Insight into the two main types of empaths.

December 8, 2023

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What is Empathy?

Empathy is the ability to understand another’s emotions.

But for those who call themselves “Empaths,” we’re talking next-level empathy — experiencing another’s feelings through the energetic transference of emotions.

Signs You’re an Empath

heightened emotional awareness
suddenly feeling an emotion and not knowing where it came from
exhaustion
distaste for crowds
taking on other’s emotions as your own
being referred to as “sensitive”
needing time alone to clear your energy
being naturally understanding and compassionate
difficulty watching dramatic or violent media
avoiding conflict

Types of Empaths

1: Those who were designed to take in and feel the emotions of others.

2: Those who were conditioned by their early environments to have heightened emotional awareness.

3: A mix of both.

Designed Empaths

I call those who show signs of empathy in their Human Design Charts, Designed Empaths.

Designed Empaths are born into a body that was designed to receive, feel, process, and then release the emotions of others to gain information and wisdom.

Some signs of empathy in your Human Design chart are:

undefined emotional solar plexus center (main cause of empathy)
undefined spleen center
undefined root center
Channel 19-49
Feeling cognition
Projector type

You can read more about each area (with chart illustrations) and learn how it affects your empathic ability here.

Where to Find Your Human Design Chart

You can get your free personalized Human Design chart here.

Free Human Design Chart and Simplified Gate Guide

What is Conditioning?

Before we get into Conditioned Empaths, let’s talk about conditioning (aka programming).

Conditioning is the creation of beliefs based on external sources.

These beliefs affect how you take action, make decisions, and show up in the world.

These can be surface-level, causing you to adopt a particular style based on the current runway trends, or deeply influential, causing you to fear public speaking.

You’re born without conditions but live in a society driven by conditioning — so it’s tough … really tough to not be conditioned.

Conditioning can happen at any age but you’re most susceptible from approximately birth to 7 years old. A time when your mind operates in alpha/theta waves and your subconscious is highly susceptible.

Conditioned Empaths

If your Human Design chart doesn’t have any of the aspects listed above, there may still be nuances in your chart that heighten your empathic ability.

But there is another cause to consider: conditioning.

Conditioned empaths may hold the belief that people are emotionally volatile and that they need to be hyper-aware of other’s emotional states to protect themselves.

This belief can cause them to develop a heightened emotional awareness — some may consider it clairsentience.

Empaths are most often conditioned by dysfunctional, emotionally volatile environments.

They learn to be highly attuned to the emotions of the people around them as a way to sense danger before it happens. It’s a protective coping mechanism.

The spiritual teacher Teal Swan talks a lot about this.

What to do if You’re a Conditioned Empath

Be gentle with yourself. If conditioning is the cause of your empathic ability, the best thing you can do is be a supportive, loving, and safe space for your inner child. Give her what she didn’t get.

And if you’re ready to alchemize your wounds into wisdom, the fastest way to decondition is Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) or regular hypnotherapy. It’s a highly effective way to tap into your subconscious to rewrite limiting beliefs. I’ve done RTT several times and have experienced incredible transformations.

Can You Be Both?

YES!

Many Designed Empaths have undefined energy centers — which are designed to receive other’s energy, causing them to be more susceptible to conditioning.

Learn about 1:1 Human Design Readings with me.

If you’d like to delve deeper into you’re chart, you can book a 1:1 reading with me or check out my other HD articles.

Questions? Feel free to drop them in the comments.

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