• About Dr. Elaine Aron
  • Resources
    • For HSPs
    • For Parents of HSCs
    • International Websites
    • HSP-Knowledgeable Therapists, Coaches and Medical Professionals
      • Seeking an HSP-knowledgeable Therapist?
      • For HSP-Knowledgeable Professionals
    • Coaches and Other Professionals
      • Certified Coaches
      • Medical Professionals
      • How to Be Listed as an HSP-Knowledgeable Professional
    • Just for Highly Sensitive Therapists (and Coaches)
  • For Interviews, Speakers
  • FAQs
  • Blog
  • How to Reach Us
  • The Foundation

The Highly Sensitive Person

  • Home
  • Books
    • The Highly Sensitive Person
    • The Highly Sensitive Parent
    • The Highly Sensitive Person’s Workbook
    • The Highly Sensitive Person in Love
    • The Highly Sensitive Child
    • Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person
    • The Undervalued Self
  • Self-Tests
    • Are You Highly Sensitive?
    • Is Your Child Highly Sensitive?
    • High Sensation Seeking Test
  • Comfort Zone
    • Blog
    • Email Newsletters 2004-2014
  • HSP Events
  • Store
    • Bookstore
    • Audio
    • DVDs
    • Therapist List Test Materials
    • Shipping Info
  • If You Need Help
    • Therapists
    • Coaches
    • Medical Professionals
    • How to be listed as an HSP-knowledgeable professional
  • Research
    • Measurement Scales for Researchers
    • Summaries of Research – Easy Reads
    • Sensory Processing Sensitivity: The State of the Model (in Powerpoint format)
    • Research Articles by Elaine and Her Collaborators
    • Articles by Others That Are Especially Relevant
    • Researcher Contact
  • Videos & Podcasts

HSPs and Health

If You Can Manage It, Be Sure to Do What You Want

February 16, 2021 By Elaine 64 Comments

As some of you know, I took off three months from my usual tasks (mostly answering emails, doing interviews, speaking, etc.) to focus more on writing and research. I was surprised by how happy it made me. Almost ecstatic! I realize that I thrive on being creative, as do most HSPs, and I have not […]

Filed Under: Emotions, General, Health, News, Research Tagged With: elaine aron, highly sensitive, highly sensitive person, HSP

Big Picture Living During a Time of Global Crisis

March 17, 2020 By Elaine 50 Comments

Lately, I have been speaking about one way to reduce anxiety (a normal feeling for HSPs):  Look at the big picture. I advise it now more than ever: Maintain the big picture. How? Ask yourself, what are your real risks?  (Don’t minimize, but don’t catastrophize either.) What will things be like a year from now? Even two […]

Filed Under: Emotions, General, Health, News, Relationships, Spirituality Tagged With: coronavirus, highly sensitive people, highly sensitive person, HSP, HSPs

The Ethics of Self-Care

January 14, 2020 By Elaine 16 Comments

When my son (a writer for TV) read over the script for Sensitive and in Love, he said it surprised him that it emphasized the need for downtime.  It seemed so self-centered.  He thought HSPs were more into helping others.  They are, I assured him, and I adjusted the script accordingly. But it brings up […]

Filed Under: Emotions, Health, Relationships Tagged With: burn out, burnout, highly sensitive people, HSP, self care

A Gift to Add Sparkle to the Gifts You Already Have

December 17, 2019 By Elaine 24 Comments

I have a gift for you.  I found it while reading and listening to Ken Wilber, a brilliant philosopher-psychologist-spiritual-teacher guy who has developed something called “integral psychology,” a theory that summarizes years of research by others on human development.  I like a lot of it—not all of course.  But central to integral theory is that […]

Filed Under: Emotions, Health, Relationships, Spirituality Tagged With: changing perspective, highly sensitive people, HSP, HSPs, integral psychology, ken wilber

