How to stop the pain of empathy

[Antranik]

I am not the one with the pain but a close friend who came to me for some help.  I want to know what are some things I could recommend to help him.  He has been having incredible stomach pains for the past month and feeling terrible.  This week the pain has been excruciating.  He's gone to doctors and have many tests/scans (xrays, etc) done, and dr after dr, no one knows what is the issue.

Yesterday his grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, who is experiencing pain as well, and sadly it has spread and there is nothing they can do.  That's when he told me these things and is wondering how this cannot possibly be coincidence.  I told him how empathy can be involved, but I don't know how to help relieve him of this connection, he obviously has a strong connection.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.  Is it correct to call this empathy?  Where do we go from here...

Thank you in advance.

[Tayesin]

Hi Antranik,
You could ask your friend to try this little experiment to see if it helps.  Have him imagine a mirror wrapped around himself, this will reflect away all that is directed towards him.

If the sensations lessen, then the problem was with some form of Empathic connection with his grandfather.

If not, then he may have a developing problem that is yet to be found by the Medics.

Tay

[Tom]

There is nothing wrong with simply perceiving pain in other people. It is a great advantage. The problem is not being able to let go of that pain. When you find that this is the case, it is probably because there is something inside you which resonates with that pain. This is not just a theory for me; I have had to solve the problem for myself and understanding was the place to begin.