Month: January 2014

Posted on

Empath Series: 30 Traits of an Empath by Just Be – Trait 4 – The media or why does this affect me so much?

televisionA while ago, I came across an amazing blog called 30 Traits of an Empath which covered many more traits than I come across before. They were written in a very clear and succinct way.

I approached the author, a very humble person, to see if she or he (I can’t be sure on the gender) would give me permission to discuss them with my guides and post them here. I was told that I may.

The traits will be presented in their original form and if you wish to see the entire list, (and if you haven’t, I really recommend that you do) you can do so here.

As always my guide’s responses are in italics.

4.     Watching violence, cruelty or tragedy on the TV is unbearable: The more attuned an Empath becomes the worse it is and may make it so they eventually have to stop watching TV and reading newspapers altogether.

Personally, I find watching the news pretty frustrating, especially since it’s designed to emotionally manipulate and enrage you.  I tend to catch the headlines, but I don’t really go further than that. On some level, it’s important to know what is happening out there and where everyone’s attention is.

Being an Empath means that when public sentiment and emotions are high, you are more likely to pick up it and become vulnerable.

It also depends if you’re attuned to such things or not. You could have absolutely no resonance with anything that is happening that day, and so you will not sense it.

Remember, Empaths tend to pick up on those things they relate to on some level. Sympathy pains are simply pain you resonate with in your own body. There are fears and deep seated traumas that can make them manifest when someone else brings them up. They can also be health issues that are not yet detected or are unresolved. You can take them as warnings or cautions that you are vulnerable to the same thing that is being discussed.

Weren’t we discussing the news?

The discussion is about resonating with what you are seeing on TV or when reading the newspaper. This, in effect, is about sympathy pains. Something many Empaths are vulnerable to.

Okay. I was expecting to get into a dialogue about how media is manipulative and should be treated with caution.

There isn’t much that doesn’t fall into that category. Most things you come across are manipulative in some way. This is because people are trying to achieve an end result and will craft their words and ideas in order to do that. So, yes, you can certainly suggest this is true for the media, but don’t separate them out to be the bad guys. They are simply providing a service that the public ask for. Otherwise they would not be doing it in the first place. Business goes where the money and demand is.

Of course, this is true for controlled media, too. In countries where it’s controlled by the government of the day, the media is especially notorious for trying to manipulate people. One way or another, they will succeed, though not always with the intended results.

When it comes to newspapers, televisions, movies and any other kind of communication media, you will often find that the more sensitive you become, the choosier you will become about what you decide to watch.

I know there are some movies or plots that always bring an emotional tear to my eye, even though the actual plot is contrived and paper thin.

That’s because you resonate to them on some level. You’re not reacting to a well-crafted story, you’re reacting to a deep longing, or possibly trauma that may even be based in a past life.

This is true for most people, empathic or not. They will watch the most contrived product because it’s a reflection of their own desires and experiences. If you can reach people on an emotional level, you can sell just about anything.

So back to the original point. Violence, news, and so on are hard for an Empath to cope with.

The only other point I will make is that many Empaths actually can sense when something isn’t true. So if they read or see it in the news, it will spark their sense of outrage and possible anger. No one likes being lied to of told things they know aren’t true, and an Empath will pick up on that pretty quickly.

So avoid the media?

No, not entirely. It’s worth knowing what is going on. Just don’t put any emotional investment into it. It is what it is, and is a general reflection of the current social situation. People love their drama. You don’t have to be part of it. You just need to be aware so you can act accordingly. 

Related articles
Posted on

Is chaos really order or is order really chaos?

Mumbai traffic 1Recently, I was asked to go to Mumbai, India for 10 days. My company decided to follow suit of other shipping lines and centralize part of their operations there.

It was very short notice as the visa had fallen through for the lady who was meant to go. So they asked me.

I have to admit, I was quite reluctant to go. I had to be there 2nd January and that meant flying out New Year’s morning. I had been looking forward to having a day off.

As mentioned, it was very short notice. I had around 6 working days to get it all organized while keeping up with my work.

I also really hate flying. All in all, in order to fly from Melbourne, Australia to Mumbai, you’re looking at being awake for about 24 – 30 hours.

Fortunately, airlines have changed a lot in the last ten years, and the inflight entertainment system makes time go past very fast.

I found Mumbai to be an interesting place. The energy of the land feels quite subdued, as though it has been beating into submission by thousands of years of trauma. In all the chaos, it feels like the earth has quietly surrendered and no longer has the strength to resist.

My feelings are that there is much healing that needs to be done and I’ll look at that in a further post.

What I’d like to do is focus on the traffic I experienced there.

It was completely chaotic to say the least, and I could not imagine myself trying to drive there.

And yet, it all seems to work. Many people cross and walk along the roads at will and in spite of what appeared to be a lack of rules and and a constant peak hour traffic, you somehow still managed to get to your destination in a reasonable time and… I did not see a single accident in time I was there.

In Australia, everything is very strict. Break a law and there are heavy fines. You can’t use your mobile while driving. Seatbelts are compulsory. Traffic lights must be obeyed. Speed limits are strictly enforced (and they are getting lower all the time.)

All the logical and sensible laws are put in place and a lot of resources are used to enforce it.

Traffic seems orderly and predictable.  Yet in spite of that, it’s generally a nightmare, and every day there are accidents all over the place. Road rage is very common.

Does Mumbai traffic work better because they are forced to be alert all the time and drive both offensively and aggressively? Does having to watch out for everyone else mean that everyone has to work together to make it all work?

If so, what does it say for those places where order is the name of the game? Does too many rules equal chaos?

Does allowing chaos lead to order?

If so, how does that translate to how we run our lives?

I wonder… if the more we try to control what we do, the less successful we may be?

While we should have goals and have plans to achieve them, there is a natural flow that should not be ignored. It involves working with nature, people and others and trusting in our timing. If we can trust in such things, perhaps we will have greater success.

Easier said than done, because many come from a place of fear, and try to force events to happen when the timing is clearly wrong.

To me, that’s like sowing seeds in Autumn and insisting that your crops grow.

Timing is everything, and if you can know and trust your timing, everything will shift when the time is right.

I may have touched on this before, but the hardest part of achieving your goal is trying to convince others that you know what you’re doing. Yes, sometimes it may take years to achieve something, but those may be the years where all is being set up and people and events are being put into place.

To act before things are ready will mean you are doing something before everyone gets to where they need to be.

Timing is everything. Knowing your timing is key to a successful life. Everything will unfold as it should if you know your timing.