To be fair, I'm not the kind of person who identifies as a mess. I actually feel like I have my stuff together - most days.

What I like about this passage is the part about "deeply feeling." Empaths feel and experience the world so differently from others. We can sense another's feelings from a look or a gesture. We can feel anger from a photo or a text. Just being in the room with a hostile person is draining.

That being said, another's joy is just as infectious as hostility. I feel deeply, good and bad. Because I pay attention, and as an empath, I feel everything whether I like it or not. A smile is contagious, and for an empath it is quite welcome.

I feel deeply, so I react deeply. I cry and I laugh. I pay attention, heart and soul. This world is messy, but how I react to it allows me to see experience the beauty.