So You Think You are an Empath?

In this epoch of information overload, we watch a thousand crises unfold every day, where the sacred mixes with the profane at top speed, where the latest war updates are followed in quick succession by clips on how to wear a mekhela chador the proper way, how to make naan on an overturned tawa, what Ji Chang Wook said at the Gucci launch. This is popcorn for the brain, a topic I have addressed in an earlier column; we ingest everything, gulp it down, then move quickly on to the next snippet. Who really has the time to linger?

- BY INVITATION Sheila Kumar

However, shards of this hastily ingested news stays with some of us long enough to become a conversation piece at the next dinner, where we spout some stats on the ongoing ceasefire violations in Gaza, mention the many children killed in the conflict, take a deep breath and confide that it verily puts us off our food ... "because I'm an empath."

Who or what is an empath? Well, Google tells us an empath is a person who is deeply attuned to the feelings and emotions of others, often experiencing them as if they were their own. This ability goes beyond standard empathy, which is the ability to understand another's perspective, and extends to actually sensing and absorbing another's emotional state.