Are Your Children Empaths? Teach Them How To Manage Their Emotional Intelligence

By Elise Lebeau

We are all born with the ability to sense emotions in others. It's is a basic survival skill for humans and animals. This ability usually subsides in childhood as we learn to focus more on verbal cues than emotional ones.

Empaths, on the other hand, have a heightened sensitivity to other people's emotions that keeps developing over time. As other kids stop picking up emotional signals, empath children become totally overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of emotional information that they receive in social settings.

Since most parents do not know if they are empaths, they don't recognize the signs in their kids. It also prevents them for effectively teaching their kids how to manage emotional overflow. For a more in depth discussion on resources for adult empaths, you can read my articles on this topic here.

Emotional Intelligence is defined as "the ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups" (Salovey and Mayer, 1990).

When you teach your children how to manage their Empath skills, you are developing their Emotional Intelligence.

There are three fundamental concepts that need to be addressed in order to effectively manage emotional information.

1. Empowerment: Do you control your empath skills or do they control you (curse or blessing?)
2. Centeredness: Can you always hear your own internal self above all (raise above the chaos)
3. Flow: Does emotional information come in AND out freely (do you have an outlet?)

Is your child an empath?

Children have a different way of handling their empath abilities. Their range of available response is smaller, so they typically pick very quiet (as a way to calm down the emotional chaos they feel) or acting out (as a way to be louder than the emotional noise).

Keep in mind that children learn how to manage their empath abilities by watching you handle yours. If you're an empath but don't know how to handle it, get help for yourself first!

These are behaviors I have observed in empath children who don't know how to handle their abilities:

 •Gets unusually quiet (often seen as shyness) around crowds but is fine with the immediate family or smaller groups. Your child is trying to feel empowered and centered by withdrawing from the world. •Gets physically or verbally out of control around people but is mellow at home. Your child is trying to find an outlet to the overwhelming flow of incoming emotions.
•Resists going to bed or wakes up often. Your child is trying to stay centered while surrounded by the emotional activity of adults.
•Catches every illness available (cold, flu, ear infections, etc.). Your child is trying to feel empowered in shutting down unwanted emotional activity. Being sick is often the only way a child can use to withdraw from social situations.

Of course, this describes about 85% of children. I believe that most children do suffer from a mismanagement of their empath skills. I also believe that more and more empath children are born every day. So 85% is not a shocking number to me.

The bottom line is: can you help your child have a happier life by using empath tools? If it does help, then you're on the right track!

Disclaimer: This checklist is not a diagnostic or treatment tool. I am not a doctor or a mental health professional. Some of the characteristics of empaths can be diagnosed as ADD, agoraphobia or clinical depression. Contact your health care professional if you have any questions, need diagnostic or treatment for a mental health issue.

In order to help your child, you need tools that address each of the three concepts (empowerment, centeredness and flow). This is a technique I developed with my son.  Empath Anchoring Technique:

When your child gets overwhelmed, she often just needs a point of reference to stay grounded. You can be that anchor.

1. Calm your own emotions. You can't be a positive anchor if you're upset or angry.
2. Tell her quietly "Look me in the eyes" (point to your eyes) and put your hand on her chest. Make sure you have eye contact for the next step!
3. Tell her "We're going to take 5 breaths together and count them". Let your child breathe however she wants. You're just accompanying her, counting out loud with each exhalation.

Breathing quiets down emotional noise, re-centers the mind and helps children feel empowered by having something they can do when they feel uncomfortable. Include empath anchoring it in your night time routine!

Elise Lebeau, M.Sc. is a Professional Intuitive. She provides a fast-paced, result-oriented approach to intuition for sensitive people through her Intuition Coaching programs and Intuitive Counseling sessions.  Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elise_LebeauArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/429987

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PURCHASE the paperback book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathAmazon.
The e-book version is now available for Kindle, iPhone, iPad, and other digital reading devices on Smashwords.com. Get the PDF on the author's website: WeAreOneinSpirit.com.
Why not have someone read the book to you? Check out the audio book MP3 file version.

The author, Yvonne Perry, is available as a spiritual coach. See http://weare1inspirit.com/services/coaching/ for information about a free 15-minute evaluation to see if coaching is right for you.
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Do You Have A Spiritually Sensitive Child? How to Nurture the Mind, Heart and Body of a Gifted Child

By Nikki Striefler

Does your child have profound empathy to the point that he cries when he senses the pain of another person or other living things?

Does your child talk about feeling uncomfortable around people who make her feel "creepy?" On the other hand, does your child sense that some people have a nurturing and inviting energy?

Does your child have insights that make him seem like an "old soul?"

Does your child sometimes feel like an "odd duckling" who doesn't fit with her peers because of the depth of her feelings and reactions?

Does your child feel alive and joyful when out in nature, as though he can feel the wondrous energy of the plants and animals?

Does your child feel overwhelmed by sights, sounds, textures, and smells?

All of the above are signs of a spiritually sensitive child.

