About ME

“The brook would lose its song if God removed the rocks.”—Barbara Johnson, Daily Splashes of Joy in the Cesspool of Life Calendar, “March 7”

My twenty-year journey into the sciences of empathy began on a truly traumatic note. In an honest attempt to explain to my now ex-husband my “abnormal” ability to physically sense other people’s emotions and intentions, to “see” what they meant beyond the words they spoke, and to clearly understand the cause of their pain, I inadvertently shot myself in the foot, so to speak. Looking back at it, I now see offering this level of honesty during our first marital separation was not the finest idea I’ve ever had. And to add insult to injury, I informed him I was well-aware his assurance of change was empty—I could feel the truth and what he promised wasn’t true. It was that statement which broke the camel’s back and landed me in an emergency room on the grounds of a psychotic breakdown.

The well-meaning, yet under-educated ER doctor referred me to an equally sympathetic and uninformed psychiatrist who juiced me up on Paxil and Seroquel. Respectively, an anti-depressant during the day and an anti-psychotic at night. As if it weren’t demeaning enough to be doped up on drugs I didn’t need for a mental illness I didn’t have, being a highly sensitive person, I suffered some of the most uncommon side-effects listed by the manufactures, adverse secondary effects far more insulting than the idea I was hallucinating in the first place. The worst? Full lactation--without pregnancy nor childbirth. Thank you, Seroquel, for chafing not only my ass, but my breasts as well. All of this indignity because these two medical doctors had no idea what an empath was, let alone how to treat one suffering from significant trauma.

“The Devil whispered in my ear, “You’re not strong enough to withstand the storm”. Today I whispered back, “I AM the storm.” --Unknown

From that moment on, I kept my head down and my mouth shut on the subject of empathy. Despite the trauma it inflicted, this experience fueled my determination to prove not only my sanity, but that highly sensitives persons, as empaths are also called, are wired differently on a physical level. As such, we should be treated medically and psychologically according to our unique physiology.

However, the more I educated myself on empaths, the less information I discovered on the mechanics of the cause. Everywhere I turned, I found definitions and descriptions of what an empath is, but not what makes us tick on a physical level. In that moment, it occurred to me this was not a defeat, but an opportunity to meet a need in the empathic community, to do something that mattered for millions of people across the globe, for people just like--me. And voilà! Empath? ME was conceived.

On that note, please allow me to introduce myself. I am Phoenix Giardino, empath and author of two soon-to-be published books, Shh and And the White Horse You Rode On, Books One and Two of the on-going Revelations Series. Written exclusively from my perspective, the series begins at the moment I collided with another Heyoka empath whose abilities were nearly identical to my own—and how this connection changed the course of our individual lives forever.

Throughout these volumes and those yet to come, I outline the pitfalls and triumphs he and I faced and overcame, both together and apart, and the eternal friendship we developed as a result. In fact, it was in teaching him and a few very close, empathic friends to manage what we are and what we do I decided to launch this site to help them, which in turn ignited in me the belief others like us--and even those who are not--could also benefit significantly from this information.

In the interest of transparency, let me be honest with you up front. “Phoenix Giardino” is “mon nom de plume”—my pen name. ALL the information noted both in this blog and in my books is as accurate and honest as privacy will permit. As an empath, I care very deeply about others’ reputations, opinions, perspectives, and feelings. As an author, I don’t want to get sued for slander. So, to bridge the gap between honesty and autonomy, I have chosen to publish under an alias.

Wife, mother, author, empath, but what I am not is a doctor nor a scientist. Twenty-three years ago, I abandoned my intended education in Genetic Engineering to become the best mother I could be to a son I never thought I’d conceive. I chose instead to earn a Bachelor of Science in International Business Relations and minor in Marketing.

WELCOME TO EMPATH? ME.

It’s an honor to have YOU with Me.

DISCLAIMER

Though the information contained on these pages was published by experts in their fields of study, the authors of these works are in no way, shape, or form affiliated with either my person, my alias or my works. They have not provided an opinion on my perceived correlations between their publications and those of any other nor have they provided consent, implied nor direct, to be represented here.