In The Reluctant Empath, Bety Comerford offers an insightful and practical guide for those who feel overwhelmed by the emotions and energies of others. If you’ve ever felt like you’re constantly absorbing the feelings of people around you—or even the collective mood of the world—this book provides a clear understanding of why that happens. It’s not a curse; it’s a gift.

Comerford explores the challenges that empaths face, from confusion over others’ emotions to the difficulty of protecting oneself from energetic overload. She delves into how empaths can embrace their abilities, use them for healing, and avoid becoming drained. The book teaches how to discern the truth in people’s emotions even when their words don’t align and offers tools for using energy in ways that promote personal well-being and empowerment.

The author also discusses techniques for emotional protection, accessing past, present, and future energies, and manifesting intentionally. It’s an excellent resource for anyone who identifies as an empath or is curious about the dynamics of this gift. Though it’s more of a self-help manual than a narrative, its compassionate approach makes it a must-read for those looking to understand and manage their empathic nature.

The Reluctant Empath by Bety Comerford and Steven P. Wilson

112Pages
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.
Release Date: June 11, 2014

Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Self-Help

The book follows the life of Alex, an empathic child. He learns the hard way that what people say and feel are not always the same. He did and said things to make people happy and this happiness would make him happy. What he didn’t understand was that he was being used or bullied. Since his actions were giving pleasure, he continued to do it. He learned about energy, chi, the force, and hose he can channel it to protect himself.

The author’s hope is this example helps people live in the world with feelings. If you are empathic or would like to learn how to protect your feelings, this small book may be for you.

Years ago a person I knew blamed her inability to be around certain people, ahem me, on being empathetic. I immediately bristled because she was not an empath - she was the exact opposite of. She went on to explain her "empathy" and I bit my tongue. What she was describing was not empathy but rather her refusal to enter into authentic relationships. Anyway. The point is that her comment so bugged me, me who is an empath, that I set out to know as much as I could about empathy. So far all of my knowledge gathering, research if you will, has served to support what empathy really is and not what this person I had interactions with claimed it was. So when this book became available I was immediately interested in reading it. It's been sitting on my "to read" list for a few years due to life etc but I have finally gotten around to it.
Unfortunately, this book let me down a bit. I'm sure the authors would claim I have negative energy or something but I don't think that's the case. I think I'm let down because it was very...buzzy. Read the book and you'll understand I am alluding to vibrations that we give off, according to the authors. I believe we all have an energy that can either drag us and others down or lift us and others up. I just don't believe we have it to the degree and depth that the authors do. And because they believe in past lives, communicating with the Other Side (ahem dead), and vibrations the book about empathy is actually a book about psychic abilities, in my opinion, more than it is about empathy. They claim that empathy is all very supernatural and such. That's cool, I think some of that definitely takes place. I don't think, however, that every single person who is an empath, like myself, is buzzing all the time and tapping into past lives and aliens and such. So while I jotted down a thought here and there from the pages about living life as an empath, overall I was fairly disappointed with the book.