Mastering Empathic Abilities

Empath

Will: [00:00:00] Karen, when I say the word empath, what comes to mind? Feelings, feelings, but specifically someone who is an empath, what comes to mind? Someone who

Karen: really feels the feelings yeah. Yeah. That's great.

Will: Their own and others. Yep. Now, you know, the dictionary defines an empath. Ready for this as a person with the paranormal ability to apprehend the mental or emotional state of another individual, that's a cockamamie definition.

If I've ever heard one for someone who feels feelings yeah, I think not only is it cock Mami it's myopic, right? Mm-hmm what the word empath actually embodies to me is someone that feels other's emotions and can sometimes even be affected. Yeah, absolutely. Now this is something that you have had to contend with all your life pretty much?

No, pretty much. Yep. Yeah, me too. But. Has it ever gotten to the point where you feel that you're gonna lose it? You

Karen: know, I, I don't know about losing it, but it's gotten, you know, I've woken up some days just on the verge tears all day long

Will: for, [00:01:00] you know yeah. Yeah. Where some people sometimes have a really difficult time being an empath and, and not being able to get a grip.

Luckily. Today's guest is gonna teach us just how to get a grip. And in her words, move from hot mess and world class awfully to thriving success all while maintaining your empathic abilities. All right,

Karen: I'm ready to not be a hot mess anymore. So , this is the interview for me. all right. Well,

Will: here we go.

Karen and Will: [00:02:00] Will how old were you the first time you got your Palm read? The first time I got my Palm red. Yeah. Um, I, I think the first time was probably when I was in high school at some point, but the paint kind of wore off. You are so funny. Oh my gosh. *rim shot* How about the last time? I don't remember the last time I got my palm read.

It was must have been a very long time ago. I know. I don't remember either. I mean, I know I've had it read before I think, and then I've gotten some of those magazines or books where you try to read your own palm and I was never very good at it. Palm reading, but it's something that everyone knows about, but not really many people have gotten done.

Right. Well, we did that one episode with the, that the hand analyst, the hand analyst that seems different. it does, I guess, almost more scientific, right? It was a lot more scientific, but what I mean, couldn't it be somewhat similar in, in a way that Palm readers tell you your future based on the lines are on your hand and the hand analysts also tell you what your future's supposed to be or what your like's purpose is supposed to be based on your [00:03:00] lines in your hand.

Oh, I thought that was...her telling us who we were, but I guess that's your life purpose too, right? Yeah. Your life's purpose is what is what she does. Right. So though she uses it in a very scientific way. It doesn't mean that the people in the, local carnival that. Take a look at your line to tell you how many kids you're gonna have.

Well, that might be a little different because I don't think hand analysis can foretell your future that way. I don't think in terms to tell you how many how many kids you're gonna have. Well, I don't know about that, but I do wanna go get my palm read again. So, um, since we can't do that right now, why don't we just listen to the interview?

Sounds like a plan.

Will:

Welcome to the skeptic meta physicians. I am will. And I'm Karen. We are your host as always. And today we have Jennifer Elizabeth Moore with us. She's the author of empathic mastery and intuitive mentor and a master trainer for E F T international. Uh, she helps empaths creatives and light workers control the empathic overwhelm that keeps them stuck in life and business and to harness their [00:04:00] abilities, to manifest their deepest heart desire.

Doesn't that sound just wonderful. It sounds fantastic. I cannot wait to speak with her, Jennifer. Thanks so much for coming on the show.

Jennifer: Oh, will. And Karen, thank you so much for having me and I. Have to say, you guys made me chuckle listening to you. Talk about the definition. I didn't realize that apprehended was the word that the dictionary uses. I would be more inclined to say if I was gonna change one thing in that definition, it would be, um, would be absorbs all the thoughts, feelings, energy, and sensations of the world around us.

Not apprehend them.

Will: Yeah, that that was pretty a big surprise for me when I researched it and said, no, this can't possibly, so I looked it up like three, four times and, yep, sure enough. That's what it says.

Jennifer: Well, and actually it strikes me that this may really have to do with the origins of the word because the origins of the word came from a science. Fiction story that was written back in the [00:05:00] 1950s called the empath. And it was basically about this, um, this special subgroup. human beings with extra sensory perception and abilities and paranormal abilities who were basically being used by the government to apprehend emotions and pick up on what was going on.

And then the word sort of went from that science fiction thing. And I, I can never remember the name of the author. I'm so sorry, sir. I can't recall your name, but that was where it started. And then, you know, we saw. First sort of exposure in science fiction in, in media with the star Trek, the first generation of star Trek, where there was the episode called the empath.

And that's when it started to get into common language, but it comes, it was a word that didn't even exist until the 1950s and was basically coined by science fiction people. So it's interesting that the dictionary is using kind of the [00:06:00] science fictiony definition of it, as opposed to our more sort of common understanding of it.

