Episode 17 - FEELing It and Healing It with Jennifer Moore

By Jessica Garrison

Trigger warning: eating disorder

Our guest this week is the empathic, wise, curious, fierce, and generous Jennifer Moore. Despite any past frustrations, Jennifer has grown to understand herself better and shares her story of embracing her layers as a highly sensitive empath.

Growing up, Jennifer was always told she was too sensitive or her imagination was overactive. These words affected the way she took care of herself, turning to self-destructive behaviors such as using drugs, alcohol, binge eating sugar, and dating harmful people. These actions controlled her for some time before she said that enough was enough, and her journey was able to truly begin.

Boundaries always sounded like a word that was rigid or firm, and Jennifer didn’t know what healthy boundaries even looked like. She wasn’t comfortable saying no (as many of us often aren’t), but Jennifer brought up a great point while discussing how she’s found healthy boundaries. We cannot control how people act, but we can control how we react to them. If someone is disrespectful towards Jennifer’s boundaries, she’ll ask herself, “What will I tolerate?” If they don’t want to respect her boundaries, she can’t make them, but she can walk away from someone who doesn’t take her seriously.

A huge step in Jennifer’s journey was the realization that she’s an empath. Rather than carrying every single emotion, she’s able to sort through which emotions are hers and which belong to other people that she’s been carrying as her own. She’s learned to breathe deeply and send the emotion to where it belongs, and that has helped tremendously in her own journey. Listening to her speak about carrying other people’s worries is so important because so many of us do this, even if we don’t realize it.

While talking about supporting women unapologetically, Jennifer shared the idea that it’s not us versus them; we’re all in this together. As she lives authentically and shares her truth with the world, others see Jennifer in action and are willing to follow her example. She’s such an inspiration when she speaks, it’s hard to not follow her lead.

Jennifer’s need to help people is also wrapped up in her why and values. She knows what it feels like to struggle, and she wants others to experience the relief she has. Jennifer has written a book entitled Empathic Mastery and even has a new one coming out soon that helps to explain why people are so sensitive. She’s able to share her message with the world through her work, and there’s no need to wait before living life as your authentic self.

Jennifer’s been able to accept her layers by reminding herself, “It’s not me. It’s not about me” in relation to ancestral trauma. Our last guest, Antonia, also spoke about ancestral trauma, so if this is a topic that interests you, I highly suggest listening back to Antonia’s episode. Jennifer’s come to recognize that some of the pain or emotions she was living with weren’t necessarily from something she’s experienced, but rather from something that’s been passed on to her. It’s the layers upon layers that contribute to who we are, and Jennifer has been able to enjoy life and take it in as she learns to embrace everything that makes her unique.

Jennifer is bringing a new meaning to the word empathetic, something that we should all strive to be. She reminds us through her words and her work that emotions give us strength rather than weakness.

Ways to Engage: Have you ever been told you’re too sensitive? I certainly have, and I think most women can agree. Think about when you were told you were too sensitive and how that affected you. Who said it to you and what was the situation? Offer yourself grace and kindness as you comb through harsh words that affected you and think about how you can reclaim them as your own. Share with us your thoughts on being empathetic in a world that tells women they’re too nice or too sensitive.