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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
"empath" i think is another lens on "sensitivity" emphasizing sensitivity to other people's emotions. i think people like this really exist and often have a lot of problems. other people's emotions can be scary and overwhelming
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
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so, let's imagine that there is some kind of "sensitivity" spectrum along which people can vary, with probably a large genetic component. sensitive children will be impacted more by anything that happens to them, good or bad; they feel it more, they "overupdate" on it
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
and a common way i think people in this situation respond is by learning how to construct powerful defenses against their own sensitivity. erecting huge walls of blankness and numbness, which is what can make them *less* sensitive to others in practice, as an adult
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
you might say that an "empath" who is actually very bad at reading other people has a paradoxical reaction to other people's emotions - there's an initial overwhelming experience which is quickly suppressed, leaving them more numb than before
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
a person like this who wants to undo the blanking / numbing defenses then has to confront this initial experience of being overwhelmed. it is not fun but it is doable, although i don't have much concise advice about how sadly
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
there is a process one can learn of how to be with other people's emotions without letting them take you over, that i guess is pretty close to the process one can learn of how to be with your *own* emotions without letting them take you over. hmm 🤔
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QC (in Berlin 7/29-???)
@QiaochuYuan
i don't want to be too negative about this - the good news is that sensitivity to other people comes with legit actual powers. i know several people who seem to be intuitive massagers. one woman touched my face in a specific spot for a second and... wow
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snav
@qorprate
i think the main irony in your original tweet is that defining oneself as an "empath" reveals somewhat of a lack of sensitivity to how one's chosen self-definitions affect others
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