Too much empathy?

Recently, I was told by a good childhood friend of mine that I have "too much empathy". My immediate reaction was, "What does that mean?" "Is that 'Good' or 'Bad'?" and off I went exploring a whole new area.

Lets forget about the statements for an instant and just focus on the reaction. I took my reaction as an opportunity to possibly explore yet a new area in that relationship with myself.

Here are the simple steps I took. First and foremost, I said to myself "There is no 'Good' or 'Bad'." Secondly, lets explore the meaning of the word "empathy".
Wikipedia gives a nice two-part explanation:

"Empathy is the capability to share and understand another person's emotions and feelings. It is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another person's shoes."

"Empathy does not necessarily imply compassion, sympathy, or empathic concern because this capacity can be present in context of compassionate or cruel behavior."

It's truly a skill and knowing that I have the capability to empathize makes me feel alive! and if this is who I am then I accept it.

But what happens when there is "too much" empathy. It's a big warning beacon to tell me that I need to take a step back and learn to manage that skill. At times, it's very easy to be carried away with other people's problems or the worlds problems at large - war, hunger, crime. At the end of the day, it comes back to that relationship you have with yourself and what is important to you at that point of time.

In summary, part of the journey to know more about yourself is to know the skills you have or you never knew you had :) and learn to use it for you.