If the world is in need of medicine, it would be empathy. Empaths supply it in large dosages. Having empathy means you can reach out to someone and put yourself in their shoes.

Empaths feel every emotion of another being in their own body. They have compassion for others too.

Empaths need healing from feeling too much and often feel fatigued.

Science has backed empaths and empathy, and there are some interesting explanations.

Mirror neuron System

Research has identified particular brain cells responsible for compassion. These cells allow you to mirror emotions, to share someone’s pain, fear or joy. Empaths have hypersensitive mirror neurons; they resonate with people’s feelings.

Opposite of an empath are psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissist. They are emotionally deficient. Beware of these people they are incapable of unconditional love.

Electromagnetic fields

According to the HeartMath Institute, the brain and heart generate electromagnetic fields. Empaths tend to become sensitive to this input and become overwhelmed.

Electromagnetic fields of the Sun and Earth affect empaths too. They have a stronger emotional and physical responses to it.

Emotional Contagion

What is emotional contagion? According to Wikipedia. Emotional contagion or illness is the phenomenon of one person’s emotion triggering similar emotion in others. You can read more about it here.

It works in groups too; people pick up emotions felt in a group or crowds. The New York Times article described this well.

What does this mean for empaths? Empaths need to choose positive people in their life to prevent negative emotions. If a friend has an emotional breakdown, Empaths need to take precautions or ground themselves.

Dopamine Sensitivity

Another finding is dopamine. Recent research has shown that empaths have a higher sensitivity to dopamine. They need less dopamine to feel happy.

Which explains why empaths are content being alone. They need less stimulation from social gatherings.

Signs You Are An Empath

What if you are not sure if you are an empath? We have made it easier for you by listing the signs.

A deep sense of empathy

Although obvious, empaths have a deep understanding of compassion. It is more profound and sets them apart from anyone else.

Intuitive

An empath can scan someone and know information about them. The awareness evolves over time. Younger empaths might feel they are sensitive or good with people.

Emotions

You can’t hide from an empath; you can forget hiding your feelings from them. They are an excellent detector of lies; fake people can’t fool an empath.

A desire to help others

They are compassionate and very considerate of others and their well being. They have an inner desire to help others.

Gift

Empaths share their gift with everyone, not only people close to them. Their empathy extends to complete strangers, animals, and plants. Empaths react to situations or people from a distance too.

Conclusion

We have looked at empathy from a scientific perspective; we know that a empaths gifts are real. Knowing the facts is crucial to understanding yourself as an empath, and for others too.

You can use the list to remind yourself as an empath that you have a gift to help humanity.