Announcer (00:00:04) - This is dream power radio. The place where your dreams turn into reality. Here is your host, Debbie Spector. Weisman.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:00:13) - Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Dream Power Radio. I'm your host, Certified Dream-Life Coach Debbie Spector Weisman. This is the place where we talk about dreams, both daytime and nighttime dreams and how you can use them to make the internal shift to a life you love and rediscover the truth of who you really are. Have you ever been told you're too sensitive? Most of the time when this happens, it's usually meant as a criticism, as in you're a pushover...You take things too personally, or you let others' opinions control your own feelings. But maybe you and them are looking at it all wrong. That sensitivity might mean that you also have empathy, the ability to understand the feelings of and care about others. And if you're made to feel bad about that, you're not living the powerful creative life that you were meant to have. My guest, empathic author and teacher Jennifer Moore has been there, has overcome her own emotional and energetic blocks, and she's now committed to helping other empathic souls create their own magical life of joy.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:01:23) - Jennifer is the author of the book Empathic Mastery, as well as Tarot and Oracle card decks. She is the host of the podcast Empathic Mastery Show and does workshops and personal coaching. Welcome to Dream Power Radio, Jennifer.
Jennifer Moore (00:01:38) - Thank you so much for having me, Debbie. It's such a delight to be here.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:01:42) - Oh, it's my pleasure, Jennifer. Before we get into empathic mastery, since this is a show that has a theme all about dreams. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you to talk about the prophetic dream that you had when you were nine years old.
Jennifer Moore (00:01:58) - Absolutely. So I'm going to backpedal a little bit, and I'm just going to define something, because in addition to empathy, the work that I do is all about working with people who identify as empaths. And a lot of times I just want to start with the definition and it's gonna fit into the dream. So from my perspective, empaths are people who pick up the thoughts, feelings, energy, and sensations from the world around them. But unlike ordinary like psychics, intuitive mediums who all have extrasensory perception, whether wherever you fall in that and thus process information as if it's their own.
Jennifer Moore (00:02:34) - And so, in my experience, I was very, very sensitive. I was told I was too sensitive all the time when I was a little girl, and I was constantly feeling the currents of the world around me. I had a very vivid dream life. My dreams were very technicolor. They were very intense. They were very powerful. But one night I was nine years old, and I had this very vivid dream that my mom had died. She had fallen over the banister of our staircase in my house and fallen, plummeted to her death. And of course, I was just terrified, embarrassed, and beside myself with grief. And the next day I had the worst day of my nine-year-old life. Like, I just felt horrible. I felt really sad. I felt really confused. I felt really upset. And at the end of the day, my mom announced at the dinner table that one of my very first best friends, my first friend who had moved out of the area, her mother had died of breast cancer the night before, and I knew immediately that this dream that I had was directly connected to my friend's mother's death, and I just knew that this was what it was about.
Jennifer Moore (00:03:56) - But what I did not realize at that point in time was that the way that I had this dream that I dreamed it was my mom, not hers, is very much about the distinction between being somebody who is psychic and having psychic dreams, versus somebody who's an empath and experiencing or getting information. Because I was processing this heart-breaking event as if it was my own. So instead of me having a dream where I saw my friend at her mother's deathbed and I watch her mother die, I dreamed it through my own lens and through my own filter as if I was experiencing it. And that, in my experience, is one of the biggest challenges about being highly, highly sensitive. Empaths often cannot distinguish what's theirs and what's not theirs. Like, is this my dream or am I dreaming about somebody else's experience? And so the reason I shared the definition of empath before I started with this was just because I wanted to say, even as a small child, the way information was coming to me was being filtered through my thoughts, my experiences, my feelings.
Jennifer Moore (00:05:20) - But the dream was so distinct, it was so vivid, and it was so clear. I also knew that it wasn't actually about me.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:05:30) - I got it very clear. Did you ever have any other dreams that gave you that same impression or the same feeling?
