Quotes from Judith Orloff

Surrender is a positive, healthy state. Being a surrendered person does not mean one is beaten down and so hopeless he or she has "given up." It's quite the contrary.

The relationship with yourself is the most important relationship you'll ever have.

Remove the emotional and physical clutter from your life so you can soar.

How you react emotionally is a choice in any situation

Surrender to life today. Don't fight anything. Just enjoy the flow.

Stop protesting the hand you've been dealt! Become partners with your life instead of making it an exhausting wrestling match.

Words ride on the energy of tone, its warmth or coldness; think of tone as the music of how words are expressed. You want this music to be soulful, whether you're giving sweet talk or tough love.

Trust your intuition. It is the best friend you will ever have.

No matter how well-meaning your intention, doing too much is not always an act of love but of sabotage.

We are in the midst of an evolution of human consciousness, and empaths are the path forgers. A sacred responsibility comes with our sensitivities, which demand more of us than simply retreating into isolation. It's vital we learn how to avoid feeling overwhelmed so that we can fully shine our power in the world. Empaths and all sensitive people are pioneers on the forefront of a new way of being for humankind.

EMPATH AFFIRMATION I vow to honor my sensitivities and treat myself lovingly as I explore what it means to be an empath and embrace my gifts. I will appreciate myself every day.

For instance, your low self-esteem attracts people who criticize you, and the criticizer attracts people they can belittle. Be careful not to perpetuate wound-mate relationships. Instead, let these people — whether they are friends, coworkers, spouses, or whomever — spur you to develop self-awareness and heal the initial wound. Then you can grow out of these relationships and find more fulfilling ones.

Empaths are creators, inventors, visionaries, artists, and people who feel first.

Egotism is not a sign of self-esteem. It masks feelings of inferiority, which is why these Mr. Bigs denigrate others and often have unquenchable ambition.

Buddhist nun Pema Chödrön warns against what she insightfully terms "idiot compassion"—using kindness to avoid conflict when a resounding "no" is required. I completely agree. To preserve our emotional freedom, we must know where to draw the line.

Intuition intelligently informs patience. It'll convey when to have it and if something is worth working on or waiting for.

Each of us becomes ready to surrender for different reasons and the accompanying change is sometimes painful. Just as a seed starts in the darkness and then splits apart to become something larger and more alive, surrender impels our consciousness to grow—a

Empaths may unknowingly get involved with toxic partners and become anxious, depressed, or ill. They give their hearts too easily to narcissists and other unavailable people. Empaths are loving and expect others to be that way, which doesn't always happen. They also absorb their partner's stress and emotions, such as anger or depression, simply by interacting with them

Preparation for the test was Herculean, requiring months of intense study. Even though she'd been an impeccably skilled, compassionate doctor, beloved by her patients for four decades, she was possessed by a sense of inadequacy. A thousand people could tell her how incredible she was, but if one person said something derogatory, she'd believe him. It was so much easier for her to be kind to others than to herself—a paradox shared by many of us.

Empaths feel things first, then think, which is the opposite of how most people function in our overintellectualized society. There is no membrane that separates us from the world. This makes us very different from other people who have had their defenses up almost from the time they were born.

What is emotional freedom? It means increasing your ability to love by cultivating positive emotions and being able to compassionately witness and transform negative ones, whether they're yours or another's.

Your soul mate can become your cell mate" if both of you are not dedicated to mutual growth and authenticity. It's

The biology of emotional freedom depends on getting your endorphins flowing and turning off your stress hormones. How you achieve this? Laughter, exercise, meditation and doing anything that makes you loved.

empaths can be depleted if they are their partner's only significant contact. The hours spent away from an empath are often the saving grace of the relationship.