What does it mean for an empath to be working in a position that doesn’t honour the skills he or she was born with?
One of the greatest crossovers I see empaths making is finally owning the fact they experience the world differently.
When they surrender to the inner siren wailing at them to start living the purpose they were always intended for.
It simply doesn’t make sense to try to be like everyone else when mother nature put you on this earth for a reason.
The definition of an empath is someone who is able to feel other people’s emotions. This is different to simply noticing emotions in others. Empaths have more mirror neurons which fire when observing behaviour in others.
Whilst we are in the process of understanding the incredible science behind mirror neurons, empaths are an interesting point of study as the feelings in others are experienced as the same feelings within the empath.
For many empaths, it becomes an ongoing practise not to be overcome as a result of experiencing other people’s emotions.
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So what is the advantage to this? Why is empathy a part of human nature?
Emapths make exceptional ‘people people’. Other people are the main focus for empaths, the main area of interest. One that can often lead to a need for time alone to recuperate.
Needing time away from other people to recharge is a sign of the needs of an introvert. Not all empaths are introverts yet nearly all empaths have the genetic personality trait scientifically known and Sensory Processing Sensitivity.
This trait is found in over 20% of the population and often misinterpreted as being “sensitive”.
What it really means is an ability to process more information in the world.
What the word sensitivity really applies to here is the apparatus (in this case the sense organs) being more “sensitive” to the data they are designed to process.
It does not mean people with the trait are “sensitive” in the context of weakness. This unfortunate misinterpretation is causing us to miss out on the huge importance of a trait now known to be present in some of the greatest leaders and changemakers history has seen so far.
When the increased levels of data combine it occurs as high sensory intelligence. A heightened field of awareness connected to the feeling centre leading to increased levels of intuition, creativity, visionary abilities and you guessed it, empathy.
Which is why it leads to excellent abilities in leadership, coaching and consultancy. Referred to as ‘royal advisors’ by the psychologist Dr Elaine Aron who discovered the trait in the 1990s.
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If you are aware you can sense and experience other people’s emotions and you appear to be processing more information in the world around you than others, there are a few things you must be made aware of.
Firstly the crucial realisation around these abilities in terms of purpose.
For high sensory individuals, it begins with the depth of cognitive perception of life, our place in it and the meaning of why we are here within a greater context.
We tend to take the awareness that we are a part of a bigger plan very seriously. Not only can we sense this, it is a defining characteristic of our values and what we stand for and it is going to hurt like hell if you are in the wrong job.
Not only because of the need to honour this higher contract but because of the extra sensory data that is happening.
The fact that you can feel other people’s emotions around you becomes extra hard to deal with when you are not around the right people.
When you are not playing the right position for the greater context that every fibre in your body wants to fight for. When you are in a role that is not aligned to the role you instinctively know you are here to embody.
Nature chemically rewards us when we have all these things in harmony
All of us, no matter where we are from or whatever our inner makeup may be know we have potential, that life is precious and that we are programmed to contribute.
We are wired to be chemically rewarded for it. Referred to in ways such as the “helpers high” experienced as a release of oxytocin and serotonin when we are in service to others.
As an empath with sensory intelligence, high-level people skills and a heightened awareness of the bigger picture means we have a responsibility to be contributing in a particular way. And our souls know it.
There is going to be a key area that life has trained you for aligned to the unique empathic skill set that only you were born with.
In other words, the role that nature gave you within the field of expertise that is innate to you will be enhanced by the hero’s journey you’ve had to walk through your own life.
This is the pathway to recognising what you are meant to be doing and how. There will be a high level of compassion around the needs of others in a particular area that has great meaning to you.
It is because this is where and how you are intended to operate. When our natural abilities are in service aligned to the training our own journey of transformation has afforded us, everything makes sense.
Nature chemically rewards us when we have all these things in harmony. The greater context lets us know.
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This is what I see in all of the empaths and high sensory people I facilitate and it is the case with my own hero’s journey.
I walked from a place of complete misalignment to what I was here to do, within the knowledge I was experiencing the world differently to most people around me.
A misery I felt for years as I harboured a series of abilities I never told anyone about. The awareness of being a part of a beautiful benevolence much bigger than me drove me to rediscover the person I had lost inside. To own my role as a facilitator for others walking this path. For more on my story see here.
If you are feeling these things and you know you are not living a life in accordance with developing your potential. If you are in the wrong job and you have a pretty good idea you are an empath, there’s a good reason you found this article.
My intention is to help make you aware that you are not imagining these things. My wish is to help you to understand that you were born with physiological differences. Intended differences that are found in 100 species of animals designed to support evolution and optimal existence.
To help you to see that you haven’t wasted your time as everything you have done up until this point has trained you for what is to come. To see that the time has come now.
Whatever field you are made to work in, that field is requiring you to stand up, nature is requiring you to stand up, you are requiring you to stand up and I am inviting you to stand up.
To recognise this role you were born to play. And you know the role I am talking about. To be deeply honest with yourself over the next couple of days as you process what you have read here.
To share the insights that you know will make all the difference
It may be that you approach the owner of the organisation you are currently working for and have the conversation you have been longing to have.
To let him or her know about the missing piece you have seen all along. To share the insights that you know will make all the difference in how a particular part of the organisation functions. To awaken the courage you have inside to commit and to persist.
To finally step up and acknowledge the natural ability you have to lead a team. The ability you have to intuit and sense the needs, passion, weaknesses and strengths in the people around you.
To own the ability you have to see what they need to feel cared for, acknowledged and supported to be the best they can be. To help them to align their ‘why’ with the ‘why’ of the organisation bringing their purpose in alignment with the bigger vision.
Maybe it is time to finally admit that you are supposed to be self employed. To outsource yourself to your organization as a consultant and to all the other organisations you know you can help.
Or to finally own the methodology, processes and material that is in your heart and create life changing products and services for the people you know you were born to serve. Those ideal clients walking the path that you are a step ahead on.
To stand up and speak on the stages you know are waiting for you, to write the book that you know particular people are longing to read.
Whatever it is, I know you know what I am referring to.
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All it takes is the decision to do it. It doesn’t all need to happen at once. You can coordinate this to make the transition in a way that honours your needs. To take baby steps and follow the path of many other high sensory entrepreneurs coaches and consultants who are doing this right now.
Life supports those who have the courage to walk in alignment with inner authenticity. It rewards you with serendipity because it needs you!
Your intuition has been right all along. You are indeed intended to play a particular role within this greater context. It is on a mission to create change and raise consciousness for the future generations to come.
So there you are, the door has finally appeared in front of you. Do you want to know what’s on the other side?
It’s a new path in life that will support you. Just as it has done all of your life so far. Only this time it’s towards your fulfilment, meaning and happiness.
See you there ?
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Willow McIntosh is the creator of the High Sensory Coaching Program™. He specialises in facilitating people with the genetic personality trait known as sensory processing sensitivity to bring their natural abilities as coaches, facilitators, consultants and healers into practice. He also provides training for business owners and teams in the field of empathic leadership and the utilisation of High Sensory Intelligence® within organisations.
Were you born with the trait of High Sensory Intelligence® Take our quiz here:
https://inluminance.com/take-the-high-sensory-intelligence-quiz/
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