[butterflyeffect]

In another thread, it has been brought to my attention that I am picking up on other peoples emotions and confusing them with my own. I do have a very strong heart chakra and sense of compassion for others but this is a bit more than that. Essentially, if you tell me how sad you are about your difficult divorce, I will get really sad too and be able to feel your pain and mirror it and want to help you, like I'm the one getting divorced... Its difficult because I then end up feeling emotions that aren't mine and its draining and unproductive.

I am not entirely sure how to stop over identifying with other peoples emotions. I know one of my defense mechanisms in the past has been to form judgements, "yes, yes, its all because your fat and fat people aren't lovable...". I prefer to view things from a more compassionate and realistic perspective where we are all human and learning and growing and dealing with our own battles along the way. Afteral, you never really know about the private battles of the noisy person behind you in the cue or the impatient shop assistant. Its easy to judge wrongly without all the facts.

So far I am just trying to stay with people who are calm and centered. Although I have identified one of the reasons I am so anxious is I pick it up from my mother. I love my Mother dearly and she is an amazing and strong woman but she is very anxious. When she stresses my first instinct is to mimic the same stress and anxiety and then consequently try and fix the percieved cause of her stress. I take full responsibility for my own anxiety although I can see I am mirroring the anxiety my Mother displays. I feel like an amplifier for other peoples emotions, I tune in and then emit it on a stronger level. Its strange and a bit scary. So thats something I am going to have to work through.