Will: Seems to be kind of part for the course, the way society is going these days, right. Everything is kinda based on the science fiction book. At least it feels like we're living through a science fiction book right now,

Jennifer: Yeah. It doesn't it. Yeah.

Will: we're excited to talk to you because I know Karen is really excited to talk to you because she has suffered a lot with empathic abilities. She is very much affected by the emotions of other people, and sometimes has a hard time. Snapping out of it. I'm sorry, I'm speaking for you, Karen, but that's okay.

and, and she, I, I think she probably pretty much identifies with that term. You mentioned the former hot mess and world class authorizer, but I'm curious, what did that look like for you?

Jennifer: So I'm imagining I look very similar to Karen's experience with this. Um, for me as a child, I was super sensitive. I was constantly feeling [00:07:00] a lot of. Feelings. I was in a state of anxiousness most of the time. And I had a capacity to sort of imagine worst case scenarios. And the thing was that I was very frequently feeling out of sorts, even if there was nothing going on in my life that correlated to that.

And so, because. You know, we're talking, I was being raised up. I was born in the early sixties. And so we're talking, like being a kid in the sixties and seventies. This was a point where nobody was talking about this stuff. The concept of P or paranormal abilities was very, very fringy and very, like not many people were talking about it.

And so. I was constantly basically being told that I was overreacting, that I was taking it to personally, that I was making too big, a deal out of it to get over it, to stop worrying about it. And that basically I just needed to ignore it and act like everything was okay. So I started to imagine by the time I was [00:08:00] like 8, 9, 10 years old, that there was something wrong with me and that I needed to fix, I needed to fix myself.

And so I spent the first, you know, I don't know, sort of second and. Second and third decade of my life, really struggling with what's wrong with me and how do, and why am I this way? Why am I reacting to things so frequently? Why do I feel blue for no reason? Why do I feel terrified for no reason? Why am I experiencing these horrible nightmares?

Why am I having these sort of visions of apocalyptic possibilities? All of the discomfort. Um, and I was just living in this state of thinking what's wrong with me. And it wasn't until I was in my late twenties, early thirties, when I found this spectacular therapist that I started working with, who was very intuitive and who had done a lot of work on her own [00:09:00] empathic and psychic abilities, who started to help me recognize that nearly all the time that I was feeling, um, unexplainable distress.

There was a correlation. either reconnecting to other people or being in an environment or a situation, or in some cases picking up on something that was coming down the pike that was going to be happening. And that's when I first started to realize that what I was imagining was my own personal overwhelm and distress was partially mine, but.

Of it was actually coming from the world around me. And in my experience, there are people who are empaths, where what they pick up on is just the people around them. Like the thoughts, feelings, energy sensation that are coming from the world around them. But then there are those of us. Who are so sensitive that we are also picking up on the [00:10:00] pathic stress.

We are picking up on the climate change emergency. We are picking up on the sort of social unrest that is going on. And a lot of times, not only are we picking up on what's going on in the current environment, but often if you cannot explain why you're feeling, what you're feeling, it can also be sort of feeling like ripples coming from the future.

Into the present where we pick this up. Now I can't explain why or how we have this capacity for premonition. But what I can say is that I can say that no. Multiple times in my life, like to the point where I can no longer count, there has been this sort of sense of the rumbling underneath my feet, sensing that something is coming.

And then maybe anywhere between 10 days to three weeks later, sometimes a, a bit longer, all of a sudden this big event happens [00:11:00] and I'm like, oh, that's what I was picking up on.

Will: Mm. Now, as I'm watching you speak, I'm watching Karen nod her head.

Jennifer: Yeah, I am too.

Will: so I'm pretty sure that she would love to have the name of your therapist.

Jennifer: Yes.

Karen: oh my. So, so my eyes started to, to like tear up. I'm like, oh my God, she's talking my life.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Karen: It's wild.

Jennifer: Well, and so often the other piece of it that's so hard is that as MPAs, we tend to be the canaries in the coal mine who are feeling the feelings and expressing the things that other people are not willing to talk about. And so. One of the characteristics that I've seen to be pretty common is that we often come from families or communities where there's a certain bit of like pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, nothing to see here, people move along.

All of it's. Okay. And so as very sensitive children, we may have had parents who were going through things. And [00:12:00] generally even just because of the way people are taught to suppress and compartmentalize their emotions were not sharing them with. But as sensitive people, we were picking them up. And what I've seen so frequently happen is the parents like as children, we sense something.

