Welcome. I will be posting about compassion fatigue and burnout for people who work in spiritual, magical, intuitive and psychic realms. Also, for humans in general, no matter what your genre :), and because so much such work is done online, I will address issues specific to that, too.
Our type of work is unique in many ways.
Of course the nature of our business is very specialized, and in the world at large, marginal.
And, the nature of we who participate can be, too. . .
We have unique issues at times that many don’t share with us in everyday life, and it is not always comfortable for us to share with people outside this work. So, it is important that our communities do more for us than simply bring us together.
Many of us have only online kindred spirits and no ‘real life’ support in this work.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Please comment and enjoy the support of discussion here as you would like.
Peace to you.
Who Gets Compassion Fatigue (CF)?
Compassion fatigue (CF) arises when we are exposed to the chronic needs of others. Also, when we tend to others without adequately tending to ourselves. It is a one-way street of compassion: we act from compassion for others but not ourselves.
Essentially, anyone can get CF who receives frequent, high impact exposure to people in need. Psychics, intuitives, mediums, spiritual counselors, empaths… all receive exposure on multiple levels–the words our clients speak and the things they do not speak of.
CF is most notable in high stress service workers–particularly service to those in acute need. First responders, therapists and other healthcare professionals who deal with dire need and acute mental or physical pain are especially vulnerable. Of course, trauma responders are in extreme situations, but compassion fatigue can settle in for anyone who becomes overwhelmed with service–even at the checkout line.
CF is sometimes called ‘vicarious trauma’, ‘second hand shock’, or ‘secondary trauma’. For example, a loved one has combat trauma. We experience that trauma vicariously, or we are traumatized because our loved one is so traumatized. Our work brings us many traumatized clients. Some share their stories and those who do not, share their energy. Whether the stories are spoken or not, people in our line of work get the information somehow. We are exposed to their trauma.
And, it may not be trauma per se that we receive from our clients. It may be a severe psychological disturbance, dangerousness, predatory traits or any other high impact, energetically charged information that is difficult to process and manage. A ‘reading’ is not simply a reading. We receive. A lot.
This Thing We Call Compassion
Compassion is one of the most noble of all human qualities. It is said to be a feeling that arises when confronted with another’s suffering. The feeling opens doors to understanding of the suffering, and to a motivation to feel kindly, without judgment, but with motivation to help relieve suffering if possible.
For those with strong empathic skills, compassion is a particularly powerful quality to develop and practice. It moves an empath’s work to the service level, and if used well, helps them maintain optimal health.
Empathy helps us feel what another feels–to either literally feel the feelings of another, or to imagine ourselves in the other’s shoes so we can then feel their feelings. Consequently, ’empaths’ often complaint of being overwhelmed, drained and depleted. They have powerful incoming data to deal with. A process needs to occur to cycle through the data to a useful and healthy end.
Compassion starts with empathy and then goes on to become a sustainable and renewal resource. That is, if we manage the action we take to express compassion and treat ourselves compassionately as well in equal measure. It’s a rather abstract quality and process to speak of and many Masters have addressed it. Gautama Buddha is credited with many quotes about compassion. Some of these are:
Pity arises when we are sorry for someone. Compassion is when we understand and help wisely.
In compassion lies the world’s true strength.
A generous heart, kind speech, & a life of service & compassion are the things which renew humanity.
All beings wish for happiness, so extend your compassion to all.
May I hold myself in compassion.
The Dalai Lama has said in his book, The Art of Happiness, “If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
You can find as much about compassion as you have time to read.
The Fatigue Itself
CF is characterized by a decreased lack of empathy and compassion for others. It is often used interchangeably with the term ‘burnout’. Burnout however does not require any change in empathy or compassion to cause problems. It can be more general. Burnout, for instance, can be specific to one task that you simply are ‘done’ with. You can burn out in a particular job that holds no interest or challenge for you anymore. For our purposes, we can use either term. Sometimes we are overwhelmed with serving others, sometimes we simply don’t like our particular situation in a work related environment.
Whatever the circumstances, fatigue is the issue on many levels.
