some extent, you are able to sense the situation or the backstory of the person you are encountering. When a person speaks with you or asks your advice, you are often able to ‘see’ or ‘perceive’ things that may not be immediately obvious to someone who cannot sense energy.
You also tend to know how to say the right thing. Often, it can also mean that you ‘sense’ the emotional tone that the person you are dealing with needs to be met with.
This is incredibly helpful to people who are in public service, care work, healing work, leadership and teaching. Sensitives in these roles can intuitively know which type of framework or approach is going to work with a person for them to best succeed.
It is also a SUPERPOWER when you are caring for a family. Being able to sense what your child, partner, or animal family members need to feel calm, comfortable, and safe allows you to create that loving, stable environment that is so good for us.
When it feels uncomfortable:
Because when you possess the unique capacity to feel people where they are at, it is incredibly easy to get stuck in the energy and emotions of other people – specifically those you are holding space for or helping. Continuing to feel their feelings or to hold their heaviness with you as you go throughout the day is a sign that their energy is still in your field. Without ground-up management that helps you shift out this energy – you wind up holding on to what you discussed with them like a sponge, ultimately draining your own tank.
From Surviving to Thriving
While every energy sensitive is a little different – the #1 thing that we all have in common is that our fields are stronger than the average person. This is why so many people experience ‘symptoms’ of ‘picking up’ or ‘feeling’ energy. This is a negative thing when there are no boundaries, when your field is ungrounded, and when you are not taking regular intervals to unload and recharge it. It becomes highly manageable, positive, and even FUN to be sensitive when you figure out your self-care needs and begin doing them.
As I told in my own story last instalment – this is like the difference between night and day
For sensitives – regular maintenance of your field is like brushing your teeth. You can freshen and stabilize your energy by doing this powerful energy management activity to restore and repair the body + energy body on a regular basis. As I described in How to Stop Absorbing Energy, a strong field is built from the breath up – and it is when you have this that you are able to protect your energy, preserve your peace, and move from surviving to thriving.
The true key to go from surviving to thriving is learning to accept who you are and how to take care of this part of yourself. Being energy sensitive is not something that goes away but it IS something that becomes more fun and rewarding once you have figured out the keys to your self-care needs.
*This is what this whole series is about*.
For the rest of the series (so far):
3 Common Everyday Energy Drains Wearing Down Your Field https://crow-medicine.com/why-it-feels-so-heavy/
- Why read & Watch: Understanding extremely common things that what wear down your field is a first step to building up strength.
From Burnout to Empowerment: My story https://crow-medicine.com/empath-overload-burnout-story/
- Hear how I went from a struggling sensitive to empowered empath and the most important things I learned along the way
How to Stop Absorbing Everything: Why Energy Management Meditations are the #1 Tool Sensitives Need https://crow-medicine.com/how-to-stop-absorbing-energy/
- Perfect for building up strength or coming back to center – (make sure to watch the 2nd and 3rd layer – they’re the ones nobody is talking about)
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With loving empowerment,
Katie Harris (IndiCrow)
Katie Harris (IndiCrow), PhdABD I am a soul guide with a background in social science. I blend traditional methods with modern research to create original methods to help you navigate—and feel well in—this world.
🌿 WORK WITH ME & RECLAIM YOUR SOVEREIGNTY 🌿
If you are rapidly awakening to your intuitive, sensitive capabilities and are ready to stop just surviving the chronic exhaustion, I have two distinct pathways designed to help you put your energy together from the ground up:
🚀 The Breathe, Ground, Align Course [Opens Next Week]
This is the ultimate management and strengthening tool. It is the step-by-step blueprint where we look at exactly how to build up your field nice and strong so that you can protect your nervous system, stay regulated, and proactively go about the world enjoying yourself.
Details: Access at your own pace, 4 week course on strengthening the field + a tested protocol to use the rest of your life to repair, release, and come back to center.
I have been teaching this method since 2016. Right now, I am welcoming 30 lucky people into a pilot program for a NEW VERSION of it the course that features brand new content videos that blend the method with the newest cutting edge research that says why and how this works (without going into too much depth).
Click here For the legacy version available now at a reduced price
🔮 Private One-on-One Energy Sessions
If you are at a point where you feel overloaded, or you’re moving through a spiritual growth moment where your field is becoming stronger and you would like help to get yourself sorted out, I have private sessions available to work with you. Together, we will look directly at your field to see what you need to stabilize and THRIVE as your sensitive self.
What’s included: 1 x 60 minute session Investment: $150
👉 contact me directly to book your session katieindicrow@gmail.com
Don’t let a 9-5 stop you from scheduling. I am available to most time zones, work weekends, and am a frequent early bird.
REFERENCES
- Rubik, B., Muehsam, D., Hammerschlag, R., & Jain, S. (2015). Biofield Science and Healing: History, Terminology, and Concepts. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 4(Suppl), 8–14. National Institutes of Health / PubMed Central PMC4654789. [1]
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