What's Your Superpower?

This blog is dedicated to my spiritual mentors :)

Many of us grew up reading Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, the Marvel and DC comics and other such stories where we were taught different life lessons such as the good and the brave shall always prevail. Even now, watching these books turned into movies awe us. The superpowers of these superheroes and super villains alike continue to intrigue us. Don’t you sometimes wonder what we would do if we had their powers of practicing magic, flying, immense strength etc.?

Even though these fictional characters didn’t get to choose their superpowers, they all however chose how to use them; the heroes chose to protect mankind against the villains, who always try to usurp power for their own gain. “What defines our choices is the ultimate superpower: empathy. It is what separates the villains from the heroes”- author unknown. This is evident in the case of Harry Potter vs. Voldemort, Batman vs. the Joker, Superman vs. Lex Luthor for e.g. and other such hero vs. villain tales. Although these are just stories, we witness heroes and villains in our lives on a daily basis whether in the form of supportive teachers or bullies, humanitarians or corrupt politicians. No matter what, our inner fiber always tends to support the good instead of the evil. Am I right? To make this world a better place why don't we all find that particular superpower we possess and hone that skill?

According to the ‘Happify’ app (I mentioned this app in my Mindfulness Meditation blog), some of my strengths are:

1. Loving to learn (Yes , yes I’m a nerd)

2. Humor (I love to make people laugh. My day is not complete if I cannot make at least one person smile

3. Empathy/Kindness

For the purpose of this blog, I would like to discuss ‘Empathy’ as my superpower. I have always been an empath. An empath is a person who absorbs the energy of other people and environments even if it doesn’t belong to them. I am able to sense and absorb people’s energies; both positive and negative even if they are miles away. And this happens subconsciously. Maybe this is why I have always wanted to serve, help others, and probably this is also the reason why many find it easy to talk and connect with me.

The ability to understand someone else’s emotions and share their feelings is quite rare, which makes it special yet unfortunate at the same time. These days everyone is so busy trying to survive, and racing against the clock that we forget that our family members and friends might be facing issues and may need a shoulder to lean on. Lately I have been undergoing a lot of inner turmoil and there are days when I do not know who to turn to. Friends, who I thought were the closest to me, do not have time to ask how I am doing, even though they know what all I have undergone and am still going through. But as an empath, I was and still am there for them when they reach out to me, no matter how big or small the problem. I wonder if that makes me a saint or a fool.

I recently read an article that stated that some of the most successful people in the world are those who have learned empathy for e.g. Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan. When you feel someone else’s pain, you will truly yearn to help them and I sincerely hope more people would like to be empathetic.

This is a great skill set to have and it most definitely can be learnt. We actually had a discussion about this not too long ago on my forum! Check it out: https://parneetascorner.wixsite.com/mindovermatter/our-forum/support/is-empathy-a-quality-that-you-inherit-or-is-it-a-skill

It can start with something small for example listening to a friend in need without judgment or a reaction. You can continue to build on it by calling your grandparents regularly, volunteering at a local charity/ shelter or helping your neighbors with a chore or two. By doing so, we are becoming superheroes in our own right and making this world a more peaceful and happy place. Wouldn’t you agree? And at the same time, helping others gives our life purpose and increases of our own sense of well being thereby aiding our mental health!

On the flipside however, because I feel way too much for everyone and take on their negative energies, I fall ill easily. For example I visited a friend who wasn’t doing well mentally just to lend an ear. As soon as I entered the house, I could actually feel my body absorbing the negative energies present there. After leaving, I was under the weather for a week! I didn’t quite understand the reason behind this until one of my spiritual mentors told me that because I had not yet mastered the skill of setting energetic boundaries, I am able to absorb unwanted energies and was also taking on those people’s karmas. Thus it was affecting my mental health and therefore manifesting itself as psychosomatic symptoms. Wow! Who knew? My other mentor told me that I needed to learn how to use the Divine or the Universes’ energy to heal others so that my energy levels do not get depleted. Although this will take time and practice, I am certainly willing to do this since I want to continue to use my superpower; empathy. It’s definitely not easy especially for someone like me who has fragile health.

So how do we accomplish being a mentally tough empath? Here are some tools for empaths like me:

1. Reiki healing: One of my spiritual mentors is a Reiki healer. She performed a Reiki healing on me and started to cry because she too is an empath and was able to feel my pain; both mental and physical. (I will talk more about Reiki in another blog). I came across a Reiki healer, Susan Willbanks White, who performs distance Reiki healings through her YouTube videos. She performs Reiki healings for many issues including depression, anxiety, chronic pain, inflammation as well as empathy! According to her, “Empaths have to clear their energy regularly and set energetic boundaries in order to regain their personal power.” Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHX7bEK3xgw

2. Practicing Mindful Yoga: This helps you stay grounded and helps you connect with the Universal and Divine forces and energies. I will explore this in another blog. In the meantime I have attached basic instructions on how to go about this on the ‘sub-page: “Our Tools.”

3. Self Care: Take time out to practice this regularly. Refer to my Self Care blogs for more resources. Be mindful of your needs but at the same time please do not refrain from helping others especially your family and friends. We all need each other.

4. Setting boundaries and lowering expectations: At the end of the day, we need to realize that we will not be able to heal and help everyone no matter how hard we try. Many will not be able to appreciate our efforts as well. So sometimes it is best to let go. I really have to learn how to do this!

5. Mindfulness: Be mindful about your energy supplies especially while helping others and absorbing unwanted energies. If you find yourself getting drained (like I do), bring your focus back to your breath. Inhale and exhale as deeply as you can while doing the following (my mentor sent me this:

The images below pretty much sum up all that we talked about above:

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"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier"- Mother Teresa. I hope you all would like to be more empathetic and make this world a better place. Wishing you all good mental health!