Deep emotion
Have you heard the saying 'it's just the tip of the iceberg'? Well, this is the perfect saying for this concept. For every person that experiences deep emotion, there is a rich internal world that is constantly evolving, constantly processing, constantly nourishing. Because of this constant evolution, the internal world is an invaluable resource to tap into. Particularly as a writer, we can put ourselves into the shoes of our characters — into the shoes of our readers — and we are more likely to hit the pain points that you would like healing (to extend the analogy from reading). So for example, when we feel something, we really, really feel it. If somebody hurts us, we don't forget it. We will move on, yes, but we don't forget.
If we appreciate all of someone, we really love them — and we will show them that — because we value emotion. We value connection, we value the intimacy; something that the world seems to be starved of (particularly at the moment), which can often lead to the sense of despair that I have spoken about previously. In my case, I will quite often use my good and bad experiences as grist to the mill, in regards from my writing. So, you can see immediately how my rich emotional internal world is an invaluable resource, and something that puts me in good stead, despite the fact that I am potentially more likely to be emotionally hurt or cynical. All these feelings can be used in my writing.
Insight to offer the world
Having this rich internal world makes me very resourceful: emotions are a core aspect of the human existence. Therefore, I'm going to use it in the best way that I can, and at the moment, it seems to be through my writing. Without my emotions and my ability to sit with them, pick them apart and put them back together again, I would not be able to write articles like this that articulate my feelings. It is this articulation that I find very important, because we all feel emotion, we all have mental health, but we can't always explain how we're feeling to other people in a way that would be accessible to as many people as possible. So people like me feel a duty to speak out, describe, and explain how it feels.
Communication, intrapersonal and interpersonal skills
These are so powerful and I can't state their importance highly enough. As alluded to above, communication, and the ability to articulate our thoughts and feelings in a way that is accessible to others is so important. Without communication, everything (in the world) would (metaphorically) fall apart, and nothing would function as we expect or as needed. Interpersonal skills are vital for life; from just going to the shop to buy bananas, to writing a book, introducing yourself at a networking event, or using social media. It is also the ability to utilise different skill sets within this, depending on the situation. For example, on social media we wouldn't write as we talk, in the same way as if we were at a networking event we wouldn't just sit there statically trying to pitch ourselves; we would introduce ourselves, and have a conversation, as we would in any other situation. Only then would we go on to discuss the business side of things. Even then it does not mean to say that we would rant about how good we are; it is awareness of knowing how to do something and when.
Reading people like a book
This is so much fun! The way I like to describe the background of this is that, because an empath or an introvert has spent so much time observing and noticing patterns and their meanings, it can take a seconds for an empath or an introvert to analyse somebody, and therefore predict the likelihood they are going to have a certain reaction. That isn't to say that as soon as you walk in the room we are ripping someone to shreds.
Say someone has come in for a job interview, and you notice that they have coffee spilt down their shirt remind. My thought progress would go something like this: how did that happen? Do they not care about their appearance? Perhaps not, but perhaps they are just clumsy, perhaps they are nervous — they're more likely to be nervous because an interview is a stressful situation, if they are anxious, does that mean they care? And the fact that they are still doing the interview despite having an obvious stain or looking so-called scruffy, could mean that they are dedicated to the job despite what life can throw at us. But then, it could just mean that they generally lazy; it could be a stain from weeks or months ago.
I'm not saying that we can dissect someone's entire personality from a coffee stain. The point is that can pick up on certain nuances in their personality, and how they react to certain situations, and what that might mean about them as a person. Ultimately, we 'look' at the person as a whole being, as a whole existence — not just a coffee stain. It is a piece of the puzzle.
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