Do I have too much compassion, and empathy?-whenever I am around a person that I think is in pain, or ?

Question

suffering, I put myself in their place..(emotionally) and I feel exactly what I believe they feel...it does cause stress, and intense sadness, and once I take on their persona, it's hard to get back out again and be myself, and stop the eternal sadness..what are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

One can be good, at the same time one should not be too good.

One may be bad once, but one should not be too bad always.

In the same way one should show compassion.

Too much of anything is bad.

Answer 2

i would be satisfied rather than worrying about myself if i were in ur place, and guess what? im working at being that caring person, i wish everybody was like that, there wouldnt be any room for hatred among ppl, yeah...  

Answer 3

in my opinion, compassion and empathy will only hinder you in life. i say this because they are pointless just like emotions (im pretty much emotionally hollow and/or numb and hold no compassion) in the way that it will only burden you if you try to do something about it and if you don't you may feel guilty and like you said they cause stress. compassion and empathy are just a person's excuse for trying to "atone" for their own selfishness which the church (most religions do anyway, almost all mainstream ones too) brainwashes us to believe are bad and in reality everybody is selfish at heart because of 2 things primaraly. first is that humans are selfish by nature which is related to the second reason which is that our selfishness is derived from our own most powerful instinct (yes humans do have instincts), the instinct of self-preservation. and to answer your question, yes any amount of empathy or compassion are too much, in turn you in particular have more compassion and empathy that the average person, so you do have wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too much compassion and empathy.

Answer 4

Try finding an outlet for this... write a journal, join your community theatre, draw, paint, take up photography....

Putting yourself in other's shoes is a great character trait, but it can mess you up sometimes. There will always be grief, pain and suffering in the world, and it does nothing to always be depressed about it.

Try to not take everything so seriously. You deserve a stress-free life.

Good Luck! :)

Answer 5

What if the person is able to deal with whatever you feel sadness for them over.  What if they have phenomenal coping skills and YOU are the only one feeling intense sadness?  What if you are only projecting? How does this compassion actually help the other person?

Sometimes people are offended by people feeling sad for them and sometimes they are annoyed as they are trying to deal with a situation and don't want to wallow in sadness.

Answer 6

I don't think you can ever have too much compassion and I think it's a wonderful trait a person can have...but I do think you get way to emotionally involved.  It's okay to be compassionate and do what you can to help another human being, but don't get in the trenches with them, because that doesn't help them nor does it help you.  You can't help them if you sitting next to them.  You have to stand taller and pull them up...otherwise your compassion does nothing for them.

Answer 7

You're compassion is great, don't ever let that go. What is happening is you're compassion causes you to feel the need you have to help this person. If the person doesn't get help, or the help you gave was not successful, then your sadness most likely is caused by you're failure at helping.

Understand, we can only motivate people to change. When you're there for someone and you give them advice, you're already doing all you can to help this person. You must let it go and move on. That's all we CAN do.

You can feel empathy for people, but don't feel "Bad" for them, because they're going through a moment in their life where they can learn the most. Every moment in life is an experience, and the best experience is bad experience. That's when you learn most.