We ask about it and we're basically told at a very, very early age. Oh no. Oh no, that's not going on. That's not real. That's not happening. Even if it actually is. And I've seen. Very frequently is that one of the things that happens for the empath is that the empath almost becomes the designated IMO or the designated sensor and the designated feeler in a family and the stuff that other people don't wanna deal with, whether it's their trauma, whether it's their, you know, their addiction, whether it's their sort of unreconciled stuff that we feel it.

And they. They're just like, yeah, no, not going there, not dealing with it. I actually, [00:13:00] um, have a person that I've been working with for a number of years whose mother is sort of the classic denier. And they were in a situation where they were in an accident. And the very first thing that happened as soon as they like got out of got, you know, as soon as the accident was over, they just jumped up and they're like, I'm fine. You know, and that's, and as empaths we're like, you are not fine. You are in shock and you are in a state of complete distress here.

Will: we've had a lot of guests who have spoken directly to me about stuff this time. Karen, I told you this one is for you because I'm seeing you just resonate with every single things that she's saying. I'm seeing your eyes water. I'm seeing you you're nodding. Your I'm seeing you like blossom up.

Like yes. Yes. Someone else understands what I'm going through. So. I, I guess what we need to figure out now that we know what an empath is. And I think Karen, you were, you were told that you were Claire sentient, right? So that's, that's clear. That's a way of feeling. I clear like [00:14:00] typical when empath goes by, but how does someone get a grip?

Jennifer: How does someone get a grip? So I actually, so I'd love to hold that for a second. Let's put a pin in that question, because I wanna talk about the difference between CLA sentience and empath.

Will: Oh good. Yes. Listen to the podcast longer for the answer. That's perfect. Good idea. You should be a podcast

Jennifer: Yeah. Okay. So what I wanna talk about is the thing about, you know, all of the Claire's the, you know, you've got sort of the spectrum of, of psychic ability or paranormal ability.

You've got people who identify as intuitive. You've got people who identify as psychic. You've got people who identify as having one dominant player. You also have people who identify as mediums and you have people who. Empaths. What I have found is that in all of these cases, we are more open and capable of receiving information than the average bear we are receiving and getting stuff.

But what I have found, and this is what makes being an empath really challenging is that where an intuitive, a [00:15:00] psychic, a clairvoyant Clair, sentient, Clair Audi. Claire, you know, Claire cognizant Claire, Claire, Goins, Claire, alls, whatever, you know, all

Karen: Claire deans.

Jennifer: Yeah. There're clarity. there's one of those jokes you were, you were threatening.

Um, You know, and, and, you know, even like, and people who are in mediumship, the thing is that in all of these cases, they can distinguish what is theirs and what is not theirs. They know they're picking up information, but they know that they're picking up information that is separate from them. There's discernment.

Empaths by our very nature experience, the data as if it's our own. And so not only are we picking up the thoughts, feelings, energy, and sensations from the world around us, Aclara sentient can be picking up the thoughts, feelings, sensations, energy from the world around them, but they know it's coming from the world around them.

What makes being an empath so hard is that we. Experience everything through our own sensory filters. And so what happens [00:16:00] is the information comes in, but then we interpret it through our own body. We interpret it through our own thoughts. We interpret it through our own emotions. And so we start feeling sad as if it's our sadness.

We start feeling fear. If it's our fear, we start feeling rage. If it's our rage, we start feeling the con thinking. Finding the distress. Like we will find a way to sort of create the scenario or the story to dial it into our own perspective. So that then we are perseve perseverating about something that's going on.

So like for example, I was at. Uh, reached a, a conference a number of years ago. And I came there feeling absolutely confident and fine and excited to be there. And all of a sudden I was like there for a couple hours and I started to feel like a fraud. I started to feel like, who do you think you are? I started to experience my confidence flagging, and I just really started to, to like, feel like insecure and uncomfortable.

And all of a sudden it dawned on me that I was in a room. This was a BI, this was a business retreat for [00:17:00] transformational entrepreneurs. And I was in a room where there were a lot of people who were not succeeding and where the, where the way that this person that the people were leading the event were teaching was that they were helping people to see their deficiencies and what it was that they needed to address.

And so there was a whole room of people who were all having these, like. Like whack upside the head revelations of their inadequacies. And, but instead of it being like, oh, wow, I'm feeling all of this or sensing all of these people who are really struggling with their self-esteem because they're realizing maybe for the first time that they don't have all the answers.

I experienced it as if it was my problem. And so what I have found, and this kind of leads us to. The question you asked, which is how is empaths, do we deal with this? So the reason that I set up the five step system that's in my book is because what I found is that a lot of the solutions that are being offered to highly sensitive empathic people do not cut it.

And part of it is like, how many [00:18:00] times have you been told something like, oh, just put up a bubble of. Like, have you ever been, you know, have either of you guys ever gotten that one, just put up a bubble of light, you'll be okay. Or just think positive thoughts. You'll be okay. And what I noticed was that the problem is that this is, this is a step in the process, but it is not the first step.

