I really liked Star Trek: The Next Generation, and have watched the series all the way through several times. Deanna Troi, the half-Betazoid, empathic counselor character of the show, was sort of the laughing stock to Star Trek fans. This is because she was meant to contribute meaningful and important council to the captain of a starship whose primary mission was to carry out diplomatic assignments between the Federation and many different alien races, but her abilities notoriously fell woefully short. Many times that the captain sought her ability to sense the emotions of a race, group, or entity, they just happened to be of a race that was immune to the prying of Betazoids. (Full Betazoids were able to hear the thoughts of others in a telepathic sense, whereas she was only half comprised of that race, meaning she could only read emotions, not minds.) The result was that she was constantly stating the obvious. The captain might have been interacting with a hostile race, and when the representative they encountered might be yelling, angry, or making threats, she would say something along the lines of, "I sense a great deal of anger." Her observations usually didn't require her unique abilities at all. I think that's a pretty good point of reference for comparison with your own experiences, because it illustrates that while being able to sense the emotions of others might have its benefits, if you don't have the ability to use intellect in order to solve a problem or navigate through a difficult situation, you can't successfully complete your mission.