Sorry for the long post, I tried to get it all in one post but if I did I'd be here forever so I tried to jot down what I thought were my best tips.
A little bit of my background, I am a psychic empath, when I was younger I was lucky enough to have an aunt who knew a lot about the supernatural and what I was going through. So thankfully she helped me a lot and gave me a lot of tools to help me deal with what I was going through as well as tools to help my gifts be stronger and more focused.
She taught me to meditate on a daily bases, to calm my mind and help me sort through what I was receiving in a more focused way. I also burn frankincense and jasmine incense while I meditate as well as when I do readings, I don't burn them at the same time though they are both very powerful and the smell of both of them burning at the same time is very overpowering. The type of work I am doing determines what incense I use. Sandalwood, sage, and lotus also help a lot with focusing and strengthening gifts.
I also carry and use a lot of different crystals. When I am out doing everyday things I carry black tourmaline, turquoise, and citrine. The black tourmaline helps with protection, the turquoise helps shield me energetically, and helps to process and let go of emotions that I pick up from being around people. And I carry the citrine to help with clarity and keeping my mind clear and not overwhelmed by the energies and feelings of those around me. While I am doing readings and work with connecting to spirits I carry amethyst, as well as the crystals I normally carry. Amethyst helps amplify my gifts while I am doing readings and helps me connect better.
My aunt also taught me different mantras to say when I am out in public because due to my empathy I become overwhelmed by all of the different energies and feelings that flood me. Causing me to become overly anxious as a result. I know that a lot of people I have met who have gifts similar to my own have dealt with a lot of social anxiety because of their gifts. And not knowing how to shield and keep themselves protected when they are not actively trying to connect with their gifts leaves them open to connecting with ever energy they come into contact with.
Another thing my aunt taught me was a kind of activity to help strengthen my shields as well as focus on certain aspects of my gifts. I would only ever do this during family get together's or holidays when the whole family was under the same roof.Mostly because I knew that it wouldn't leave me open to connecting with super negative energies. Also right now is a great time to try and practice this seeing as it is the holidays. I would go into a room where no one would bother me, turn off the lights and lay down with my eyes shut almost in a meditative state, and try to focus on whose energies I could feel. I would work on focusing on one specific energy until I was sure I knew who it was and where they were, then I would focus on shielding myself from that persons energy and move onto the next. And do that until I felt that I was shielded from everyone. That was when I would write on a paper who I connected with and where I believed they were, I then would go out and see if I was right. I actually still do this, and over the years have gotten better at it. I have also done this in locations I knew were haunted to try and connect to spirits and I have been able to connect that way but I do not recommend doing it unless you have a lot of experience and know how to protect yourself spiritually. The experiment can go wrong very fast and it leaves you open to connecting with negative spirits.