Shield Failure

[fallenangel]

You might try envisioning the outer surface of your skin as your shield. That would give you something more concrete to envision and perhaps make it less likely that distractions would interfere.

Thank you...I will most deff give that a try. I like things simpe

[Jenett]

I can't shield. I try...and it fails. Has anyone else ever had trouble shielding? I am an Empath and have been thinking that may be the cause of some of it. This is getting very frustrating for me. Thanks.

I second the suggestions that you might want to back up a couple of steps - I'm wondering in particular how centered you are (in terms of what's you, and what's not you) before you shield, and what your regular psychic hygeine practices are.

(I have a bunch of articles on my website about breathing, centering, grounding, and energetic self-care - http://gleewood.org/seeking/practices/ is the relevant index, which has links to all of those, and some other stuff you might find helpful.)

For people who are strongly empathic, it can also be worth looking at two things:

1) Shields are not always walls - they can also be filters. Sometimes, filters are a lot easier to maintain *and* a lot more useful.

2) And for people who are empaths, lots of things may affect your ability to shield, because they affect your ability to discern what's you and what's not you. Some basic self-care stuff - enough sleep, sensible food choices that keep your body working well (whatever that is for your body), and looking carefully at any high-stimulus settings and reducing or limiting them when you have trouble can all help.

[I am currently up late because I am running a convention this weekend, and it is taking me time to wind down.

Writing this post reminds me that I'd be better off if I a) found my headphones and put on some music that will relax me and b) found the sleep-related oil I keep for times when my body is running on more caffeine than usual (not hard: I don't drink much these days most of the time.

Meditation helps me with some of that. But honestly, a lot of it is other stuff. What I listen to. What I read when. What I eat. Whether I drink enough water.]

[SunflowerP]

For people who are strongly empathic, it can also be worth looking at two things:

1) Shields are not always walls - they can also be filters. Sometimes, filters are a lot easier to maintain *and* a lot more useful.

Oh, heck yeah. This is by far the number one issue I've seen, as a teacher/mentor, when it comes to empaths and shielding. Empathy doesn't wait on formal training - most empaths have to figure out coping methods on their own, often at a very young age, so they're not in a position to do deep and nuanced problem analysis; often, the framing of the problem is simply and concretely make it go AWAY! So the solution is similarly simple and concrete, block everything. Once that becomes a habit, it can be difficult to conceive of any other approach.

That leads right into the number-two issue IME: ambivalence. While the empath genuinely wants to not have all that overwhelming input, perception of emotions is part of who they are, so "no input" can feel strange and wrong, especially when it comes to people the empath is very close to and cares about (make it go AWAY!... but wait, no, not all of it). One wants the OMGallthatnoise part to go away, but still wants to be able to sense, f'ex, when one's little brother is distressed. Filters can be the answer here, too - just as one can have a filter that reduces but doesn't fully block input-in-general, one can also have filters that allow more access to particular people - but sometimes it's a huge help simply to recognize the ambivalence.

I don't know that ambivalence is the key factor for you, fallenangel, but it came to mind immediately and I can't shake off the feeling. (Also, it occurs to me that "missing a piece of aura" is a very likely way for someone with genuine abilities but a flaky newage frame of reference to perceive and articulate the ambivalence problem.)

I don't mean this to supersede any of the excellent advice others have already contributed, just to point out another possible angle.

Sunflower

[nbdy]

I can't shield. I try...and it fails. Has anyone else ever had trouble shielding? I am an Empath and have been thinking that may be the cause of some of it. This is getting very frustrating for me. Thanks.

Yes, I continue to have difficulty keeping the bad things out and the good things in. I have been a bit of a loner most of my life because of this, but I am getting help from a healer of many years so that I have greater control. A really big thing is to pull your energy into yourself. I have a bad habit of 'tasting' the world as I go along and it is a hard habit to break. Another thing I learned was to protect my hands. Apparently they are big time receptors that go straight to the heart. For what it's worth.

[Blossomingmind]

I can't shield. I try...and it fails. Has anyone else ever had trouble shielding? I am an Empath and have been thinking that may be the cause of some of it. This is getting very frustrating for me. Thanks.

A lot of good advice here. I'm an empath that has a few problems with my shields sometimes so I fully understand how annoying it can be (I burst into tears at work one day because someone had fallen over and hurt themselves, embarrassing!). From what I've learnt over the years is to not push on your shields, they may not seem there but they most probably are. I shield with fire which seems to work pretty well. The way I make sure my shields are there or strengthen them is just before I sleep (I'm most relaxed then), I close my eyes and I think about my shield being around me (in my case fire surrounding my body), most of the time I end up falling asleep with that thought. By morning I feel like its there, that I can feel it.

At the moment I'm experimenting with my own energy as a shield instead of fire. I'm just curious what I can do with my own energy.

I hope you did manage to get your shields sorted as this thread is over a month old.