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How do you view yourself? Self-perception is “the idea that you have about the kind of person you are” (learnersdictionary.com). How we view ourselves is more important than how others view us. Clear self-understanding leads to clear self-perception. To be the best youest you, we need to develop clear self-perception.
“To thine own self be true.” is a much quoted phrase by William Shakespeare from Hamlet. And for an empath? To be true to ourselves is to embrace and own our gift of feeling what others around us feel. It is connecting with compassion. Our nature is to live by our emotions, and our decisions will always reflect this. This is how we walk through life (even if it seems strange to others). And sometimes, it may mean getting away from others so we can breathe and regroup. We need to self-affirm what we know to be true and not be coerced out of it.
Empaths often need time to think and feel away from the emotions of others around them. That’s why when we are in a situation of conflict, we walk away. This can be interpreted as permanently retreating or surrendering. It is not. It is stepping away from the emotions of others in order to get clear about what we really feel, think, and know to be true for us. Others may push hard to dissuade us, and we feel their strong emotions like an onslaught. So we need to physically leave the room. Then we can get away from the emotional tug of the other and his/her “what about me?” When we are clear about what we think and feel, we may re-engage to finish the discussion, or we may choose to disengage from it all together. (Note that when an empath stops talking, that doesn’t mean that we agree with you. It means that we are stepping back and going inside to affirm what we believe, and we may or may not share it with you.)
Self-talk and affirmations can help us with self-perception. What we say to ourselves matters. Our words frame who we are. We need to build strong frames for ourselves. My every day mantra is “Be brave.” I wear it on my wrist, so I can see it every day. Pick what works for you. Own it.
