Dear readers: Merry Christmas! May today bring peace, love and comfort for yourselves and your families. God bless.
What is an empath and what is a toxic narcissist? You may have heard these words being used to describe people, but what do they actually mean? Are you one of them?
Empath
The main characteristics of an empath are: sensitivity, empathetic, being able to feel things very deeply, intuitive and caring. Empaths bring a lot of love and care to the world and are able to have a profound impact on the lives of the people they come across. They are nurturing, comforting and very understanding and accommodating of other people’s feelings. This makes them very likeable and well respected/received.
Empaths are also highly sensitive. This can be difficult for them because every type of criticism can seem to be personal to them, when in most cases it’s not. The reason empaths are so sensitive is because they have the ability to absorb both positive and negative emotions like a sponge. They are so in tune with their environments and intuition, that they are able to sense different energies from different people/environments quickly and are able to rely on their intuition to guide them to their correct path.
Additionally empaths are usually fantastic listeners: these are the type of people that others usually share their problems with. They’re highly reliable, understanding and non-judgemental so others can really confide in them to listen to their problems.
As highlighted above, empaths are very empathetic. However this leaves them more vulnerable to manipulative or toxic behaviour. This is because they have such a strong desire to help people in distress, leaving them unaware of signs of toxicity and manipulation. Empaths have a deeper understanding of the pain fuelling people’s behaviour and want to offer support. But it’s important for empaths to remember that they can’t do much for someone who isn’t ready to change.
Toxic Narcissist
The main characteristics of a toxic narcissist are: self-absorbed, entitled, manipulative, selfish and vulnerable. Out of the two personality types discussed in this blog, this one is the most notorious.
Toxic narcissistic people are difficult, destructive and are capable of doing whatever it takes to get what they want. They consider relationships with people as nothing other than transactions, and do not love and care like empaths do. They are notorious for bringing pain wherever they go and struggle to make real connections in their lives, primarily due to the bad relationship they have with themselves.
As mentioned above, toxic narcissists often feel very vulnerable and incapable, but will go to great lengths to convince you otherwise. This is usually done by being the loudest in the room, and talking a lot – trying to give off the impression that they are confident. They snap at the smallest of criticism because it makes them feel weak and will go to great lengths to diminish you if they consider you a threat to their ego.
Another key trait of the toxic narcissist is entitlement. They truly believe that they are worth more than other people and consequently the world owes them something, instead of having the belief that they should work very hard for what they want. If you happen to know a toxic narcissist, my advice is to stay clear of them. They don’t value human relationships and will only use you until you no longer provide a use for them.
I hope this blog helped to distinguish the differences between empaths and toxic narcissists and show how they are both at the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of personality types.
Thank you for reading.
Tony.
For more information regarding the characteristics of an empath, please click the following link:
https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-an-empath#problem-solving
