self-empowerment
The Empath’s Guide To Toxic Friendships
Our friends are a beautiful and enriching part of our lives. In some cases, they even become our chosen family through the bonds of mutual caring and shared life experiences.
Healthy friendships are built on a foundation of balance. They’re marked by mutual support, trust, loyalty, acceptance, and honesty, all with a touch of compassion. But for the empath or highly sensitive person, friendships can sometimes be a bit of a rollercoaster.
We might feel like we’re always giving and giving, and sometimes we might even feel drained. It can be hard to know when to draw the line with someone who might be taking advantage of our energy.
Friendships can be so many different things, and it’s important to remember that not all of them are the same. They range from casual acquaintances to deep, intimate bonds we form with those we call our “besties.”
It’s so important to have a close friend you can trust with your most private fears, dreams, and vulnerabilities. But, sadly, this isn’t always the reality. If you’re the kind of person who is sensitive to the feelings of others, you know how hard it can be when you’re betrayed or disappointed by someone close to you. It can feel like the saying “keep your enemies close” is true in these situations.
Some of us are more outgoing and have a large social circle, while others are more introverted and have a small social circle. Empaths can fall into either category. Regardless of which category an empath falls into, it is wise for us to exercise discernment.
Tarot Forecast August 2025: Strength
This month’s card is the Major Arcana’s Strength, which symbolizes inner fortitude, patience, and compassionate control. This month, we are invited to look within and embrace the quiet, enduring courage that lies beneath the surface.
The Strength card traditionally shows a calm, confident woman gently taming a powerful lion. Her white robe symbolizes purity and spiritual focus, and the lion represents raw emotions, instincts, and untamed passions. The infinity symbol above her head denotes eternal wisdom and the balance between the material and spiritual realms.
This scene beautifully captures the harmony between courage and compassion. Rather than dominating the lion through fear or brute force, the woman subdues it through love and understanding.
Her calm demeanor reflects her inner strength and her commitment to responding rather than reacting. Overall, the scene symbolizes the triumph of the soul over the ego and the mindful over the impulsive.
Instead of seeking power through force or dominance, the Strength card reminds us that true mastery comes from the heart, through calm resilience, loving intention, and unwavering self-belief.
The card calls for emotional balance, urging us to act from our higher self, even when faced with chaos or challenges. It’s time to align with your spiritual center, trust your instincts, and rise above fear with the grace of someone who knows their worth.
A Fabulous Life Beyond Limiting Beliefs
Many people go through life without ever questioning, let alone challenging, the limiting beliefs they were taught since childhood. They blindly follow whatever their family, community, or culture prescribe, often without realizing it.
Some of these limiting beliefs have been passed down through generations, remaining unchanged for thousands of years. If we never stop to examine these inherited mindsets, we remain trapped in limited thinking – always confined within the box.
I often find people are stuck in the emotional patterns and thought habits of their parents or grandparents.
For example, those whose families lived through the Great Depression, or who endured scarcity of food, heat, or other basic necessities, may feel compelled to save everything.
What if I need it someday? I paid so much for it, and it’s still perfectly good to keep. What if… what if…
A good example here where I live in the state of Maine is when an old Northeaster storm is supposed to come, bringing in double digit inches of snow.
Some folks then panic and rush to the nearest grocery store and stock up on two or three of the same items, because what if I can’t get out again for two weeks? Which, as a matter of fact, has never happen in my lifetime! Realistically you may only be marooned a day or two at the most in most parts of Maine.
How To Access Your Inner Wisdom
How can you tap into your inner wisdom? How do you learn to trust your intuition? How can you better receive guidance from spirit? These are the kinds of deep, soul-searching questions that arise when you begin to awaken to your spiritual path.
As you journey to understand yourself and find healing, you’ll discover that the answers you seek are often within you. Your inner wisdom is a gift that you already have.
Your inner wisdom is a gift from God. It’s a part of you that connects you to the divine. It connects the spiritual world with your physical experience, helping you live life more clearly, gracefully, and with purpose.
