The word "empathy" derives from the Greek words "empatheia" meaning "passion" and "pathein" meaning "to experience, suffer".

According to Miriam-Webster's on-line dictionary:
"Empathy is the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner."

As humans - our empathic skill are always turned on - as with all things - we just need to be open to receive the messages. It's like a radio - it may be playing - but are you listening?

If you are a healer or psychic - you are always adjusting your frequency - like an antenna - just as an empath does -to help others.

Not all empaths are sympathic. Empaths feel emotions of others - but do not have to feel sympathy for them. Empaths - for the most part - are compassionate though - with a desire to heal and help others.

One can be an empath from childhood. They are called natural empaths who inherit this ability allowing them to experience in higher frequency of awareness. Some people develop their empathic abilities later in life when they are more aware.

Most are right brained in the sense of using the creative intuitive side of the brain - people who use higher frequencies to connect.

Strong empaths must learn how to discern their own emotions from someone else's.
There are degrees of empathic abilities which vary from empath to empath.

Empaths are always sensitive people.

Empaths not only pick of others emotions - they can project emotions as well - that will get picked up by those on the same frequency.

Some people in metaphysics believe that people with light eyes are more empathic. This is not true.

We all have certain degrees of empathic abilities. By this I mean - we all have the ability to adjust our emotional bodies with that of someone we are close to - especially if there is a love connection. This does not have to be a romantic connection. When you live with someone - or just love them - you can align your emotional body with theirs and feel their pain. The pain can be physical or emotional.

Being empathic means become one with someone or something else. You can connect with plants, animals, just about anything including the universe itself. It is almost a form of remote viewing. You can read emotions and thoughts through vibrational frequency.

Being able to empathize with people often helps you deal with them. You know what to say and do to keep balanced.
Physical Empathy...

One can take on the pain of another - especially in the case of twins - their frequencies are often linked.
When I am reading someone and I want to scan for health issues - I telepathically - or empathically - connect my body with theirs. I feel what they feel. If I find myself coughing - that person either has allergies or smokes - cigarettes or other. I quickly sense where I have pain in my body and go there to see what the problem is.
Emotional Empathy

Most empaths are more attuned to emotions than thoughts. To be an emotional empath is to experience the emotions of others - the positive and negative - pain and suffering and as well as love and compassion.

We become emotional empaths when we watch a film or TV show. This is a vicarious way of experiencing the emotions we came here to explore - but are not part of our personal experience.

We return to soap operas - TV series such as the latest series of reality shows - as part of being emotional empaths. Positive people will hope for a postitve outcome of the storyline. For negative people it will be the opposite.

Most of us can turn our empathic abilities on and off as we tape in to the frequencies. But for others - they seem to have no control over what they experience.
Those in control - embrace the subject - and those not in control feel a loss of power and hate it.
Under stress - awareness is heightened as well as empathic abilities.. It is best to pause - and go back to the emotions you experienced before the negative ones surfaced - then detach.

If you have empathic gifts - you also want to understand and control what is happening for you - to manage your empathic abilities and not become overwhelmed.
Being an empath is a soul decision.

We often believe that entities who come from higher realms have great empathic abilities. This is due to their higher frequency of thought. They are telepathic and usually have no oral language as they are not physical. Everything is telepathic and empathic for them.

People use their empathic abilities when in other paranormal acitivites such as ghost hunting.
The TV series Star Trek had an episode called, 'The Empath' about an alien woman with empathic abilities. The lesson in that program was about overcoming one's fears. Fears paralyze us - the loss of control - which creates more fear.

To increase empathic abilities - you most open the 'right side' of your brain - moving the logical mind aside. Begin with something creative - art - listening to music - meditation - yoga - writing for pleasure - being in nature or in the water - etc.

Practice your empathic abilities when you are with someone either by being in the same proximity - or by gently touching their hand.

You can try this by remote viewing by seeing the person in your mind then becoming one with their emotional body.