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The First Prescription: Awaken Intuition And Rejuvenate Yourself

By , About.com Guide

Updated: January 23, 2006

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>Intuitive Empathy: How to Stay Open and not Absorb Negativity, cont'd

Excerpt from Positive Energy © 2005 by Judith Orloff, MD Three Rivers Press

Normally, when you have empathy, your heart goes out to someone in distress. When you’re an intuitive empath, you take on their tribulations.

If a friend was upset or physically hurting, in a flash her discomfort would lodge in my body.

As I’ve explained, crowded places intensified my empathy. Whereas shopping malls are havens for some, for me they were war zones: I was bombarded by the swarms of people, but couldn’t explain why.

An angst-sucking sponge, I coped by shutting down. A teenager in the sixties, I numbed myself for a few years by taking drugs.

Finally a wise therapist referred me to a UCLA lab that studied intuition, where I could meet other empaths.

What a relief not to feel so out of control or alone. With their support, I developed ways to handle my empathy, to see it as a potent type of intuition, an asset.

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