Should I Try to Enhance My Empathic Abilities?

If you accept that empathy is a spiritual gift, and you've determined that empathy is your spiritual gift, then you may wonder whether it is advisable to try an increase or enhance your empathic abilities.  In considering this, it is important to tread carefully.

Post Holiday Slump

Just over a week after Christmas - how are you feeling?  All around us, things are going back to "normal."  We've celebrated the birth of Christ, celebrated Christmas with our families; we've hung the stockings and decked the halls; we've wrung in the New Year - now what?

Compassion? I'm too overwhelmed!

In my last post, I suggested we pray for compassion, to pray for the strength not to shut our hearts to others. But, what if you feel too overwhelmed?

I've seen lots of talk online about how to control your empathic abilities- turn them on or off, up or down at your discretion. This is intended to help empaths from being constantly overwhelmed with the barrage of emotions they sense in everyone around them.

Surely, being empathic is not easy and some truly suffer. It would be presumptuous of me to categorically say that we should not learn to turn this gift off to preserve our sanity. However, I remain skeptical and am not sure I agree with this approach.

So I'm An Empath

So, I'm an empath. That would explain some things about me. I was afraid to embrace my empathic abilities, but then I realized that God gives us all our gifts which would include being empathic. Of course, this would not hold if I had gone out and sought this ability through the occult, but I did not.
When I sense things, I feel a very strong compassion and concern for others which could not possibly be bad. So, I have begun to embrace this identity, the Christian Empath, using discernment and good judgement, all in a context with God - through prayer.