Is it possible you’re an Awakened Empath? If you’re here, chances are you feel everything lately…that feeling of being over-stimulated? I completely get it. We often feel this sensation of overwhelm, emotional intensity or even spiritual isolation the more we realize we’re having an empath spiritual awakening.
It can feel confusing knowing that you can’t quite help but navigate life feeling different than others. You might feel emotionally exhausted or overwhelmed as you grapple with the reality of waking up with a combination of psychic overload and feeling others’ emotions as your own.
At the same time, we have to acknowledge one thing especially: you’re probably an empath unconsciously going through a spiritual awakening. It’s actually pretty common for many empaths to identify with being a “highly sensitive person” or “intuitive”, yet fail to realize they are experiencing the starting threads of a spiritual awakening. I wanted to address some of the more typical signs you will often see when going through an awakening as an empath in particular. This way as you continue to read this blog,
if you’re resonating hardcore – It’s very possible you’re an Awakened Empath in hiding. 😉
Not sure what type of empath you are? Take the Empath Quiz to find out your strengths + how to protect your energy.
What Is an Awakened Empath?
Before we dive head first into the signs, we need to address one specific question: What really is an Awakened Empath and how are they different than the average let’s say, “sleeping empath”?
Well, for starters, it’s much different from just “being sensitive” or attuned to the emotions of a particular individual like the average textbook definition of an Empath.
An Awakened Empath is someone who’s often experiencing a spiritual awakening while also tapping into multiple intuitive gifts—like clairvoyance (clear seeing), clairaudience (clear hearing), and claircognizance (clear knowing). It’s a journey that deepens their self-awareness and fuels their spiritual growth.
They may be unconscious of their Natural Gifts or Terrified of them
This means an Awakened Empath is going through a spiritual or kundalini awakening while unconsciously connecting to their strongest intuitive abilities. For example, they might be deeply absorbing the emotions of others (clairsentience), while also encountering clairaudience (the ability to hear intuitive messages or guidance) and clairvoyance (the ability to see energy, visions, or spirit in the mind’s eye).
They may be experiencing emotional, energetic, and intuitive symptoms all at once, which can feel overwhelming—like everything is “too much.” This often makes it difficult to ground, as the uprising in awakening symptoms starts to occur as the process intensifies.
A Self-Aware Empath has Healthy boundaries & Skills
At the same time, an Awakened Empath could also be someone who has already spent years developing self-awareness and spiritual growth. They’ve done the emotional healing, developed energy management skills, and realized that their sensitivity is not a flaw—it’s a natural part of their being.
Awakened Empaths learn how to navigate the world with greater awareness of both their own energy and the energy of others. They create supportive strategies for managing overwhelm, anxiety, and energetic overload, like energy clearing, grounding rituals, and reinforcing boundaries with both mindset work and energy management tools. Most importantly, they come to understand that their heightened sensitivity is actually a beautiful soul gift, deeply connected to their life’s purpose, not a curse.
It’s important to distinguish between a “sleeping empath” who may not be aware of their abilities and an “awakened empath” who has developed self-awareness and healthy energy management skills. The Awakened Empath will recognize that their “empath problems” can be managed and that their differences are a natural part of their intuitive gifts. This recognition often comes after a period of confusion, overwhelm, or even suffering due to the intensity of their experiences or simply due to being a “sleeping empath” who is unaware.
Let’s go over some of the key signs you might be an Awakened Empath and what to start doing about it!
10 Signs You’re an Awakened Empath (And Why It Hurts)
1. Crowds feel like energetic chaos.
You pick up on everyone’s emotions, thoughts, and tension—sometimes even physical pain—and it leaves you wiped out. Sometimes when you’re an empath being out in public can translate into “too much peopling”. You can absorbs others’ emotions like a sponge, feel anxious, overwhelmed, or moody when surrounded by intense energy. At worst, being around crowds or loved ones can leave you feeling like a sponge for others’ pain; emotional and physical overwhelm.
Empath Insight: (Clairsentience overload = Low or no boundaries in place)
2. You’re feeling emotions that aren’t yours.
You cry for no reason, feel rage that doesn’t belong to you, or get waves of sadness from thin air. Your Intuition may be manifesting by feeling emotions or physical sensations in your body (gut feelings, energetic downloads, absorbing others’ emotions).
Empath Insight: You’re neglecting your own Center and personal Frequency. Come back to you! (Emotional empath meets clair-empathy.)
3. Your dreams are wild, vivid, and sometimes prophetic.
Sleep feels like a second shift in a different dimension. You may find yourself seeing visions, colors, symbols, or spirit in the mind’s eye and it carries over into your dreams. They are not average dreams, they could be lucid dreams, precognitive dreams or very vivid dreams with striking colors and symbology that helps you in your daily life.
Empath Insight: (Hello, clairvoyance.) Take note of the messages that come through could be your intuition trying to talk to you through symbols.