And if we are already carrying around a whole bunch of distress that we've absorbed and taken on from the world around us, the problem is. That we, if you put a bubble of light up around that, it's kind of like taking a shower and leaving the bathtub, like drain in the bottom of the tub and letting the dirty water sit there and then pulling the curtain back around.

It's not going to address what you're already carrying inside.

Will: Wait, that's not what you're supposed to do.

Jennifer: That's not what you're supposed to do.

Will: Oh, oops.

Jennifer: Yeah. You know, it's like you drain the bathtub.

Will: all. I'll pull the plug Karen.

Jennifer: Yeah, pull the plug, you know, let it drain. And so what I discovered is that the first step of being able to start getting a handle on your empathic ability is first, just to even recognize [00:19:00] that you are an empath.

And so the first, literally the first step in the system is recognize, and there's three levels to recognize. The first is just, oh, I am an empath and I am affected by these things. The second step is recognizing that you are. Actually feeling something like going, like I'm feeling really out of sorts. I'm feeling really disoriented.

I'm feeling really confused right now. And then the third step is to start working on recognizing what's mine. What's not mine. How much of this is actually coming from within me? How much of it is coming from without me? Most of the time, it's a combination of, you know, like I'll ask myself, is this mine?

And I would say that 90, 95% of the time, the answer is yes. And it's also something else. So the first step that we need to take is even acknowledging what it means to be an empath. And instead of like, kind of buying into the gas lighting and continuing to tell ourselves you're making too much of a big deal of it can get over it, stop worrying about it.

Instead we need to. That we are picking something up that we are sensing something and it is [00:20:00] affecting us. So that's like the first step when it comes to empathic mastery is just to recognize what's going on. And very simply one of the first things that I like to do is I like to just put my hands over my heart sort of on or in the center of my chest, but kind of over my sternum.

And I just really love to ask myself, so is this mine. Just asking, is this mine? And a lot of times the answer will be yes. And so, and then I might realize that some of my distress is like, I mean, lately, some of my distress has been, I've been really sort of having echoes of life during the Reagan administration and just kind of like what life was like back then when we were, you know, worrying about acid rain, and also like worrying about.

The rise, sort of a lot of different things happening, but I know that there is that. And then there's also the reality of all the things that are going on in the world around us. So recognizes the first step. The second step before we can protect ourselves and put up a bubble [00:21:00] of light is release. We need to release the stuff that is not ours and let it go.

And that's where me as an EFT practitioner and an EFT trainer comes in because in the more than three decades of work that I've been doing as an energy healer and an intuitive, I have never, ever, ever found a tool more effective than EFT, also known as tapping what, but it stands for emotional freedom techniques.

Honestly, I have yet to find something that it doesn't benefit in some way. There are also other ways we can release. We can go for walks, we can use our breath. We can use journaling. You could just, you know, throw yourself into a clean bathtub and sort of imagine all the extra stuff kind of coming out of you, a clean bathtub.

That's a good idea,

Will: The plug.

Jennifer: Without. Yeah. Or you pull the, you know, you put the plug in, you run the clean water and then you pull the plug when you're done, And so rec you know, release is the second step. The third step is when we start to build up our psychic filters and shields, it's the per the third step is protect.

This is [00:22:00] when we can start building up more robust filters and shields because if we build up filters and shields, In a state of distress, the distress that is going on internally is almost like it's kind of like ver it's kind of like lack of remover from the inside. It weakens our filters and shields internally.

So it compromises our ability to sustain any kind of protection. So, so we, we come to the. Third step of setting up our, our energetic filters and shields, but also logistically having boundaries, like recognizing where are we saying yes. When we should be saying no, where are we acquiescing? Where are we going along?

Where are we withholding our truth? Where are we overextending ourselves? Where are we overdoing? Overgiving where are we? People pleasing? Because these are also traits that are very common for MPAs because. Feel people's disapproval. We feel people's like disappointment and we don't and it's uncomfortable.

And so we will often want to please people so that we don't have to feel the discomfort and. [00:23:00] that's a whole other piece of it, because what I have found is that, you know, some people would say that M house are codependent because we are sort of enmeshed or invested in helping people are rescuing people.

My, what I believe is that we feel better when other people feel better. So it is absolutely understandable that we're gonna wanna rush into rescue and we're gonna wanna help people to feel better.

Will: So it's a selfish thing then is what you're

Jennifer: It is a selfish thing to do. Yeah. We have an agenda. It's, it's very uncomfortable

Will: I knew it.

Jennifer: in.

So, you know, so then the fourth step after we learn to protect is connect. And I look at that as connecting to a power greater than ourself, because I really have found that the universe of horror is a vacuum. If you just clear things out, you get rid of the negativity and the toxicity, but you don't replace it with anything.