Jennifer Moore (00:05:38) - Yes. And actually, interestingly, I went through a period of time up until I was in my mid to late 30s. I would have these dreams every so often about one of my parents dying, and it never failed that when I dreamed, if I dreamed that my mom died, a woman or a female was dying. And if I dreamed that my dad died, a male died. And so I had a number. I mean, thankfully not a ton, but from the age of nine until probably about, I don't know, the age of like 35, 36. I had a series of dreams, maybe 1 or 2 a decade, where I would have this dream. And I think the last one I was in my mid 30s and I dreamed about my father's death and within I think it was 48 hours or 20 -- It was like right around the same time, my friend, my young friend, who was only 31 years old, died very suddenly. It turns out he knew he had cardiomyopathy, but his wife did not. And so he died basically from an enlarged heart and from a heart defect. But it was a very sudden, very unexpected thing. And I same time happening. He's dying. I'm dreaming my dad's dying. So, yes, I have had other dreams. I've also had a lot of dreams where over the years, where people will come to visit me, or I will go and visit them, and I will have a phone. And then I would like pick up the phone and be like, I dreamed about you last night. And my friends would be like, I dreamed. Oh. So I've had a number of experiences, of dreams, of connection, dreams. I've also had dreams where people who are on the other side, people who have crossed over where I will dream about meeting up with the deceased and have connections with them and talk to them, and some of them, even where we both know they're dead. And I am. We're visiting with each other.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:07:48) - Yes, that is actually a dream that a lot of people have who aren't necessarily empaths. But the thing that was interesting about your dreams is that dreaming about death or about people dying is a fairly common theme in dreams, right? But most of the time it doesn't mean that an actual person is dying. It's usually death is symbolic for something else.
Jennifer Moore (00:08:12) - Exactly, exactly.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:08:14) - That is an important distinction.
Jennifer Moore (00:08:16) - Exactly? Well, and I cut my teeth in the tarot. I started reading tarot cards when I was 19 years old, and anybody who spent any time around the tarot understands the death does not mean death. It means transformation and change. But in my particular case, interestingly, pretty much anytime I would dream about death, it was literally that I was having a message, or I was dreaming that somebody was going to die, somebody had actually died. So it's fascinating when you think about the fact that for many of us, death is not a literal thing.
Jennifer Moore (00:08:51) - But in my dreams, often when I have a dream about death. In his literal death. That is going to happen.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:08:58) - Yeah, but let's step away a little bit at death and go talk about something a little bit more positive. How can someone tell if they're an empath?
Jennifer Moore (00:09:08) - So I would say a couple of things that we can tell we're empaths. One is just the fact that you've probably been told your entire life that you're too sensitive, you're overreacting, you're taking things too personally and just suck it up and get over it. That's a very common thing for a lot of people who are highly sensitive empaths. Another thing is that you pick up and you feel a lot of intense emotions for no reason at all, like you're in a state of distress, you're in a state of overwhelm, you're going through all kinds of stuff, and at the same time you're like, why am I feeling this way? Nothing in my life correlates with this.
Jennifer Moore (00:09:47) - There is no major catastrophe or crisis or issue going on. And yet I feel like I just like I just lost my best friend. And so a lot of times, being an empath, one of the signs or clues that we are empaths is that we feel a lot of intense feelings, and we have a lot of unexplainable feelings. And often as we start paying attention, we notice that those unexplainable feelings will suddenly become explainable when we may be having a conversation with a friend or family member and they're like, oh yeah, I had the absolute worst day yesterday. This happened, this happened, this happened. I just learned that my mother-in-law died, or I just learned that this happened, or all of a sudden, or I just started diagnosis for this illness or any number of things, all of a sudden, it's like, oh, this, this correlate. Like now I understand why suddenly I was thinking about being really sick. Now I understand why I was suddenly feeling this sense of missing somebody.
Jennifer Moore (00:10:53) - Now I understand these things. So a lot of times we may not recognize that we're picking things up until something comes along and it resembles what we've been feeling enough that we go, oh, that correlates, that corresponds. And I also would say that being an empath, you walk into a space, and you can feel the vibes of the space. You can sense whether or not things are good or not good. And a lot of times, most empaths, I think, start to recognize that they're sensitive to energy, they're sensitive to their environment, they're sensitive to other people's emotions. They may even be sensitive to watching television and seeing people's feelings. And it's like you're watching some program, and you feel those feelings. I'll also say that in my travels, I have met a lot of people who, when I first start talking to them and working with them, don't identify as empath. They think it's a fancier, like they think it's sort of like this, like they're almost like, well, I couldn't possibly be that.
Jennifer Moore (00:12:05) - Like, that's just too that's just too special. But as we talk, as we work together, as we have ongoing conversations, they start going, oh, actually, I think I am an empath. And actually I was just working with a client earlier where they are getting ready for a big family gathering, and we were talking about the fact that they get so overwhelmed, so exhausted by extending themselves so much in those kinds of environments. And we've worked together for a number of years, and when they first met me, I don't think they identified as particularly intuitive, nor did they identify as an empath. And yet the longer we've been around each other and the longer we've worked together, the more clear it is that they are actually quite sensitive, quite intuitive and quite empathic, and struggle with taking on the thoughts, feelings, energy and sensations that are coming from the world around them. So a lot of times, in my experience, it sort of starts with almost being like, ooh, I wonder if this is affecting me.