What is meant by spiritual sensitivity? According to Judith Blackstone, in her book Belonging Here, spiritually sensitive adults and children have these traits in common:

• Profound empathy and exceptional emotional depth
• Visionary insight; ability to see the truth of situations
• A gift for healing
• May feel alienated from the world around them

One of the major challenges faced by spiritually sensitive children is that parents and teachers often misidentify the sensitivities of these children as weaknesses and defects instead of teaching them to harness and use their personal energy to self-soothe and modulate their sensitivities so that they won't turn to drugs, cutting, or eating disorders as coping mechanisms. Some spiritually sensitive children end up with depression, anxiety, and autoimmune issues from the stress of living with sensitivities they don't understand and can't contain. These sensitivities can lead to loneliness and self-doubt, and for this reason, we need to nourish the minds, hearts, and bodies of these exquisitely sensitive children and help them develop their gifts while diminishing the challenges.

Strategies for Nourishing the Spiritually Sensitive Child

• Mindful Movements - There is a beautiful little book with an accompanying CD by Thich Nhat Hahn called Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being. This series of exercises combines body movements with mindfulness and focused breathing and is great for both children and adults.

• Four Pebble Meditation - Thich Nhat Hahn has a lovely metaphor-based mindful practice for kids that I enjoy doing myself. It uses four pebbles, and he has a new book for kids coming out this fall describing the process called A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles. These four pebbles are metaphors for our lives. The first pebble represents a flower: fresh. The second pebble represents a mountain: solid. The third pebble represents still water: clarity & authentic reflection. The fourth pebble represents space: freedom. I find holding each pebble in my hand with my focus on what that pebble represents to be a really relaxing way to meditate. Now that my brain has made the connection between the pebbles and the meditation, seeing the pebbles in my little wasabi dish continually reminds me of the four aspects of myself.

• Sending Love to Others - Once your child knows how to meditate, you can have your child practice sending love to herself, and then to others. You might begin with a photo of your child when she was a baby, and have your child look at the photo and send love to that person who is still a part of her. Once your child has had several opportunities to send self-love, your child can shift that focus to another person and/or animal. The purpose of this activity is to bring loving space to her heart.

• Gratitude Journal - Sending love to others is one way to help children open their hearts. Another way is through a gratitude journal. Having your child focus on what brought her joy that day is a nice way to end an evening and be focused on positive experiences before falling asleep.

• QiGong for greater awareness of personal energy - Lee Holden has a series of DVDs that include sitting, standing, and moving practices. I find my chi for energy work particularly strong after doing these exercises. I believe children who experience their personal energy will be better able to modulate their sensitivities.

• Spend, Save, Share Jars - Many religious and spiritual groups talk about opening your heart by doing good things for other people. With the spiritually sensitive child, we are looking for positive outlets for the pain they sometimes feel on behalf of others. You might consider having your child divide money he receives into three jars for spending soon, saving for later, and sharing with others. Give your child an opportunity to find an organization that has personal meaning. It is important for spiritually sensitive children to feel like they are making a difference in the lives of other people and animals.

A suggestion to parents: You are the most powerful model in the life of your child. Spiritually sensitive children need to see you focused on your own mindfulness and self-awareness. Give yourself the time and space to create your own spa moment, even if it's just taking a luxurious breath when you are stuck in traffic. Thich Nhat Hahn talks about the monks at Plum Village who hear a bell and use it as a reminder to take a breath and be in the moment. He encourages us that when our phone rings, it should serve as a reminder to take a breath and be in the now.

Many of us who are spiritually sensitive do not feel safe in this world with all the chemicals, aggressive people, and over-bearing sights and sounds. It is a nice reminder that by building up our minds, hearts, and bodies (our personal energy), even a spiritually sensitive person can feel safe in, and have a positive impact on, this world.

Looking for programs or camps for spiritual children? Glad.is highly recommends the Silver Horse Healing Ranch in Topanga, Ca: http://glad.is/2011/06/silver-horse-healing-ranch/  More on Mindful Parenting: http://glad.is/article/mindful-parenting/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nikki_Striefler 
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/315551

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PURCHASE the paperback book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathAmazon.
The e-book version is now available for Kindle, iPhone, iPad, and other digital reading devices on Smashwords.com. Get the PDF on the author's website: WeAreOneinSpirit.com.
Why not have someone read the book to you? Check out the audio book MP3 file version.

The author, Yvonne Perry, is available as a spiritual coach. See http://weare1inspirit.com/services/coaching/ for information about a free 15-minute evaluation to see if coaching is right for you.
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Highly Sensitive Indigo Children and Crystal Kids

You may have heard of Indigo Children or Crystal Kids, who have intuitive gifts that surprise or even astound adults. These empathic children easily pick up on the feelings and thoughts of adults and others as they unconsciously reach into human and spirit energy fields to gather information and understand things around them. Seeing with their spiritual eyes, feeling with their spiritual senses, hearing with their spiritual ears, they may give information about a past life, tell of events before they happen, see ghosts, or know something about another person or situation that no one else does. Today, as many as one in four children have this ability and are tuned into the higher frequency all the time.

