The Empath's Aura

I recently saw a video that began with this opening line:

A dog that hasn’t left its owner’s side in three years, never approached a stranger, never left that corner of the room, walks across the house and sits directly at the feet of someone it just met.

No treat.

No invitation.

No reason.

The owner stands there, mouth open, says, “She’s never done that… ever.”

And the person the dog came to is not surprised by this. It happens all the time.

The narrator goes on to talk about the Empath’s Aura, a phenomenon that occurs only with certain people. And it isn’t just dogs that are attracted to such people. It is other animals as well as small children.

And what is the explanation?

I don’t quite have a grasp of this, as the narrator explains it, but all I know is that this sometimes happens to me. And I’m interested in knowing whether this happens to you.

I recall this memory of back when I was nineteen. My brother and I returned to the States after living with our parents for a year in Germany. Being nineteen, we had our priorities. Friendship… social life… romance…

There was a youth conference happening in a nearby city. Everyone college age. Lots of activities. Food and music. And the friends we had returned to invited us to join them there.

A youth minister I knew had a daughter. Vanessa. She was just three years of age. I did not recall this memory until I saw the video I watched about the dog crossing the room to be with a stranger.

I met Vanessa only one time. And the meeting was brief. I had little interest in children so paid almost no attention to her. But that day in April, when my friends and I arrived in the city to attend the activities, something occurred there that surprised me deeply.

Vanessa was with her mother Gina. I saw them across a crowded room. Like my friends, I stopped and waved at the familiar faces. We were each of us from out of town and the large meeting room was loaded with unfamiliar people.

Gina looked up, recognized us, and smiled in return.

And then Vanessa saw me. She did not regard any of my friends. She did not regard my twin brother. She saw me.

In that moment, this little girl broke free of her mother and ran across the room, her face filled with joy. When she reached me, I scooped her up in my arms, wondering for a moment if she thought I was her father.

Nope.

And for the better part of the hour that followed, she wanted to be with no one else but me. Not even her parents who later had to pry their daughter out of my arms. And Vanessa cried because she could no longer be with me.

I never understood that event. I know I always had a way with children, but this? What was the reason? And when I later worked in a child care center on the Ramstein Airbase, the same sort of thing occurred. The smaller children, especially, were often drawn to me.

The psych video that I saw the other day gave an explanation of this strange event for the first time. The narrator talked about cats that are always afraid of strangers… until the empath enters the room. They are all purrs from that point forward.

She talked about babies in church who are focused on you for no apparent reason, seemingly drawn to you.

She talked about dogs who would growl at most anyone save their owners but would be tame with this new person.

Her explanation was simple. Empaths emit a positive energy that makes small children and animals feel safe. A positive energy… not sure what that is exactly. Whatever this is, I’ve seen it happen throughout my adult life.

Even a number of our dogs like Dublin who went to Arizona and Chisel who went to Florida appeared to bond more with me than with Jennifer. I thought it had more to do with my building a bond with them during their delivery travels.

Yet Jennifer was their trainer spending far more time than I had.

Being an empath is not an easy life. Much of the time it can act like a curse in your existence. Even today, I experience pain and sorrow where others do not. It is easy for me to feel badly for others who are suffering in their lives. But it also invited toxic personalities who gave me grief during my younger years until I realized what was really happening to me.

So, let me put this question to you:

Has this ever happened to you? Are dogs and children naturally drawn to you when you meet them for the first time? How have you utilized this gift?

Oh, and this gift is essential to my writing. Feeling other people’s emotions (including our dogs) helps me to delve deeper into the personalities of my characters. I understand their reactions. I can play up their emotions. I know Valencio through and through in his quest for notoriety. I see the lonesomeness of Abbot until the DireWolf Dog Everest enters his life.

Jenn and I are both working diligently toward getting my novel edited and ready for print. I cannot wait for you to read it.

There is a bit of the Vanessa story lurking inside the book, though I did not recognize it until just now. And if you can relate to what my characters are about, I have done my job well.

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Jennifer Stoeckl is the co-founder of the Dire Wolf Project, founder of the DireWolf Guardians American Dirus Dog Training Program, and owner/operator of DireWolf Dogs of Vallecito. She lives in the beautiful inland northwest among the Ponderosa pine forests with her pack of American Dirus dogs.