Jennifer Moore (00:13:10) - I wonder how other people's emotions, other people's energy, other stuff that's going on in the world around me is influencing me. Like maybe there's some piece of this and a lot of times just sort of even opening up that question is remarkably freeing, because when we are bogged down by the emotions and the intensity that is coming from the world around us but don't know it, we often sort of blame ourselves but also try to fix the problem, like think that it's all about us and that we need to fix ourselves, when a lot of times what we need to do is go, this is not mine, this is not mine, and it's safe for me to let this go. I don't need to be taking this on. I don't need to be carrying this around.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:13:58) - Jennifer, this so fascinating. But we have to take a short break. We're speaking about empaths with Jennifer Moore, and we'll be right back.
Announcer (00:14:44) - Welcome back to Dream Power Radio with your host, Debbie Spector Weisman.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:14:50) - Yes. Welcome back to Dream Power Radio. I'm your host, Debbie Spector Weisman. And we're talking about empaths with Jennifer Moore. Well, Jennifer, would you say that there are more people who are empaths who may not realize they're empaths?
Jennifer Moore (00:15:06) - Absolutely. And I also really believe that in the last four years actually really since about 2016, that there is a great awakening that is happening on this planet, and that there are many people who are becoming more aware of their sensitivity. I mean, you know, you and I are coming from an earlier time where those of us who are into this kind of the woo stuff were considered really weird.
Jennifer Moore (00:15:37) - Now there are so many more people who are in this category in this arena, or listening to their dreams or paying attention to what is going on for them. But I also really believe that as the intensity on this planet is ramping up and amplifying and more and more crises are happening, we are less and less able to turn the volume down enough to not be picking it up, to not be feeling it. And what I believe is actually happening is that we are no longer able to drown out the consequences of our choices as a species. And in many ways, this great empathic awakening that I believe is happening is specifically so we can recognize that we are not individuals, that we are cells in the body of this earth, that we are all interconnected and that everything is connected. And so what I do here in Maine impacts people in this other place, that the choices that we all are interconnected, and we need to think about our life and our choices based on the truth that we are all interconnected, that we are all interrelated, not just as humans, but we are connected to the plants we are connected to the animals we are connected to the rocks.
Jennifer Moore (00:17:12) - We are connected to the air, the water, all of it. We're all we're part of this whole thing. And the more and more of us who awaken to this awareness, I believe the more we're going to be able to turn the ship around and actually right ourselves as a species so that we can do things differently because I'm imagining.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:18:11) - Since this is a show about dreams, I have spoken to so many people, or I know so many people who've had sort of those like apocalyptic dreams, like those glimpses of the direction that we as a species could go in.
Jennifer Moore (00:18:13) - I believe that empathic sensitivity is the antidote to all of that, because when we feel the impact of everything we get to make, we get to choose love, and we get to choose service, and we get to choose generosity, and we get to choose to live in a different way. Empaths are here to save the world. First, we have to save ourselves. But then we can help to save the world. Yes, I believe I really believe that we are like an evolutionary link in the chain that more and more of us are coming into this world with this sensitivity, because it's like, I don't know if it's like we need to save ourselves, which is part of the world.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:18:35) - Yes. So let's say you are an empath. How do you control it so that you don't get overwhelmed with other people's feelings?
Jennifer Moore (00:18:43) - Ain't that the million dollar question you just asked? So what I would say is that it's a multi, you know, that's what I wrote the book about. I wrote a five-step system to go from emotional hot mess to thriving success. And what I have found is that we didn't get this way overnight, and so rarely are we going to just suddenly be able to make it all better overnight. I mean, 380 pages of book talking about how do we navigate this, but the five steps, really, I'll share the five steps and then I'll share a really simple exercise with you. Okay. So the five steps are recognize.
Jennifer Moore (00:19:21) - And recognize is really about first identifying as a sensitive person and knowing what that means and how it impacts us. And then being able to recognize when we're picking things up, when we're feeling out of sorts, when something is off and then recognize where is this actually coming from, what is this really about? So identifying all of this first our own identity and then identifying our feelings and then identifying the sources. The next step is release. And that's all about letting go of the stuff that is no longer serving us and releasing the energy that we do not need to be carrying around to be like, oh, that is my that is my brother's stuff. That's not about me. I do not need to be carrying his grief, his worry, his fear around or my bosses. That's a very common one. You got a cranky boss, you come into the office, you're feeling fine before you get there, and then suddenly it's just like, why do I feel so lousy? And you find out your boss is cranky and hungover? And so this is where we release the energy that no longer serves us.