Then unfortunately the negativity is gonna come back. And so. What I have found is that we need to start connecting to a force, a power, a wisdom, a love that is greater than ourselves. Now I'm not gonna tell you what your sense of a higher power is. I believe that is an incredibly intimate [00:24:00] thing, and that is a very, very deeply personal thing.

But in order to not keep on repeating the same pattern of taking on all the energy that's coming from the world around us, we really need to. To connect to something different. So it's sort of like we're replacing the energy with a more positive energy with a more positive frequency. So instead of us running away from things, what we're starting to do is we're moving towards our desire and moving towards the things that feel good to us.

And then the final step of empathic mastery, which comes after we've really kind of gotten ourselves stabilized and we're not wobbling all over the place. Act, which has to do with really looking at how are we living in our, how are we living our life in a way that allows us to be of service in the world, but also really allows us to do the things that keep us healthy and thriving and living in a way that reinforces and supports us as opposed to keeps getting us into trouble so long answer.

But the thing is [00:25:00] that. Where some people might have a short, sweet, quick, easy answer. You know, I wrote a 380 page book about what we need to do to deal with this. And I have spent the last, like multiple decades of my life, really learning how to navigate it because it is complicated.

Will: Well, we need to take a break, but we'll be right back with a lot more of this amazing interview.

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 And now back to the skeptic meta physicians.

Karen:

Are there any benefits

at all? I'm like exhausted. I'm like, well, okay. I'm not the only one, but man, this kind of sucks.

Jennifer: So I really do believe there are benefits and what I actually believe, I actually, interestingly, channeled an entire book was the very first time I've ever channeled an entire book, but I channeled an entire book last week. And what kept coming through was I was doing this was the explanation. That the thing is we are in the first wave of empaths.

We are the ones who are awakening to our sensitivity in order for this planet for our actually the planet is gonna survive, regardless of what we, as human beings do. Like the planet will find her way and we'll keep going. But us as a species, we are on a precarious we're, we're kind of on a [00:27:00] precarious, moving in a direction that like, it's like, we need

Will: head loss. Oh my gosh. Like a, like a freight train coming at

Karen: you

Jennifer: train. Yeah, we, we are making some interesting choices. Let's just say and what I, what they, what my sort of council explained to me was that there are more and more people are awakening to their empathic nature because in order for us to change. The course of our behavior as a species, we must feel the consequences of our choices.

And we must understand what that is. And the thing is that this idea, one of the things that they keep on, I keep hearing over and over again is as is that we are the cells in the body of this earth. We are not individuals. We are not separated. We are all cells in the body of the earth. We are. Part of a larger organism and as part of a larger organism, we are not actually separate.

And so when we are feeling ourselves compartmentalized, when we are feeling ourselves in this sort of, you know, world of human dominion, we don't. [00:28:00] Feel the repercussions of our choices and our actions as a species. And what I believe is happening is that there are those of us who are sort of born in the first wave and I'm imagining Karen, you and I are kind of in that first, you know, sort of those first, really highly sensitive people who are sensing what is going.

Not just with ourselves, but on, you know, like, whether it's like within your environment, it could be just in your community or your, your circle of people. It could be in your region. It could be, it could be just, and it can, it can sort of expand out to globally, but I really believe that we are the ones.

Who are feeling what is happening on the planet and we are, and part of it is that our job is to actually feel it, but also to, to access love and to access hope and possibility. But in many ways, it's like we, we are here. To feel what everybody needs to be feeling in order for us to turn this around. And what I will say [00:29:00] is that in my experience, the more comfortable I have gotten with feeling my own grief, my own anxious, my own fear and my own.

Disappointment and anger. And the more work I've done around sort of reconciling the past wounds, the more capable I am of holding space for the pain without having to finding myself sub being submerged in it. So, but it is, it's a tall order because we are hitting crisis proportions. As, as, as the species right now and you and me, those of us who are feeling it, it is not easy by any means.

And especially these last, like two and a half years with the pandemic, it has been brutal. And I will just say, Karen, if you're not talking to a lot of MPAs, you are so not alone. Like this is the experience that many of us are having. Right.

Karen: And I was so excited because I finally, after however many years old, I am learned how to [00:30:00] compartmentalize

Jennifer: I know, I learned, I had to learn how to curate.

Karen: it? . Yeah.

Jennifer: learned how to curate with this with the, one of the gifts of the pandemic was being able to tap out and say, I've had it. I spent the first six months of the pandemic watching good witch and Grey's anatomy. I, God only knows why Grey's anatomy was safe, but there was something about the over the top dramatization of it.

