I am empathic. How do I protect myself?

Being empathic helps a person pick up on other people's feelings and understand them. It also provides the ability to feel what another person is feeling. This is good because an empathic person is sympathetic to another person's emotions and feelings. However, it can also be challenging for an empathic person to protect from a narcissistic or a sociopath. 

It helps to be aware of when an empathic person starts to pick up on another person's energy. If one can recognize that the person's energy is affecting your energy, either positively or negatively, it will help protect the empathic energy. 

Our own life experiences affect how we perceive another person's situation. Life experiences also play into how one picks up on another person's emotions. One may be able to relate and pick up on another person because of their ability to perceive that person's pain. That ability to relate to people can make an empathic person vulnerable. 

When an empathic person recognizes the ability to pick up on energy, he or she can take the opportunity to remove herself and really pay attention to the type of energy that is around another person. And, take the time to see if that energy can positively affect life. Putting a little distance (physical or emotional) between the empathic person and the person affecting energy can be very beneficial in protecting oneself.