Born Empathy.. How do I shield?!?

[charmserum]

I have been looking for a shield. I am not sure if I was born with "empathy" all I know is that I can physically feel peoples emotions. I can feel exactly where people stare at me as heat, when someone wants to beat me up I can physically feel it (as if I am in their head, but still stuck in my body), and whenever I talk to someone who is depressed, I then feel exactly the way the do, and then they tell me they feel better. I am just really susceptible to other peoples moods, as if I absorb them. and I absolutely hate it.. how can I shield myself? I don't know if this is empathy or I am just psychically weak. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!

[Nervous]

Don't worry, that's definatly empathy and not just a sign of weakness.
There are plenty of articles on shield, either on the main site or other sites such as psipog.net psionicsonline.net shiftedperspectives.com vsociety.net

[charmserum]

that's good to hear. thanks so much! :)

[ShadowRain]

I originally came to the Guild a little over a year ago with much the same question. No, you aren't psychically weak. Sensitivity is not a weakness, and can actually be quite useful, though it's important to learn how to control it. A few things to read that might be helpful:
The original thread where I asked about shielding for empathy.
Article on Grounding and Centering (seriously, I've found it to be one of the most helpful things *ever* for empathic overload).
Articles at on the main Guild site (hard to navigate, but click *everything* and you'll eventually find some good stuff. learning to charge, move energy, and shield will be very helpful).
Articles at Psipog (also some good beginning articles).

There is also a hidden support forum here at the Guild for empaths and telepaths. If you want access to it, PM Amaya and ask.
Hang in there, and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask as well. :-)

[charmserum]

thanks so much! :D

[voiddragon]

Detachment, dissociation, and apathy. Basically, understand that it is not you thereby placing distance between you and whatever is impinges upon your mind. By making it not very important, and not looking at it or attempting to process it, you can basically let it flow straight through you. Compartompartmentilization works, too. Think of starting off with the core of what is YOU and then taking various traits that are part of you and splitting them off into separate chambers in which each chamber has a certain level of detachment/disassociation from the other. This set up creates definite boundaries between certain "spaces" in your mind in which the identities are sharp making it so that things can be filtered and split apart and there is psychological distance between you you and a part of you.

When information flows in, there is automatically psychological distance between the two, or more, points, in terms of identity, for you you is contained within a lower level of sharp chambers in which the external thing is not you; therefore, it can not be integrated/absorbed even though it flows into your mind via a type of blurring/sympathy.

Think of it like this:

(A) and (B)

You are A and the person is B.

Telepathy is thought of as (A)<------------(B) when it is more or so

(A<-------->B)

What you are doing is creating B1, B2, B3... so it becomes

{A<--------------->{B1(B2(B3))}}

In telepathy/empathy, information is sent and received via a blurring of boundaries between two or more points. What one is doing is setting up a system domains/sections in which, while information is still exchanged, the points within those boundaries remain divided via disassociation and/or compartmentalization. So, in this way, one does not absorb "emotions", because the "emotions" are not integrated into aspects of one's sense of identity or internalized as a core part of on going experience.

Shielding is a quick short term solution but should NEVER be used for long term applications. Especially, if one is attempting to develop their telepathic/empathic abilities.

Something that greatly helped me is realizing that they are them and I am me and we are not the same person. It sounds self evident, but realizing this on deep psychological levels creates a dividing effect in which the form of the information becomes "less personal" and is seen to be more external instead of internal. Personally, I don't like shielding methods and do not use shields.

[ShadowRain]

I don't usually like shield that block things completely (though occasionally the mental quiet is a nice change). Empathy and telepathy are important senses to me, just like seeing or hearing, so blocking them completely is like being blind in a way. However, I *have* found filter shields to be very useful. Essentially it's programming a shield to either reduce the volume of the input so that it isn't so overwhelming, or to block (or reduce the volume) only certain emotions (or certain people). For example if one of my friends is really angry and it's overloading me, I can use a filter shield to temporarily block that person, or if I'm around a lot of depressed people, I can use a filter shield to block just the feeling of depression but let the other emotions through.

It's good to learn how your mind works and how to control empathy and such without shields, but in the beginning especially, shields are a life saver. I've heard both sides of the shields/no shields debate, and frankly I think it boils down to personal preference. I know really excellent empath/telepaths who don't shield, and really excellent empath/telepaths who never go unshielded. Just find what works for you. If nothing else, shielding is good practice in energy manipulation and programming :-)

[voiddragon]

Originally Posted by ShadowRain

It's good to learn how your mind works and how to control empathy and such without shields, but in the beginning especially, shields are a life saver. I've heard both sides of the shields/no shields debate, and frankly I think it boils down to personal preference. I know really excellent empath/telepaths who don't shield, and really excellent empath/telepaths who never go unshielded. Just find what works for you.

I agree with this.