Releasing

I remember the exact moment I really understood what it meant to be an empath. I was walking my dog on a beautiful September day - bright sunshine, deep blue sky, perfect temperature. I was thinking about the beauty of the day and how happy I felt. I took a couple of steps and suddenly felt this depression hit me. Whoa! Where did that come from?? I was aware that seconds earlier I was happy, so what changed? I had no clue, but I knew that wherever the depressing feeling came from, it wasn’t mine.

And that awareness freed me.

One of the first things I learned when I realized I was an empath was how to release. I began to release the energies and emotions I was absorbing from other people, that I was creating with my thoughts and beliefs, that I was holding onto from my past.

It took a while to get the hang of it, but I began to feel better very quickly, and over time, it has made a big difference in my life.

The method I learned is called SOAR, available at https://lonerwolf.com/empathic-abilities/ . There are instructions here on what it is and how to use it. At https://lonerwolf.com/soar/# there are guided meditations. This technique has been invaluable to me.

But before I could begin to release an emotion, I had to be conscious of it.

This sounds easy, but I had spent a lifetime perfecting my ability to ignore feelings and push them away. It was scary to start allowing them.

I practiced. Before bed, I sat and examined my day to find two or three emotions I had felt. I made myself look at them, acknowledge them, hold onto them for a couple of minutes - not the event, but the emotions. Then I used the steps of SOAR to let them go.

As with most techniques I learn, I have adapted it to fit my special way of seeing things. For instance, sometimes the release doesn’t seem to happen. Because I am very visual, I imagine the emotion is a person. Not necessarily a person I want hanging around, but hey, I’m polite. I offer them a seat and tea. As I imagine myself getting the tea ready, they usually get up from the table and walk out. I always wave to them and say thank you as they leave. I suppose that “getting the tea ready” helps my mind relax enough to let the release happen. I know it sounds silly, but it works for me!

These days I am much more aware of my feelings as they occur. I am more conscious of other people’s emotions and their effects on me. I use SOAR often to help me acknowledge and release these emotions.

Emotions are often painful. Even with SOAR, I still feel the pain. But the goal is not to eliminate feelings! I want to feel, I want to experience this life - and that includes emotions, good and bad. The goal is not an emotionless, robotic type of “perfection”. The goal is to let the feelings flow through.

The goal is Peace - no matter what is happening.