Why Differential Susceptibility is so Important for You

December 3, 2019 By Elaine 28 Comments

I am not sure that I have written enough about differential susceptibility, which is a key to understanding HSPs and for HSPs to understand themselves. Differential susceptibility is the well-researched idea that HSPs are deeply affected by their environments, “for better and for worse.”  With poor childhoods they are more likely than others to be […]

Filed Under: Emotions, General, Health Tagged With: Differential Susceptibility, highly sensitive people, highly sensitive person, relationships

Types of Meditation

November 1, 2019 By Elaine 15 Comments

I very often suggest meditation to HSPs for reducing and recovering from over-stimulation.  But I realize that when someone recommends meditation or says they meditate or are going to teach it to you, it sounds as though meditation is just one thing. But really they may as well say, “I recommend pills.” That is, there […]

Filed Under: Emotions, Health, Spirituality Tagged With: highly sensitive people, HSPs, meditation, sensitivity

Time and Transitions

July 30, 2018 By Elaine 32 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Emotions, General, Health, Parenting Tagged With: highly sensitive people, HSP, over-stimulation, processing, slowing down, time

Suicide and High Sensitivity

February 25, 2016 By Elaine 141 Comments

Important Note from Admin: Comments are currently closed for this post. ⇒ If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts or are in crisis, please contact: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (in U.S.) International Suicide Hotlines If you are seeking less urgent help, please see our list of HSP-knowledgeable therapists. Also read How to Find […]

Filed Under: Emotions, Health

Why HSPs’ Tendency to Worry about the Real Meaning of our Life may Make Us Healthier

June 15, 2014 By Elaine 3 Comments

It’s Healthier to Live a Life Full of Meaning than a Life Full of Pleasure Originally published in Comfort Zone Newsletter: June 2014 The other research I want to tell you about is not about HSPs directly, but I think you will find it very pertinent. Often I hear HSPs question why, compared to non-HSPs, […]

Filed Under: Health, Old Comfort Zone Articles, Research

Recent Posts

  • Last of the 2022 Research
  • Research from 2022 on High Sensitivity
  • Research: High Sensitivity Wrongly Identified with Narcissism, Plus Studies on Parenting Applied to Managing and Caregiving
  • More HSP Research

Posts by Category

Announcing our newest book
The Highly Sensitive Parent

HSP Parent

New 25th Anniversary Edition
The Highly Sensitive Person

HSP 25th Anniversary Edition

Announcing the release of our documentary Sensitive Lovers: A Deeper Look into their Relationships

In this documentary, Art Aron (well-known love researcher) and Elaine Aron provide the science and advice behind the film Sensitive and in Love. Learn more about Sensitive Lovers here.

Sensitive and In Love

A feature film, focuses on what perhaps matters most: how high sensitivity affects your relationships with loved ones. Learn more and purchase the Sensitive and In Love here.

Sensitive: The Untold Story

Rent or purchase Sensitive: The Untold Story here.

Search

Subscribe

Sign up for The Comfort Zone
for updates and announcements about events, book releases, blog posts and other news of interest to the HSP community. We will not share your information with anyone else.

CLICK HERE to join our mailing list.

About this Blog

The quarterly Comfort Zone ended in 2014, partly to give Elaine more time to write, but also because a blog seemed more up-to-date and flexible, allowing her to write new posts based on the interests of readers. If you've signed up for her list, you will be notified when she has posted anything new. Comments: While she will not answer every comment, she will read them all and, again, may be inspired by some comments to write another blog post. You will also receive emails of any important announcement rather than these showing up only in the quarterly issue. Old Comfort Zones: The many emailed Comfort Zones are still very timely. To make full use of the extensive Comfort Zone archives, the Comfort Zone section has a Google search that will find old Comfort Zone issues as well as topics in the blog posts.

The Original Book

The Highly Sensitive Person book cover

A general introduction and covers every aspect of an HSP's life. Worldwide bestseller. Translated into 32 languages. With an Author's Note summarizing the latest research.

More Books by Elaine Aron...

Connect with Us

For questions, problems, or feedback, go here and choose the email address that fits your needs.

Copyright © 2023 Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. — All rights reserved.