But also what I realized is that what I love about Grey's anatomy is that it's like, it's, it's. There's no, there's no suppression of emotion. It's like, it's all like big, big, big feelings all the time. And for empaths, when people own their feelings, we don't have to own them. So there was almost like a comfort of being able to see people processing their feelings on Grey's anatomy.

Without having to be the person to process the feelings for them and then good witch, which I dunno if you've ever watched it. It's a very adorable hallmark series about this lovely healer named Cassie Nightingale who love runs a metaphysical shop somewhere like, you know, in this lovely little small town [00:31:00] in Canada.

Um, and it just has like, you know, Episode upon episode was just very, very benign and tame things where the villain literally wears a black hat and like, you know, it's, it's so tame. It's just so sweet. And that was about what I could tolerate. So I also, I would say I learned to curate not necessarily compartmentalize, but to curate.

Yeah.

Will: need to step in here and say, this episode is not brought to you by good witch anatomy.

Jennifer: And as I would say, and I am not a doctor nerd, I play nor do I play one on TV.

Will: I wanna touch base a little bit on what you said, and you touched on this a little bit, but when someone. Probably the best way to say this is I've constantly told Karen that I think she's on this planet to share love, to spread love, right? Because she is an unbelievably loving human being who cares so deeply for people that she has so much love from that.

but societal norms keep things like that at arm's length. But I encourage her to [00:32:00] share that love if. If enough of us, were to go out there and, and really just screw this as title norms and just allow yourself to love others and express your love. Would that tilt the scales a little bit?

Jennifer: I really believe we are in the pivot right now and that we are in, you know, what I believe. And one of the things that I said in the book is that I think we are kind of, if you've ever heard of Ken Kesey, the hundredth Mon monkey theory, and the idea of. Basically the a hundred monkey theory was a story where there were, um, there was this island and these monkeys learned how to wash their potatoes.

And so the, the scientists were watching this and then like one tribe of monkeys or one group of monkeys would teach their young how to do this. And then eventually sort of these other monkeys started to pick it up from the other monkeys and they started teaching their young. So eventually the entire.

The entire population of monkeys on this one island were washing their potatoes and then all of a sudden. Um, these other scientists who are sort of [00:33:00] observing this or observing monkeys in another island, separate from this, started to notice this phenomenon where all of a sudden these other monkeys were washing the potatoes.

And so the theory of the hundredth monkey is that when we get to critical mass, in terms of a consciousness or an awareness, there will be a quantum shift where suddenly. The hundredth monkey sort of flips the switch and everybody has this access to this thing. My theory is that, you know, Karen and I are in the 87th monkey category.

We are getting there, but as a species, we haven't quite hit critical mass and our job. Absolutely to be turning the switch and to be doing the things that not everybody is doing yet, which is expressing love. And I wanna speak a little bit more about why do we have this ability? The thing about an empath is that we have both the ability to receive.

But we also have the ability to broadcast and beam. And so when we are taking on the thoughts, feelings, energy sensation of the world around us, and we're spinning [00:34:00] out with the misery of it, it is very, very, very hard to do anything else, but as we learn how to release this and we learn how to. Find our center and sort of recalibrate within what we can do is we can start to become beacons for love, for compassion, for hope, and for healing.

And we can actually start broadcasting a signal instead of being part of the problem where we're just absorbing and then amplifying the distress.

Karen: that's really interesting. And I'm just kind of thinking of all of my life experiences and how many people are probably in the same boat that I'm in, that are just kind of opening up or not even really realizing this now. And so many things are clicking. For example, my parents split up when I was very young.

but my father was very much, you know, Don't make a big deal. Don't be so emotional, blah, blah, blah. But when anybody, including my father had even now had any sort of life issues, who's the one they talk to . Yeah. And who's the one that hangs up the phone crying you know, and, and so I was thinking about, you know, while you were speaking and, and just how you know, it, shouldn't only be the sadness that you hold and I'm like, well, and [00:35:00] this is not like, I'm not tooting my own horn, but I have been.

Hundreds of times that when I walk into a room, it lightens up that I bring happiness and joy. And I think maybe I'm just getting those little bits in everybody. And just reflecting that out. That it's not me. It's their own joy

Will: that they're seeing. Nope. Nope. toot that horn baby, because you have a light about you.

You are an angel on this planet and you're bringing that energy with you wherever you go.

Jennifer: I can absolutely see it. And this is my first meeting with you, Karen, but I can feel your glorious heart and I can completely see

Will: four people now, five people now that have confirmed it, six people maybe have confirmed it. Now a lot of people have confirmed it. So eventually you're gonna decide believe what we're all telling you eventually.

Jennifer: Well, and, you know, you say something that I think is so incredibly important because so often we really do have to fake it till we make it and act as if we have to take the words of the people we love at face.