Jennifer Moore (00:20:25) - And this is both energetic and doing energy healing work like EFT tapping other kinds of energy work, but also sometimes is just the literal, deliberate decision to be like, you know what? Not my circus, not my monkeys. Not going to deal with this. You're your problem, not mine. The third step is protect. And the reason that protect doesn't go first is because if you try to create protection while you're still carrying around a lot of intensity and energy, it's going to tend to bounce off that inner shield. And so we need to let go of the stuff we've been carrying before we can truly, deeply protect ourselves. And so protection is about the energy of setting up more effective, robust filters and shields, like a more healthy aura, as well as strategic protection... things like it's 11:00 at night. I'm not going to answer that drunk text. It is 5:00 on a Friday afternoon. I am not going to go into the grocery store and go grocery shopping right now.
Jennifer Moore (00:21:32) - Like the strategic things, like, what do I need to do to keep myself safer? What do I need to do to protect myself? The fourth step is connect because the universe abhors a vacuum. And if we do not want to continue to absorb the negativity coming from the world around us, we need to connect with the power greater than ourselves, and we need to make a connection to our higher power. However we define it that divine source. And then finally, the final step is act, because words without works is dead. And so no amount of thinking and contemplating is going to really do the trick until we take actual action. And so Act is about implementing these steps in our life, making doing things in a different way, even things like not just rushing into rescue, but clarifying, asking for permission, saying it seems like you might be having a really hard time, would you like some help? And if somebody says yes, please, then yes, we can give them support.
Jennifer Moore (00:22:33) - But if they say no, I'm fine, leave me alone. That's our cue to mind our own business and let somebody do their thing. And so all of these steps by together they can be used individually as like really taking time to unpack each one. But then also we can move through them very quickly and very seamlessly recognize, release, protect, connect and act. And to really understand like how to look at life in a different way. And I said I would share a really short, quick exercise with you. So when we notice that we are feeling intensity and just like that, we are like feeling out of sorts, feeling wonky, discombobulated, however you wanted to find it, maybe just feeling some distress. What I love to do is I like to put my hands over my heart, both hands on top of each, you know, one hand on top of the other, over my heart to close my eyes. And I just asked the question, is this mine? The thing is that automatically an answer's going to come.
Jennifer Moore (00:23:33) - We often ignore them, and we often will say to ourselves, oh, that was too simple. But the thing is, our intuition comes instantly, and our subconscious gives us an answer instantly. And so we will get an answer. Yes, some of this is yours, but a lot of this is not yours. Because in my experience, most of the time that's the answer is that there is a little bit of this that is being triggered, that is coming from you as a kid, five years old, mean girls, yada yada. But then there's the other part of us that is picking up, that is picking up something from outside of ourselves. So we ask the question, is this mine? And like I said, most of the time the answer I get back is both and or yes, yes and no. Then I ask a second question, which is: What's mine? What's not mine? And when I have that answer, I know the stuff that is mine I need to do my work on.
Jennifer Moore (00:24:30) - If I have issues around mean girls from when I was five, I need to heal and release that. I need to clear it. I need to maybe do some journaling, maybe need to do emotion code or tapping or some other thing to let it go. But the stuff that's not mine that I do not need to be carrying around anymore. And so what I like to do is putting my keeping my hands in my heart. I've taken a deep breath, and I just sort of imagined myself collecting all the stuff that is no longer mine, that is no longer serving me. And I just lift my hands off my heart. And as I exhale, I say to myself, either in my mind or literally out loud. I send this back to where it belongs. I send us back to where it belongs. So three steps. One, is this mine? Two, what's mine? What's not mine? Third, the three and a half or second and a half step is deal with your stuff.
Jennifer Moore (00:25:22) - And then the third step is or the third, or deal with your stuff after you've dealt with the other one. And the third step is inhale to connect yourself and collect the energy and then exhale. I send this back to where it belongs. So one is this mine two what's mine. What's not mine three I send it back to where it belongs.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:25:41) - Yeah, it's three simple steps. And sometimes the simple steps are the ones that are the most effective.
