Empathy is a well-regarded quality in an individual. It means the ability to put themselves figuratively in another person’s shoes. A level of empathy for most people may come naturally. Or, it may have been learned early on, something that was taught to them or they learned from being around empathic others.

Having the ability to view a situation from another person’s perspective enables us to feel compassion and easily understand other people better. It is an important quality to have as it has everything to do with how we relate to others.

A person who is high on the empathic scale has a better than average ability to feel what others feel to the degree that they are affected emotionally and physically. They are what is known as an empath. An empath is someone who can easily be in sync with others, to the point that they can sometimes feel what the other person feels or sense what they’re going through. Continue reading →

A significant number of people classified as empaths are introverts. They often behave in a very predictable manner. They love and crave their solitude, maintain a small circle of friends which they often keep for a lifetime, and can feel easily overwhelmed when exposed to stimulants like crowded places, noisy parties, or even merely small-talking to people at a gathering.

But not all empaths are introverts. There are a minority of empaths who are the complete opposite in terms of how they recharge their energies. Compared to introverts who need alone time to be able to recharge, extroverts are more in their element when being surrounded by other people.

Extroverted empaths feel more comfortable being surrounded by others, have more endurance at a social gathering, and simply need and want less alone time than introverts. That doesn’t make them less of an empath, but these empaths are classified as extroverted. Continue reading →