The people that we love and trust, not the ones that are gaslighting us, but the ones who we really do love and trust at face value and go, if they believe in me, maybe they can see something that I am too distressed to see right now. But maybe I can [00:36:00] go with that and just really living with knowing that.

Are enough that we are a beacon for love that we do have a mission that we are here. And actually, and recently I have been, I've been starting to do what I'm calling the fairy godmother apprenticeship program with a number of, of, of. People who I've been working with and mentoring and where it's all about, not just fixing the problems and focusing on the problems, but taking it to the next level, which is how do we share joy in a world that is so focused on so externally focused on issues and problems.

And I think that's another part of it is like we do while I. Not a fan of spiritual bypassing or light washing or ignoring the major, major, social issues that are going on in our planet right now. I do think that we have a tendency as a, as a species to perseverate on all the wrong things and not give ourselves permission to feel pleasure, to play, to have fun, to go for delight.

And if anything like Karen, your job and my. [00:37:00] Is to radiate love and to share joy, to share a pleasure, to share fun and to help people flip the switch so that they're not just sinking and despair because, you know, I've been really getting the sense of like, at the same time that we have people who are a, in just absolute abject terror and ago.

We also have a mother who has just been handed her brand new baby, who is falling in love for the first time. We have people who are having their first, like they have fallen in love and they're, you know, Haven't they're, they're getting it on for the first time. And that ecstatic reunion of like, I just found my boo, I just connected.

We have people who are performers, who are musicians, who are out in the world in stadiums, experiencing the ecstasy of an entire stadium of thousands and thousands and thousands of people grooving with their music and feeling it. We have people who are dancing. We have, you know, football players and, and.

Other athletes who are doing their [00:38:00] optimum performance, who are winning awards and championships and who are just elated. All of this is going on at the same time. And yet as a, so as a society, you know, turn on the news and find out what's wrong. And so I think that for those of us who are highly sensitive empathic, it's really important to start trying to feel the joy that is in the world, as well as feeling or acknowledging the sor.

Will: Mm. Wow. There there's so much to talk about on this

Jennifer: I know, I know this is one of the conversations that can go on and on.

Will: You're right before we start recording. You're like, ah, we're not gonna have any problem filling out the time. So you're absolutely right. We might have to go along, but I do wanna talk about your book because your book brings a lot of practical, tactical knowledge and, tips on how to handle this stuff.

Again. One more time. It's called empathic mastery. but it.

Jennifer: is called empathic mastery, a five step system to go from emotional hot mess to thriving success.

Will: And you in the book, you really do a deep dive on each one of those steps. I mean, it's, it's a wonderful book. But one of the things that I've heard you mention as I [00:39:00] was researching is that you should try to stay away from processed sugar. What does that have to do with empathic abilities?

Jennifer: Okay. So sugar. This is so, uh, let me see if I can try to ex so, so sugar is an endocrine disruptor in the sense that, you know, um, insulin is a hormone. And when we are consuming large amounts of carbohydrate, we are basically disrupting our hormones. And if you are a human being, but especially if you're female and you've ever experienced PMs, you know how much our hormones impact us

Will: Now, hold on. Cause I've experienced it. But from the other side of the feather cabinet, did I still count?

Jennifer: Yes. So, you know, too, you know, too. And the thing is that there are, you know, we don't necessarily think about insulin as a hormone. We don't necessarily think about when we are sugar. Is something that will cause our blood, our blood sugar, it will cause our system to spike with really high blood sugar, and then crash with really low blood sugar.

And our bodies are not meant to process a lot of sugar. Our bodies, like as a [00:40:00] species, we didn't like even fruits were not really U like easy to access, like up until recently, sugar is a very modern concept. It was a very, very special treat. Until very, very recently. And the problem is that sugar influences and affects our blood sugar.

Our, and it deeply, deeply impacts our mood, but it also compromises the bacteria, the flora that grows in our gut. And essentially there is more understanding that our gut has the same cellular. Makeup as the gray matter of our brain. And there's a sort of, you know, when people talk about trusting your gut, that's because there's a deep connection between the gut or I'm pointing it at my head.

There's a deep connection between the gut and the brain.

Karen: that's a strong connection there.

Jennifer: Strong connection there. And the thing is that when we are food, we, we feed our gut unfavorable foods that contribute to, or help unfavorable flora to grow in our gut. We [00:41:00] develop what is called gut dysbiosis. And as we develop gut dysbiosis, what happens is we throw our entire.

System out of whack. And we, cause we compromise the integrity and the literal sort of like filtering system of our internal gut. And so if you have ever heard the saying in metaphysics as above so below or as within, so without when we compromise. The filters and the sort of extremely, um, resilient in internal lining of our gut.

