I 'absorb' others' emotions in that I simply know what kind of day they are having, or if there's emotional upheaval and it doesn't take them telling me anything at all. But it generally doesn't affect my mental state-only once or twice did I react on an internal, personal level, not knowing why I was having the reactions until after finding out what was going on.
On a conversational level, many times I am NOT empathetic-I understand what is going on when we speak, but I don't internalize their feelings and make them my own.
My family (mother, sister, I) call it a 'sensitivity', some might call it telepathy, some have called me a witch.
It's just what I've had all my life and am just now finding out different names and the why's...Empath, eh?