An Empath, Me, Needs Detachment from Media Coverage Overwhelm
Crisis Healing: Response to Disaster Checklist | Five Crisis Tips | How to Donate Blood | Help for Overwhelmed Empaths | Ways to Calm an Anxious Spirit | Rescue Remedy Formula
I have been strongly resisting writing an article related to Hurricane Katrina this past week. Why? Because, writing about this horrific event could possibly open me up to painful empathic feelings. From early childhood I learned to detach myself from emotional upsets experienced by others.
Natural-born empaths can be too easily sucked into emotional energies. They can unknowingly absorb others' pains. Those 'borrowed" emotional pains get trapped inside their own bodies and psyches. When that happens the emotional fluxes throughout the Universe become compounded, much like a destructive fire that grows out of control. These absorbed emotional energies can manifest in a variety of negative ways for the empathic person: crying jags, sadness, desperation, confusion, grief, and so on.
I live in the midwest. I don't have any family or friends who live in the ravished regions where Katrina bore down with her menacing powers. Nonetheless, I do FEEL compassion for those who are experiencing hurts, frustration, anger, hunger, and despair. Thanks to media outlets we are all witnessing the many sad stories as they unfold. We have heard of loss of life, loss of homes, loss of employment, families being torn apart, criminal acts happening (looting, raping, arson, and killing), domestic animals being displaced, etc.
More and more of these horrendous stories are being reported on the television, radio, and across the Internet.
As a member of the human race, I think it is important that we are aware of challenges our kinsman are facing. We are all spiritually connected after-all. It is not helpful to completely close ourselves off from the rest of the world. However, I realize that it serves no one for me to get sucked into traumas and position myself in the center of an emotional puddle. For this reason, I try to limit the time I watch news programs that report difficult issues. However, this isn't always easy when even our regular scheduled television programs are interrupted every few minutes with special reports of alarming news.
The Internet is also saturated with articles focused about this great tragedy. After awhile one begins to wonder how many of the Katrina-focused programs and articles are less about informing the public and more about exploiting the consumer. After-all, there are big bucks to be gotten by earning top rankings in the media ratings. Okay... call me cynical. But, to be honest, the news programs wouldn't be be putting so many different spins on stories if the majority of us weren't watching. Really, how helpful is it for us to be sitting on the edges of our seats glued to the television for hours? The Internet wouldn't be inundated with articles about the so called "hot topics" if consumers weren't clicking on every link that included the terms "Scott Peterson" or "Natalee Holloway" or "Cindy Sheehan" or whatever the flavor of the week is.
My concern is with the empath who is struggling to stay focused and grounded when there is so much bad news in the airways. It is not advisable to openly expose our vulnerabilities to all the negative elements. There seems to be no where to hide except under a rock of self-isolation during these dark days. This is not a great solution since isolation can be a difficult burden to sustain. It can become very uncomfortable staying in "detachment mode" for an extended period of time.....read on
I have been strongly resisting writing an article related to Hurricane Katrina this past week. Why? Because, writing about this horrific event could possibly open me up to painful empathic feelings. From early childhood I learned to detach myself from emotional upsets experienced by others.
Natural-born empaths can be too easily sucked into emotional energies. They can unknowingly absorb others' pains. Those 'borrowed" emotional pains get trapped inside their own bodies and psyches. When that happens the emotional fluxes throughout the Universe become compounded, much like a destructive fire that grows out of control. These absorbed emotional energies can manifest in a variety of negative ways for the empathic person: crying jags, sadness, desperation, confusion, grief, and so on.
I live in the midwest. I don't have any family or friends who live in the ravished regions where Katrina bore down with her menacing powers. Nonetheless, I do FEEL compassion for those who are experiencing hurts, frustration, anger, hunger, and despair. Thanks to media outlets we are all witnessing the many sad stories as they unfold. We have heard of loss of life, loss of homes, loss of employment, families being torn apart, criminal acts happening (looting, raping, arson, and killing), domestic animals being displaced, etc.
More and more of these horrendous stories are being reported on the television, radio, and across the Internet.
As a member of the human race, I think it is important that we are aware of challenges our kinsman are facing. We are all spiritually connected after-all. It is not helpful to completely close ourselves off from the rest of the world. However, I realize that it serves no one for me to get sucked into traumas and position myself in the center of an emotional puddle. For this reason, I try to limit the time I watch news programs that report difficult issues. However, this isn't always easy when even our regular scheduled television programs are interrupted every few minutes with special reports of alarming news.
The Internet is also saturated with articles focused about this great tragedy. After awhile one begins to wonder how many of the Katrina-focused programs and articles are less about informing the public and more about exploiting the consumer. After-all, there are big bucks to be gotten by earning top rankings in the media ratings. Okay... call me cynical. But, to be honest, the news programs wouldn't be be putting so many different spins on stories if the majority of us weren't watching. Really, how helpful is it for us to be sitting on the edges of our seats glued to the television for hours? The Internet wouldn't be inundated with articles about the so called "hot topics" if consumers weren't clicking on every link that included the terms "Scott Peterson" or "Natalee Holloway" or "Cindy Sheehan" or whatever the flavor of the week is.
My concern is with the empath who is struggling to stay focused and grounded when there is so much bad news in the airways. It is not advisable to openly expose our vulnerabilities to all the negative elements. There seems to be no where to hide except under a rock of self-isolation during these dark days. This is not a great solution since isolation can be a difficult burden to sustain. It can become very uncomfortable staying in "detachment mode" for an extended period of time.....read on
Source...