When you feel the emotion ask where is it coming from, if the answer is someone else and there is no connection to you then I would use self talk. Remind yourself that the emotion is not yours and you don’t have to feel it. If it were sadness make a list in your mind of all the things you have to be happy about that day. I would also ask myself though “what is this emotion trying to tell me”. A lot of times when I empathize too much it is because what ever that emotion is in the other person I am not allowing myself to feel. For example they are scared they are going to loose their job and I start feeling scared. Am I worried about loosing my job? No, am I worried about finances? a little but not enough for this reaction, am I scared about a health issue I’ve been having and I don’t want to face it? Yes... OK so my fear that this health issue may be significant is really big and I am not letting myself feel it. So, now my emotions are using that persons fear to release an unrelated fear I have but am ignoring.