We are very intuitive people. If we have someone in our life that is sad, we can indeed feel that. Sometimes empathy is feeling sad along with someone, and maybe it can be caring and understanding and providing an uplifting energy for someone to emerge from that sadness to a more energetic and positive space. I'm asking you to consider, how many of your feelings are other people's and not your own. Do you feel your spouses anxiety, anger, sadness? Is that yours? What can you contribute around you if you let it go and you embrace your own energy?
This is important question as a social worker. Today I encountered several people who I have great empathy for where they are at. I can go there with them and their situations, and listen, and offer myself to the situation. But at the end of that session, I have to identify what is mine and theirs, because I can't carry that emotion to the next person, I need me back to contribute to another space. I need me to contribute to you.
