My guest this week is empath and author Signe Myers Hovem, who recently wrote The Space in Between: An Empath’s Field Guide (affiliate link). I was familiar with what it meant to be an empath before this conversation, but Signe does a lot to explain what the experience is actually like. Interestingly there are many people who don’t realize that they have empathic sensitivities, as well as people who think they’re empaths but really haven’t developed those abilities. We also discussed how to distinguish empathic intuition from other things like projection, anxiety, or bias. Toward the end of our conversation I was blown away by Signe’s response when I asked her if she thought Jesus was an empath.

Topics we discussed included:

• What an empath is
• Developing one’s abilities as an empath
• The distinction in this context between “empathic” and “empathetic”
• Empathic ability as a spectrum, not all-or-nothing
• Feeling like one’s empathic sensitivities are both a blessing and a curse
• Being able to turn off/down empathic sensitivity
• Turning to substances to mute unrecognized empathic perceptions
• Cultivating a sense of safety wherever we are
• People who falsely believe themselves to be empaths
• The idea that therapists can “see into someone’s soul”
• Picking up unprocessed information or emotion from others
• What empaths might “emit,” in addition to receiving
• Keeping one’s “vertical channel” open and flowing
• Distinguishing empathic sensitivity from other experiences like projection or fear
• Self-love as a form of resilience
• Whether Jesus was an empath
• Some of my guest’s mystical experiences

Signe Myers Hovem has:

• created homes on five continents over twenty years
• raised four uniquely sensitive children
• pursued a special education lawsuit appealed to the US Supreme Court
• volunteered in a hospice in Texas and an orphanage in Azerbaijan
• worked as a spiritual counselor in Houston, Texas, and
• taught workshops and trainings in the art of being an empath and the power of language in many countries around the world.

She splits her time between Boulder, Colorado, and Oslo, Norway.

Find Signe online and learn about the services she offers at her website.