We are not only compromising our internal gut. We are also compromising our external filters and shields. So sugar. Is something that affects us deeply emotionally, and it affects us and it affects us also very much physically. And so what I have found is that while there are certainly are exceptions to the rule, and there are some empaths who are way more physically resilient and able to kind of get away with it, or [00:42:00] they're just so much younger that their body has not reached that sort of critical mass.

But in my experience, once you start talking. People getting into their mid twenties and beyond the more sugar you consume or the more, and the more sort of processed carbohydrates you consume because you know, like white bread turns into sugar, the more. Compromised your gut becomes and the more compromised your entire hormonal system becomes and the more dysregulated one becomes.

So I have found that stopping sugar is actually one of the very it's, it's one of the most important things we can do. But what I will say is that if you do not have. Healthy alternatives in place and you just go cold Turkey in the same way. If you ever quit smoking. And you know that like when you quit smoking, it's sort of like, all your stuff comes up.

If you've been using sugar to self soothe, then the challenge is that unless you've got some kind of other way to take care of [00:43:00] yourself and support yourself, it is going to really excuse. Can I say use. Use the four letter word

Will: Absolutely. We'll bleep it. The radio.

Jennifer: It's gonna really suck,

Will: Oh, that's I don't have.

Jennifer: okay. I know, but I just wanted to be sure that I wasn't using. I know, I know I can believe me. I could drop the F bomb all over the place. I actually, I have a friend who has a friend who, um, crochets bombs with the word F on them. So I'm getting a set of purple crochet F bombs that I'll be able drop during podcasts and, uh, Facebook lives and things like that.

Karen: I love it.

Will: Well then, that gives you a roadmap, Karen. Yeah. Right. For how you need to. Live your life moving forward. You've got the five steps. If you want to know more about how to get a grip on stuff, mm-hmm empathic mastery. The book is fantastic. It's a no BS. Tell it like it is guide written specifically,

Karen: empaths.

I don't wanna have to figure out what it's saying. no, no. It's I gonna tell me

Will: directly. It is, it is a no BS. Tell it like it is. and it's written by an empath who cracked the code on how to, how to [00:44:00] handle it. So. Perfect. if you recognize any of this in you, I would urge you to check out Jennifer's book.

We're gonna add a direct link to it in our show notes. So if you're listening to this on the radio, All you need to do is go to skeptic position.com. Go to her episode page and just click the link. It'll be that easy for you to find it. If you're listening it on your phone right now, hit the little eye on the corner that gives you the show notes, and you'll find the link there.

You don't even need to leave your couch. So.

Jennifer: Mm. Hmm.

Will: Jennifer you have given us so much to think about. I know Karen, her life has now been changed. so thank you so much for taking the time to share your expertise with us because, uh, it it's something that we've been wanting to tackle for a long time and something that I think will help Karen.

And a lot of folks who are listening right now. Yeah. A

Karen: lot of help. You're all crazy. You're not . Yeah.

Jennifer: not crazy. I mean, if where is, if I can just say I, if I'd love to say two things, one is that in addition to the book, I also have a free Facebook group where I offer a lot of support. I teach master classes and, um, you can learn more about that by going over with the show notes and everything, because I would.

Really, you know, I, my [00:45:00] mission is to help other highly sensitive empathic people to understand what they are, why they feel the way they feel and to really turn it around. And I just wanna say, Karen, my heart, I know what you, I really can identify and relate with what you're going through and that it does get better.

I promise it can get better. You are not crazy. You are not making stuff up. You are, and you. Like, and you are here for a reason. You are here for a reason and you are part, and I really believe that you and the rest of us am, you know, the empathic tribe that is rising up in the world, that we are here to be part of the solution and to help birth a new world where things can be better.

So you guys thank you so much for having me on this time is whizzed by.

Karen: sure has.

Jennifer: Oh my God, what an amazing conversation. It has been such a pleasure to talk with you.

Will: Absolutely. We feel exactly the same way. And we are gonna add all of those links directly on our show notes so that you have a way to connect, not just find her book, but [00:46:00] also connect directly with Jennifer, whether it's her Facebook group or on her social media accounts, we'll have all those links on our show notes.

So feel free to click those and connect with her directly. Jennifer, once again. Thank you so much for coming on the show. We look forward to maintaining contact with you. Yes.

Karen: Thank you. I'll be on that. Facebook group. Good

Jennifer: Yes, please.

Will: And thank you for coming along on this journey of discovery. We'd love to continue our conversation with you on our website or on Facebook and Instagram under at skeptic, me physician or skeptic me physician.com.

And if you're listening to this on the radio and you missed something, not to worry all of our episodes, including this one can be found@skepticization.com, where you can also watch the video. Or even send us email or voicemails directly from the site. We absolutely adore feedback. We really love to hear from you would appreciate hearing from you now.

Well, we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we have. We'll see you on the next episode of the skeptic meta physicians until then take care.