We just completed a weekend workshop for parents, teachers, and counselors of highly sensitive children (HSCs) at 1440 Multiversity in Santa Cruz. They said it was much needed and appreciated. (This will repeat at Kripalu on the East Coast September 28-30—please let parents of HSCs know). A theme was the need to give HSCs time […]
Introversion, Extroversion and the Highly Sensitive Person
Guest Blog By: Jacquelyn Strickland, LPC According to the documentary Sensitive: The Untold Story, there are 1.4 billion highly sensitive people (HSPs) in the world (15-20% of the population). As Elaine Aron’s research has shown, 30% of that 15-20% of the HSP population are sensitive extroverts – or approximately 420 million HSPs. Unfortunately, due in great part […]
The Power of Inner Silence for HSPs
Last year I was asked by a Korean publisher to write what I would say if I were giving my “last lecture.” This was for a Korean-language anthology, in which many authors (most you would recognize) were offering their answer. For me the subject was easy–inner silence. You as an HSP understand my choice intuitively, […]
About High Sensitivity, Autism, and Neurodiversity
Dear Readers, I am writing this to tell you about a new perspective, neurodiversity, as a way to think about both high sensitivity and autism (otherwise quite different). The perspective applies to other brain differences as well, but it is especially appropriate to focus on autism because April is Autism Awareness Month. The neurodiversity viewpoint […]
Eight Ways to Take Care of Yourself, Please, While I’m Gone (and Beyond)
For about two years I have been planning a six-month sabbatical beginning this summer, a good space of time completely “off the grid.” Some serious downtime. I am enjoying excellent health so it has nothing to do with that. It is simply that some shifts in my life and my husband’s have allowed this for […]
A Different, Highly Sensitive Approach to the Holidays: Leading by Example
I would like to suggest a revolutionary approach to the holidays, although I hope some of you are already doing it. That would be to reduce or cut out the outer activities, and use more of the holidays for rest (yes!). Then in that rested state, you might reflect on the meaning of this time […]
With this Movie We Will Be Much More “Out”—Perhaps It’s Time to Be Much More “In” as Well
With this movie, Sensitive, The Untold Story, the story is going to be told. We HSPs will become much more visible. Of course, thank goodness, your sensitivity can remain invisible when you choose it to be. Remember I did a post about being invisible? http://hsperson.com/invisible-yet-definitive-part-of-yourself/. The comments on that are interesting, too, and some of […]
Let the Market Decide–and You, the “Consumer,” Be Well-informed
As the trait of high sensitivity becomes better known, naturally there are many people talking about it on the Internet, often with websites and YouTube dedicated to your sensitivity or your child’s. Many people and entire institutes now offer services, courses, or books, often with new ways of thinking about or working with high sensitivity. […]
On Having an Invisible yet Definitive Part of Yourself
Have you ever felt invisible as an HSP? Of course you have. You are. I have sometimes said that high sensitivity affects all aspects of life, social and otherwise, as much as one’s gender affects one’s life, but gender is visible and sensitivity is invisible. Other examples of fairly permanent characteristics that are largely invisible […]
What to Do with Your Fear When the Best Things in Life May Be Dangerous
I wanted to write something for all of you about my Colorado River trip by raft from one end of the Grand Canyon to the other. I wanted to tell you, of course, about the majesty of the place, the many birds and animals, the joy of simply being outside day and night for 13 […]