Are You Sensitive Too?

It is estimated that at least 20 percent of the population have heighten nervous system abilities.

(In my practice I find the percentage is dramically higher.)  

People with above average heightened nervous systems are now referred to as  Highly Sensitive Persons by many psychologists and neurologists.

Neurological studies show that Highly Sensitive People's brain wave patterns tend to be more frequently in a theta state.  When in theta, people are more open to intuitive feelings and more sensitive to to subtle vibrations and environmental stimulation.

This portion of the population are often regarded as "overly emotional sensitive" and were once viewed as hypochondriacs.

A high percentage of Highly Sensitive People suffer from chronic pain and chronic health syndromes.

Our current western medical pharmaceutical approaches can only temporarily suppress and not "cure" a wide spectrum of chronic physical symptoms because it does not take into account that these are mind-body symptoms that will keep resurfacing until the individual recognizes their own repressed mental & emotional conflicts.  

A Highly Sensitive Person is just a person with a heightened nervous system. Being a Highly Sensitive Person is NOT a physical or mental disorder.

Because many Highly Sensitive People don't recognize or understand their own sensitivities and have never developed skills to recognize and cope with their heighten sensitivities, they frequently develop chronic physical disease states and often can suffer with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.

How do you know if you are "sensitive" person?  

• Do you feel pain easily and intensity?
• Do you easily notice and are affected by odors and smells?
• Does temperature and weather tend to affect you?
• Is your sleep easily interrupted by light or sounds?
• Do you tend to feel emotions deeply?
• Do you feel over stimulated or overwhelmed by too much noise or by being around too many other people?
• During busy days do you feel a need for some private, alone time?
• Do you become exhausted or fatigued easily?
• Do you startle easily?
• Do other people's moods affect you?
• Do you notice subtleties in your environment?
• Are you conscientious and know how to make people comfortable?
• Do avoid very emotional, loud, scary or violent TV shows or movies?
• Does competition or being observed make you so nervous you don't perform as well as you normally can?
• Do you notice and enjoy the fine aromas and delicate tastes of foods and beverages that you like?

Left unrecognized and untrained, people with these under appreciated high sensing abilities are often told they are "too sensitive" or "emotionally overreact".  

Many develop many chronic pain and health syndromes.

My Journey as a Highly Sensitive Person

I have only realized in my last 15 years of life that I am a Highly Sensitive Person, and that realization has helped me tremendously in healing my body, mind and spirit.  

From my earliest remembrances, I always felt physical discomforts intensely.  

I not only overly sympathized and deeply felt the pains of family and friends but of movie, TV and book characters.  In other words, I easily embodied the emotions and body sensations of others.  

I was able to see very subtle nuances of body behavior.  

I was able to hear what was not being said.  

I was able to see and sense the whole picture, including what might be hidden.

I was always highly sensitive, empathetic, kinetic.

Unfortunately, my many traits of being sensitive set me apart and resulted in situations where I often felt judged, overwhelmed and victimized:

• Parental punishment for having a "sensitive stomach" (because I would vomit when forced to "clean my plate" of foods that made me queasy)
• Feeling unappreciated even though I "knew" and responded to family members' expectations and needs without ever being asked
• Family repeatedly chiding me that I was just too sensitive, both emotionally as well as with physically pain
• Being teased relentlessly for being "different" and betrayed by so called friends when they became uncomfortable that I "just knew" what they were feeling and thinking.
• Easily startled and embarrassed in public by relatives, school peers and a few unkind teachers

In spite of growing up wondering why it seemed no one appreciated all my positive, sensitive and intuitive qualities, I adapted to "fit in".

To be accepted, I compensated by becoming a perfectionist, an over-giver and a caretaker, learning to not speak my observations and not expect others to reciprocate my needs.

I learned to camouflage my true self to function in a society that never seemed to acknowledge and appreciate my talents for easily connecting to and understanding the hearts and souls of people and animals around me. 

I spent the first half of my life disguising my emotional self, being proudly practical, suppressing my emotions while I worried circles around all possible future pitfalls.

I learned to ignore what I was sensing from others even though the act of what I was repressing made me feel sick. 

By stoically smiling on the outside, I was repressing all my hurts, frustrations, angers and resentments around my not feeling seen by the people I cared about and of being teated unfairly.  

Just my accepting that my very real physical pain had emotional roots, my body began to feel better.

I stopped blaming others for "being pains" in my life.

I discovered that my buried emotions reflected how I was not only disappointed in others but in myself because I didn't know how to set healthy boundaries for myself.

I learned to appreciate and accept my sensitivities as gifts and not burdens.

My pains subsided within days, gone within weeks.

I began to nurture and care for myself with regular light exercise, a healthy diet and mostly importantly, I began the daily practice of mediation.

Maladies that once I thought were "inherited" and I believed that I would have to live with for the rest of life, progressively healed and disappeared.

Elaine Aron PhD and Ted Zeff PhD have each written separately and collaborated on several excellent books about Highly Sensitive Persons available on Amazon.com and at local bookshops.