Jennifer Moore (00:25:47) - Exactly, exactly. If there's anything as a Capricorn sun Virgo rising that I have had to learn through this lifetime is simple. Is usually better because I will cope. I will over complicate absolutely everything.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:26:01) - And it's something you mentioned briefly in talking before was EFT. What does EFT have to do with being an empath?
Jennifer Moore (00:26:10) - Oh, so EFT, which stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques, is one of the most powerful healing modalities I have ever encountered in my entire life. So much so that I fell in love with it and became a master trainer for EFT international.
Jennifer Moore (00:26:25) - What it does, and this is not just for empaths, this is for everybody. But EFT regulates our dysregulated nervous systems and allows us to calm our nervous systems down. The thing about empaths is that we are very, very frequently and easily dysregulated by the energy that is coming from the world around us. And when we are in a state of reactivity and fight or flight, we lose our capacity to have perspective, and we are much more vulnerable and susceptible to picking up and reacting to the thoughts, feelings, energy and sensations that are coming from the world around us. So I find EFT is remarkably effective for both helping us to discern what is ours, what is not ours, what are we feeling versus what is somebody else feeling. Because for one thing, it takes it. It literally will calm the amygdala, the fight or flight mechanism in our brain down and help to reregulate our nervous system. And when we get out of fight or flight, we get out of that tunnel vision. We get out of that myopic way of looking at the world, and we start to be able to see things with more clarity.
Jennifer Moore (00:27:40) - And so that allows us to relax. It allows us to detach. It allows us to have perspective about what is our job, what is our responsibility versus what is not. Also, tapping is spectacularly effective at releasing both mental, emotional and physical distress from our bodies, our minds and our hearts, and as well as specific past events and memories that we carry around. And many empaths have a tendency to be very porous and very sort of spongy. And so we tend to hold on to and carry a lot of energy, a lot of emotions, a lot of thoughts, a lot of feelings, often that aren't even ours. EFT tapping emotional freedom techniques is an incredibly effective technique for releasing the stuff that is no longer serving us. And while this is I think, this is especially helpful having a tool like this for anybody who identifies as a highly sensitive person, or an empath, or an intuitive or even a creative person. This is a tool that is good for any human being.
Jennifer Moore (00:28:57) - Actually, it's also good for animals. I've used it with many pets very, very effectively, so it's great with small children. It's great with animals. I've not ever done it for a plant yet, so I can't speak on behalf of a plant, but I have actually done tapping before. This is going to sound pretty woo, but I've done tapping for an area, a row, an area where there was a lot of stress from blasting, and as a result, there were a lot of accidents that kept happening in this one area. And so a friend and I at one point just did some tapping. So it's possible, like it's not just humans who can benefit from this neat thing where energy has gotten out of alignment, where the frequency is distorted, tapping resets the energy and sort of clarifies and smooths out the frequency.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:29:50) - Jennifer, I have so many more questions asked you, but we're just about out of time. I just have one final one. How can people find out more about you and your work?
Jennifer Moore (00:30:00) - Awesome! Fortunately, I have a really simple system for this and that is that Empathic Mastery.Com will take you to everything. Empathic mastery books or book, not books. Empathic mastery books will take you to all of my books and the and those resources. Empathic Mastery show.com will take you to the podcast where at this point in time, I think we've got at least 80 episodes by the time this airs. That might be 90 or more episodes that are that are all about what it's like to live as a highly sensitive empath in this world, all the ways that this impacts our lives and tools and solutions to really make a difference for ourselves and for others in this world. So EmpathicMastery.com, empathicMasterybook.com and EmpathicMasteryshow.com. And if you haven't figured it out, my handle on all the social media, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook is at Empathic Mastery.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:31:03) - Well, Jennifer, thank you so much for being on Dream Power Radio today.
Jennifer Moore (00:31:07) - Let me thank you so much for having me. This has been such a delightful conversation, and I could talk with you for hours. I know we could go share, like all kinds of sharing of notes. So thank you so much for having me.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:31:22) - Oh, it is my pleasure. Perhaps we'll do it again.
Jennifer Moore (00:31:25) - That would be wonderful.
Debbie Spector Weisman (00:31:27) - We've been speaking about empaths with Jennifer Moore. I hope you've enjoyed today's program. If so, please hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on any future episodes. Until next time, this is Debbie Spector Weisman saying sweet dreams everybody.
Announcer (00:31:43) - You've been listening to Dream Power Radio with your host, Debbie Spector Weisman. For more information on Debbie or to sign up for her newsletter. Go to DreamPowerRadio.com. This has been Dream Power Radio.