Empaths and Emotions

I recently watched the latest season of the series Manifest. One of the characters, Zeke, is an empath, and he learned that he could absorb the pain of other people. He worked with addicts and he helped them much.

I wondered at first if part of his power was to consume the pain, the emotion, the sickness, and destroy it within himself. But as his story progressed, it was obvious that everything he absorbed was taking a toll on him. I kept thinking that those emotions, the pain would need to go somewhere. He can’t just keep them in and remain okay.

True enough, when there was an opportunity for his emotions to come out, they did. The rage just burst out of him. He intended to protect his wife from a woman who was about to kill her, but he could not help but angrily shoot the perpetrator multiple times. He could not stop the rage. He was just consumed by it.

I have been struggling with some of my emotions lately as well. This was an apt reminder for me to make sure to process how I am feeling. To talk, unload, debrief. To make sure I don’t keep them locked in my heart and mind. To seek counsel and ask for prayers. To find tools to exercise self-control and ways to release the frustration or anger. To dispense forgiveness, and receive it, even from my own self. To cry, but to cry out to God first and foremost.

My feelings might stay bottled up in me, but not for long. They will always want to come out. The key is to manage my emotions, otherwise they will spill over to people, and worse, to little, innocent (though not always innocent 😉) people… AKA my kids. And I really don’t want that. I desire peace.

So here’s to finding the right tools to manage our feelings before they erupt like soda charged with mentos! It might be breathing, pausing, washing our face, exercising, praying, slowly reciting a verse, among other things. I thank God that His mercies are new every morning — we always have a chance to reset and restart. ❤️

May the Lord give us grace, patience, wisdom, and strength to endure and learn through this. May we keep in step with the Holy Spirit. 🙏🏼

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Gal 5:22-25

Better a patient person than a warrior,
one with self-control than one who takes a city. Prov 16:32

It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23