My Blog Title

In my previous post, I discussed wanting the perfect blog name. That was hard, because I wanted the name to match my content, and I haven't had just one topic I want to talk about. I decided to use a name reflecting my busy mind and my compassionate heart. After discovering one or two other ideas were already taken, I settled on Contemplations of an Empath. 

Empathy is one of my core values. I've been on the giving end of empathy and the receiving end of empathy. I feel the pain of other people, sometimes even in a physical way, like I've been punched in the stomach. 

I have a "first memory" of empathy. I remember being at my grandparents when I was a little girl. The television was showing footage of an earthquake in the Soviet Union. I was really upset. My mom and grandma tried to comfort me, telling me that our buildings here are built better and that I didn't have to be afraid. But I wasn't sad for me. I was sad for all of those people on the other side of the world who were suffering. I was experiencing profound empathy. 

While I know that some people who read my writing don't believe as I do, I believe in Jesus and the teachings in the Bible. Galatians 6:2 says, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." So many things are easier to bear if you don't have to bear them alone. If I can help things feel just a little bit lighter for people, I want to. 

One word that often goes along with empathy is sensitivity. If I'm going to feel other people's pain and enter into their experience with them for a time, I'm going to have to pick up cues about what's going on inside. I notice when people are in physical pain; they move differently. People act differently when they are barely holding it together emotionally. I have a sensitivity to these things. This isn't magic or mind-reading. It's just where my attention goes. I've been the person who desperately needed someone to notice. 

The "busy mind" contemplative side of me gets pretty wacky. Maybe I'll write about that another day!