4. You’re detached from your old identity.
Your job, relationships, even your personality may feel foreign—as if you’re watching a version of yourself that no longer fits. You resist it at first but eventually as loss starts to happen, you give in accepting the death of the old you.
Empath Insight: (Classic spiritual ego death and rebirth.)
5. You crave alone time but feel strangely isolated.
Being around people feels like too much, but being alone stirs deep existential ache. You may Feel ungrounded or lost in others’ energy, not knowing how to contain what flows. So you crave alone time but you’re still learning how to connect to your higher self in the process, fumbling.
Empath Insight: (Energetic rewiring in progress.) Your higher self is urging you to connect WITHIN and embrace your authentic self. Reconnect with Soul.
6. Your intuition is louder—but harder to interpret.
You know things, feel nudges, get signs… but it’s all a little garbled or overwhelming. There is a phase of feeling disconnected from intuition or like your wisdom is “Just in my head”; You can’t explain your inner knowing. Often Feeling ungrounded, doubts their inner clarity, may crave more proof or validation to believe your intuition.
Empath Insight: (Claircognizance waking up without the manual.) You need to Start healing your Self-Doubt.
7. You’re ultra-sensitive to your environment.
Lights too bright, sounds too loud, food too intense—it’s like your body is rejecting 3D reality. There’s a bizarre sensation of sensory overload that can occur at random.
Empath Insight: (Physical ascension symptoms + energetic sensitivity.) Get Grounded – Back in the Body. Too much in the head, not enough in the body. Embrace more Mindful Movement will be extremely helpful soul medicine.
8. You sense a massive shift happening within.
It’s not anxiety—it’s activation. Something ancient and powerful is awakening in you.
Awakening Insight: (Spiritual remembering.) Write it down, record it, Speak it, whatever you have to do to RELEASE IT. It’s a spiritual download coming through and you’re learning how to translate it.
9. You’re emotionally intense—then numb—then triggered again.
The highs and lows are cosmic. You’re clearing layers, not just “being dramatic.” Things you thought you were “over” come up once more so you’re officially emotionally heal it and energetically clear it from your body. Your go through periods of emotional release, spiritual lessons and tremendeous mental growth.
Awakening Insight: (Shadow work meets inner child emotional release.) Chakra healing is great for this emotional deep dive work that goes below the surface into the work of repatterning.
10. You’re pulled toward a bigger purpose, but can’t quite name it.
You feel called to a deeper purpose but it’s unclear. You feel called to do something soul-deep, but the clarity isn’t here yet. Instead you have the sensations of multiple clair-abilities turning online and it keeps feeling like your intuition has a bigger purpose.
Awakening Insight: (Your soul contract is stirring.) this is often a sign to start a Spiritual or alignment Mind-Body practice to develop your relationship with Higher Self through your unique way of connecting with internal guidance.
Why It Hurts So Much
As someone who’s 100% been there, I can tell you it gets better. This is a hard space to navigate in the early stages of Awakening mainly because you’ve never been taught the WHYS behind the Hows. As an Awakened Empath you’re not just starting to wake up your Intuitive Gifts, you’re also emotionally healing while dealing with a lot of uncertainty. You’re learning how to start shedding old beliefs, emotional wounds, and old energy from your identity.
Meanwhile you might not have the tools, skillset or even knowledge on how to protect yourself. Therefore you’re absorbing more than necessary, you’re waddling around with no energetic boundaries in place and simultaneously you’re trying to figure out why you can channel or just*know* things on top of it!
- You’re shedding old energy, beliefs, and trauma
- You’re absorbing more without knowing how to protect yourself
- You possibly don’t have the energy Tools, skillset or boundaries
- You feel isolated or afraid — but you’re not alone
What to Do Next
It’s powerful to recognize this is the beginning, not the end. Your Feelings, your reactions and even your “WTF is happening to me” are all valid responses at this time. It’s a new world but with the right tools and the right guidance it will start to get easier.
We might not realize that being an awakened Empath is just as much about Mindset as it is about energy management. It’s about learning to regulate emotions, understand your intuition, have boundaries and often develop more self-awareness.
One thing that made my Spiritual Awakening so much easier was when I started strengthening my Intuition. It was simply answering this question: What is my strongest intuitive Gift and how can I start to work with it in my life? what happens after awakening?
If this sounds like you, don’t go at it alone. Take the Empath Quiz to discover your empath type — and get guidance immediately to help you ground, cleanse, and reconnect with your strongest intuitive gifts.
Take the Quiz Now
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- 10 Signs You’re an Awakened Empath (And Why It Hurts) - July 21, 2025
- 6 Types of Empaths Explained: Which Kind of Empath Are You? - July 15, 2025
- Spiritual awakening or burnout? How to Tell the key Differences You Need to Know - April 29, 2025