Your intuition is always there. It gently nudges you, whispers insight, and provides subtle feelings or knowing that help guide your decisions. It often operates below your awareness, always humming in the background like soft music.
But in the busy world we live in, it’s easy to lose touch with that inner sense of direction. Stress, emotional pain, and the noise of external expectations can block your intuition. That’s why it’s so important to practice spirituality on purpose. Meditation, prayer, and moments of quiet are like keys that open the door to your soul’s wisdom.
If you take five minutes to sit quietly and listen to your thoughts, you will hear the voice of spirit more clearly. This voice doesn’t shout. It speaks with love, warmth, and strength. One of my spiritual mentors often said, “The voice of inner guidance is never harsh or fearful. It always brings peace, even when the message is challenging.”
You Create Your Own Happiness
Too often, people find themselves trapped in a shadowed corner of life, believing that happiness lies just beyond the next relationship, paycheck, job, or home. But true joy isn’t found in any of these external pursuits.
As the Dalai Lama so wisely said, “Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” Pause for a moment and really reflect on that. It’s a beautifully simple truth, yet so many of us struggle to embrace it.
We’ve been raised in a world that teaches us to chase after happiness as though it’s something ‘out there,’ just one success or possession away. But here’s the sacred truth: happiness begins within.
This is a difficult statement for many to comprehend. “How can I be happy, if I have nothing? you might ask. “I am alone. I have no job, no money, no love.”
And yet, the answer is simple and profound: no one else is responsible for your life. No one else is responsible for your happiness. You are the sole creator of your reality.
Your emotional well-being, fulfillment, and general experience of life aren’t determined by outside forces, other people, circumstances, or luck. Living your best life starts with you.
Happiness isn’t something someone can give you or take away. What you think, believe, and do determines if you feel satisfied or unfulfilled.
Honoring Yourself In Difficult Family Relationships
Family dynamics can be tremendously complex for many of us. These relationships are multilayered and deeply ingrained, often playing out across generations.
Many of my clients seek psychic insight about family matters. After matters of love and romance, and then business or career, family is often the most emotionally charged subject.
In readings, especially with empaths, intuitives, and highly sensitive individuals, I hear countless stories of family pain. Many carry a sense of never belonging, of being misunderstood or scapegoated.
These emotional burdens are often the heaviest that people bear because they are tied to the people they loved first and still love, despite the hurt.
When control or finances are interwoven into the family structure, the complexity of these relationships multiplies.
For many, family represents a love-hate relationship or a deep bond that carries deep wounds. While we cannot choose our family, we do have a say in how we interact with them, how we respond, and whether we continue to engage.
Severing family ties is a significant and often heartbreaking decision that is never taken lightly. By the time someone considers taking this step, the drama or emotional abuse has often been ongoing for decades and is sometimes rooted in a vividly painful childhood.
Are You Holding On To The Wrong Person?
Many of the questions that callers ask me during readings have one thing in common: how another person is affecting the their health, happiness, and peace of mind.
Despite the differences in the details, the underlying story is often the same: the person’s inner light is dimmed because they have been giving too much power to another person’s choices, moods, or shortcomings.
Many people seem to be in the wrong relationships. They hold on, waiting for things to change and hoping for the best. They postpone plans, silence their own needs and preferences, and test the limits of their patience, believing that a breakthrough will come tomorrow.
However, that is usually not what happens. People do not change for another person, and if they do, it never lasts or works out in the long run. A change driven by the need to please someone else rarely survives the stress of real life. As soon as complications arise, old habits resurface. People can only change for themselves.
Spirit’s guidance on this is always very clear: hanging onto the wrong person — whether a friend, family member, spouse, partner, lover, or boss — prevents us from experiencing the best life has to offer.
When we’re busy monitoring someone else’s actions, we have less capacity for our own personal and spiritual growth. This prevents the amazing blessings waiting for us from coming in, not because the universe is ‘stingy,’ but because our time and attention are fully booked.