We all know pain. When it’s ours we handle it differently from when we are dealing with someone else’s. But how we approach caring for and comforting other people depends on certain traits that are by no means exclusive.
These approaches are similar, but they still differ significantly if we dive into their real essence.
Empaths, for example, feel other people’s energy and emotions slightly more intense than sympaths while sympaths can be much better at healing than empaths.
What is your nature? Are you an Empath, a Sympath, or a Compassionate?
True empaths are a rare breed of sorts. They are emotionally very attuned to the people around them, and are extremely sensitive. Whether it is positive or negative emotional undercurrents, empaths not only pick them up faster, but also experience these ‘borrowed’ emotions to some extent. This often makes them susceptible to emotional burnout.
While being an empath certainly helps these people ‘taste’ the room better, it also limits them severely because of their emotional friability, they cannot do well in professions where they need to remain stoic or detached in order to help the people around them.
The key difference is that these people feel energy and emotions so intensely that they can rarely think clearly detached from the emotions. They are often drained by social interactions. That’s an Empath’s biggest sign!
Sympaths, on the other hand, can be more detached than empaths. They can also put themselves ‘in the other person’s shoes’, so to speak. They can feel how acutely the person in front of them is suffering, and can recognize genuine emotion. They are also carefully attuned to the positive or negative influence coming from whom they are interacting with.
However, sympaths have the great advantage of being able to separate themselves from the source of the pain. They can mentally take a step back and actively solve the problem while being exactly aware of it. This makes them eminently suited to be healers, because they can visualize both sides at the same time and strategically play with energy.
The key difference is that these people are able to detach themselves from what someone is feeling in order to find an objective solution while remembering their state emotionally. They can mentally operate unaffected by their emotions. That’s a Sympath’s biggest sign!
In a similar way, we also have people who practice compassion. These people have chosen to make ‘love’ their response to everything they are faced with.
They choose to radiate positivity, to let troubled people vent, to help where they can for the sake of loving their fellow man or living being.
The key difference here is that for these people compassion is their choice!
These psychological profiles and habits do not exclude one another. Both sympaths and empaths can choose to practice compassion as well. Practicing compassion is a habit that helps both, empaths and sympaths.
Empaths tend to have a little more trouble than sympaths, because of how keenly they feel. Often they backpedal very quickly because it hurts them so much to constantly ‘receive’ pain from all sides. When they choose to practice compassion, it helps empaths dampen their immediate response a little.
Sympaths transition more smoothly between being a good listener, providing a compassionate shoulder, and actively problem solving.
Empaths also often suffer from wilder swings depending on who and what they are exposed to.
If you are an empath, it is important to have strong boundaries and to spare time for recharging doing whatever fills your heart with joy and energy.
Those of us who ‘feel’ more tend to dive deeper and rise higher in these swells and falls.
Practicing compassion is not by any means a safe journey, but it does help us to center ourselves better while becoming better human beings.
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