One of the most abundant gifts out there is empathy. The ability to feel outside of your own self's energies. A lot of people will associate this as 'feelings / emotional' sharing with those they have a bond with, but it goes further than that. 

The empathy most people speak of is emotional. When you can feel something off of (usually) someone you know through your connection. This can be the reason you get a call from someone you think about all day. This can also be why some people may ask you "what's wrong?" when you've been hiding your pain through a smile. This type of empathy be extremely difficult for some, especially when those around them may feel negative emotions. This can also siphon into feeling when people are lying or have bad intention. Being a "good judge of character" can sometimes be attributed to empathy. 

Please take note if you feel fine alone, but tend to feel emotionally unstable or overly vulnerable to sadnesses of others. Ways to counteract this type of empathy, especially when you can't directly confront the source can be through using crystals like Fuchsite/Muscovite , selenite, citrine, or kyanite. You can also confront the energy itself by asking "Hey, is energy mine? Where is the source of my emotional state coming from?" and sometimes that's enough for it to dissapate off or even present a mental image of the source. And sometimes the best action to take is to ground yourself, put those feeties on the ground and connect with the healing power of earth. Let the earth transmute the energy you feel into something more useable. 

Depending on your experience, there's other branches of empathy that tend to go unnoticed- or looped in with other skills. Consider a psychic medium who knows the feelings of the individual they are communicating with on the other side- this would be considered a form of empathy, albeit niche. Or the type of empathy that gets involved when you feel a presence (Like a person or pet entering the room.) Feeling energy through objects or things not considered sentient (Psychometry) is also a form of empathy- this is why some individuals may refuse items like leather or find it difficult to shop second hand, if they're sensitive to this type of empathy. 

As some of you may know from personal interaction- I have a branch of medical empathy. This type of empathy helps me pinpoint your pains, aches, and tensions, without prompt. I just know. This is not a pleasant gift, as there have been moments where I could feel someone ignoring their arthritic legs or have been overcome with nausea from someone trying to power through their day. This is not a controlled aspect of my gifts, it just happens and I normally need to bring it up to the individual for it to pass. There have been moments where I have been able to help the individual release their muscle tension, but I am not medically trained nor able to give any medical advice for any extreme pains or aches- so I just bring it up. That's it. That's the extent of this gift. It's not the type of empathy ANYONE really wants to have. It only lets you know, if someone is lying about their condition or trying not to acknowledge it. 

Another form of empathy can be from environmental factors- Please see locations that feel "off / eerie." Humans can sometimes feel when questionable actions have taken place on land. Sometimes ghosts of the past will leave a lingering energy behind- grief, violence, pain, etc. Most people will shrug it off, but some do take note of their feelings and heed the energies presented. This can also translate into feeling the way the plants feel about the area. Speaking with trees in an intuitive way can give you a history that may be lost to humans. 

There's also that "Big world event" empathy that kicks up as well. I would consider this almost a pre-emptive empathy as the actual dread that's built up- doesn't have a valid source at the time. This is an incredibly rare, yet highly publicized version of empathy, as the energy can be overwhelming for the individual to not pay attention to it. 

These are just a few types of empathy. There's more niche aspects of empathy out there, as the way humans are connected, has a great impact on the world around them. Trying to find all forms empathic connection would become redundant, but hopefully seeing all these types of empathy has given a broader feel to this often used term. 

For those curious about their abilities- I would recommend trying the "Natural Talents" Reading. This goes into a reading all about your specialty skills, even if you don't realize you're experiencing something different from other humans. This reading has shown light on where some may be frustrated going "How do you NOT notice or feel that!?"