Because these children do not know how to set personal boundaries (or that they need to), they do not realize when they are in another person’s mental or emotional space, much less how invasive this can be to that person. It can also affect the child’s own vibrational level. As parents we need to teach our children how to properly use this empathic gift, but many adults do not trust their own intuition, much less recognize their children’s spiritual abilities. Empathic kids and teens need someone they can talk to, and they need information on how to keep their auras clear and to open and shut their intuitive abilities at will. It is important for adults to help them learn how to do this and set energetic boundaries. The more you read and study this topic, the better you will be able to answer your children’s questions. I hope you will relate to what you are learning here and help the children in your life develop their intuition.

In my book, Whose Stuff Is This? ~ Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You, Dr. Caron Goode shares the four core temperaments as they relate to the psychological aspect of empathy. I invite you to read this book!

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PURCHASE the paperback book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathAmazon.
The e-book version is now available for Kindle, iPhone, iPad, and other digital reading devices on Smashwords.com. Get the PDF on the author's website: WeAreOneinSpirit.com.
Why not have someone read the book to you? Check out the audio book MP3 file version.

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Empaths and Highly Sensitive People Effected by Movies

Gloria Mitchell’s parents took her to see Bambi at the theater when she was under the age of five years. Bambi's mother was killed in the beginning, which really upset her. For the rest of the movie Gloria kept asking, “Where's the mommy?” I think we all cried during that movie. I know I did and I was an adult watching it with my own kids!

Gloria says the most painful example of empathy in her life concerns her parents. They lost their business a few years ago, and for three years lived in a horrible house and had virtually no social life. There was a palpable sadness—a terrible energy—floating around the house. Gloria visited them every other weekend and no matter how much she tried to go there with a positive attitude, she became depressed or angry within an hour of being around them. When she tried to talk to them about it they would brush it under the rug, but this proverbial elephant in the room only led to arguments. It wasn’t just the house that was affected. This crappy energy was emanating from her parents, mostly her father, so whenever she took them to visit her brother in another state, the negativity poured off them. She always returned home feeling emotionally exhausted and depressed after being with them. The situation improved when her parents moved to a better house and started spending time with their friends. While things are by no means back to “normal” for them, Gloria feels a huge weight lifted from her.

Gloria’s story reminds me to mention that places as well as people can hold energy from those who have lived there previously. If you enter a place and suddenly feel tense, uneasy, gloomy, or even frightened, or if you get physical sensations such as chills, gooseflesh, headache, or dizziness, you are likely picking up energies from what has transpired there. Because places and things absorb energy from the experiences they have “witnessed,” empaths may need extra protection in places like funeral homes, prisons, and crime scenes.

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PURCHASE the paperback book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathAmazon.
The e-book version is now available for Kindle, iPhone, iPad, and other digital reading devices on Smashwords.com. Get the PDF on the author's website: WeAreOneinSpirit.com.
Why not have someone read the book to you? Check out the audio book MP3 file version.

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Babies Absorb Mental and Emotional Energy around Them

Babies don’t filter anything; they simply receive. An empathic child or teenager easily picks up on the emotions, energy, or thoughts of others.

The Latin word for emotion is emovere, which means movement. Suppressing an emotion prevents the natural movement of vital energy. As Karol Truman says in her book by the same title, “feelings buried alive never die.” Denying and resisting what you feel only makes things worse. The repressed emotion is stored in our cells and will demand to be dealt with at a later time.

When a child stuffs his or her feelings, it creates an inward vortex of spiraling emotions that can continue to pull the child downward for years to come. If your child has bouts of depression, notice what triggers are associated with the episodes. Who has he/she been around? What activity is he/she about to embark upon? Is the child getting visual images, having dreams, or sensing something isn’t quite right? This intuitive insight could be a clue to a past life issue that needs to be healed or an indication that he or she is involved in something that is not in alignment with the soul’s higher purpose. You can help redirect the child or teen by listening and offering to help them end their unhealthy relationship or association with a person or organization. And if you see that your energy-sensitive child is showing distress from having the gift of empathy, teach him or her how to do the exercises in Chapter 9 of my book, Whose Stuff Is This? ~ Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You.

Intuitive children and teens know their personal truth. Any distortion of that truth can cause them to feel confused, depressed, unbalanced, or even sick. Childhood depression can be carried into adulthood if it is not dealt with when it first appears. When I was a teenager, I felt depressed every weekend. Without fail sometime near dusk each Saturday night, I would feel a sense of foreboding sadness that I could not explain. I simply learned to live with it until I learned how to manage emotional energy.

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PURCHASE the paperback book, Whose Stuff Is This? Finding Freedom from the Thoughts, Feelings, and Energy of Those Around You at http://tinyurl.com/EmpathAmazon.
The e-book version is now available for Kindle, iPhone, iPad, and other digital reading devices on Smashwords.com. Get the PDF on the author's website: WeAreOneinSpirit.com.
Why not have someone read the book to you? Check out the audio book MP3 file version.

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