Boundary Setting for Empaths
Certain types of empaths (i.e. emotional, physical, or intuitive empaths) have some serious downsides. Those with these gifts may feel like they are on an emotional rollercoaster or are constantly drained.
Your life, wellbeing, and health depend on learning how to manage these gifts in a productive way.
This article is written to help support the emotional, physical, and intuitive empaths manage their superpowers.
It starts with 3 simple rules.
Acceptance. The first step is accepting that you are an emotional, physical, or intuitive empath. If you’re still not sure, review the article “What type of Empath are you?”
Consent. Practice gaining consent from yourself and any involved parties before tapping into their energetic field. It’s a natural behavior for empaths to constantly be reading the room to look for safety, comfort, and people to please. It’s imperative to begin by purely noticing when this is happening.
Next, always make sure there is consent before jumping into someone else’s energetic field. This means asking yourself if it’s OK first and then making sure that the person is aware and OK with you doing so too. This consent can come in the form of someone asking you for help or advice. Or, it can be more explicit, where you specifically ask “Is it okay if I read your energy?” Otherwise, this skill should be reserved for unique circumstances, our closest love ones, or when you are being paid to do so. This can be a very emotionally and physically exhausting experience for the empath, while also an intrusive practice when it comes to respecting others’ boundaries when there is not consent.
3. Do not abandon yourself. After you’ve given yourself consent and you’ve received consent from other involved parties, you must still remember to prioritize yourself and practice self-care. For example, this could mean reviewing your own personal goals, thinking about what brings you joy, or considering what you’re grateful for before and after spending time together. Additionally practicing self-care before and after is very critical, and this can come in the form of exercise, meditation, taking a bath, cooking, or journaling, to name a few.
Keep in mind that this is the starting point for boundary setting as an empath. This could take several months or even years to achieve, and there will still be moments where your empathic tendencies catch you off guard and you find yourself drained and not sure why.
We will discuss Discernment in Part 2, which is learning how to decide which energies you would like to accept into your energetic field and which you do not. Stay tuned!
