Julie Christie

“I found films to be turbulent and stressful. They have caused me an enormous amount of anxiety, because I do not have a lot of confidence. You are working, intellectually and mentally, and you are having to be with people and socialize all the time. Actors like it, on the whole, but I was not born with that quality. I am very quiet and would much prefer to talk to a few people rather than a crowd.” //

“I could never really see the point of being high-profile when I loathed it so much. Every now and then, you can go to something like an Oscars ceremony, but nobody is holding a gun to your head. The rules were the same 40 years ago as they are now. You can either choose your spotlight – or you can stay at home.”  [imdb.com]

Jennifer Beals

“I get emotional all the time,” Jennifer Beals [left] once said. “I get emotional every time I make a speech, or talk about other cast members,” she says. “Every now and again, my heart just explodes and expands.”

Laurel Holloman, her castmate on the Showtime series “The L Word,” has seen this firsthand: “If Jennifer is passionate about something, it comes to the surface within seconds. My theory on that is all the best actors have a couple of layers of skin peeled away. There’s a huge emotional life in Jennifer, and it’s kind of beautiful.” [From article The Real Beals, by Jancee Dunn, Lifetime lifetimetv.com, August 2004]

Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman has noted, “You live with a lot of complicated emotions as an actor, and they whirl around you and create havoc at times. And yet, as an actor you’re consciously and unconsciously allowing that to happen… It’s my choice, and I would rather do it this way than live to be 100… Or rather than choosing not to exist within life’s extremities. I’m willing to fly close to the flame.” [Interview mag., Oct 2003]

Brittany Murphy

Brittany Murphy once commented that she thinks she is “a very oversensitive, vulnerable person. You have to be to do this for a living.” [Premiere, November 2000]

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson has noted that sensitivity can have a dark side: “I think I was born with a great awareness of my surroundings and an awareness of other people. I know when I really connect with somebody… Sometimes that awareness is good, and sometimes I wish I wasn’t so sensitive.

“I’m so happy I’m not walking around life with a cloud over my head, not really knowing which way to look or which way to turn. But then, on the other hand, sometimes you don’t wanna see what’s behind people’s doors.” [Interview mag., July, 2001]

Winona Ryder has commented, “I’ve never been a suicidal person. But there have definitely been times when I’ve thought, I’m too sensitive for this world right now; I just don’t belong here – it’s too fast and I don’t understand it.”

Ellen Muth

Ellen Muth [in the TV series Dead Like Me] has noted her character George/Georgia does care about people, “but she puts on this front like she doesn’t really care about anything and I kind of like that. George’s sensitivity is very hidden, but when it slips out she very quickly makes it so nobody else sees it… George tries to hide her emotions and I tend to do that.”

She adds, “One of the great things about acting is that you are able to release all sorts of things through another character.”
~~

See more in related post: Actors and Artists As Highly Sensitive People.

~ ~

“Highly sensitive people are all creative by definition.”

Elaine Aron, PhD adds that it is “because we process things so thoroughly and notice so many subtleties and emotional meanings that we can easily put two unusual things together.”

Sensory sensitivity also comes into play in many creative endeavors. When Therese Borchard of Beliefnet interviewed me (her Huffington Post column has the title 5 Gifts of Being Highly Sensitive), one of the “gifts” I mentioned is the richness of sensory detail that life provides.

The subtle shades of texture in clothing, and foods when cooking, the sounds of music or even traffic or people talking, fragrances and colors of nature – all of these may be more intense for highly sensitive people.

(Of course, people are not simply “sensitive” or “not sensitive” – like other qualities and traits, it’s a matter of degree.)

Years ago, I took a color discrimination test to work as a photographic technician, making color prints. The manager said I’d scored better, with more subtle distinctions between hues in the test charts, than anyone he had evaluated.

That kind of response to color makes visual experience rich and exciting, and can help artists and designers be even more excellent.

See more in my post Gifts and challenges of being highly sensitive.

In her article Highly Sensitive Persons – High Sensitivity and Creative Ability, psychologist Susan Meindl, MA writes, “A temperamental connection has been observed between between high Sensitivity and creativity.

> Continued in Being Highly Sensitive and Creative.

Highly sensitive people…have nervous systems and minds which permit more stimulation to enter without automatically and unconsciously shutting it out, and further, that they then cognitively process the stimulation that they receive in more detail than others do.

Stimulation comes in on all sensory channels: sights, sounds, smells, vibrations, touch.

HSP’s typically respond strongly and quickly reach their natural level of tolerance in loud, bright or chaotic environments.

Managing this kind of overstimulation could be treated as a “technical problem” of reducing environmental intensity or leaving it when possible.

Five kinds of over-stimulation can contribute to depression.

Continued in her article Highly Sensitive People and Depression: Overstimulation May Lead to Depression

~ ~

As a sensitive soul, good energy-management skills are a must.

This means tuning in to yourself on a regular basis and continually reassessing and adjusting what you take on.

It’s a real balancing act.

And sometimes, despite your best intentions, your energy gets drained and you feel out of balance.

The key, then, is to know how to quickly and easily recharge your energy.

Some of why this situation happens is that highly sensitive people are more susceptible to overstimulation than less sensitive types.

Being overstimulated ultimately drains your energy.

You may not notice the drain right away because it can also produce an adrenaline rush, which creates a sense of urgency or even panic that’s hard to shake.

Continued in her article Recharge Your Energy

Jenna Avery is a highly sensitive coach and intuitive who offers these programs:

Self-Study Classes for Sensitive Souls – Jenna says, “These self-study classes are the product of my many efforts to find ways to be a happy, healthy, highly sensitive soul.” I have investigated everything I could get my hands on about energy skills, energetic boundary strengthening, interpersonal boundaries, flower essences for sensitive souls, empathy, intuitive development and more.

“I wanted to find out everything I could about how to feel happy about my life without feeling so assaulted by it — other people’s energy, emotions, and criticisms, and the life stresses and challenges that go along with day-to-day life.

“I believe that energy skills are amongst the most critical information available to sensitives, and unfortunately, it isn’t widely available, at least in a mainstream way. I’ve come to believe that what I teach is the equivalent of Sensitive Souls 101. I’d love to share it with you.

Also learn about her other programs at www.jennaavery.com.

~ ~

high sensitivity personality, highly sensitive people, highly sensitive books, high sensitivity resources, highly sensitive people and creativity

I have often heard an analogy in the psychology field that creative geniuses and those who experience mental disorder are in the same water.

The difference is that one is swimming and the other is drowning.

Let’s talk about this water. These fluid, intangible, ever-changing emotions. Sensations.

All that arises right now that we cannot ever plan on, EVER. Go ahead, analyze that. I know you will. That’s how we HSPs roll.

Eventually you get to the conclusion that it’s true. There is no way to plan for now. You just show up.

On solid, dry land we can plan. We can map it out, chart it, monitor it. We can stand on it. We can build with it. It’s quite predictable. This is logic.

So what do many of us do who have found ourselves in this sea of sensations, tossing us around? We hold onto something really heavy and sink to the bottom to find a limit.

We cling to the edge and hold on TIGHT. When the water is calm, we may venture out a bit.

But, we always stay in the shallow end for fear of getting lost in the deep end. We get incredibly capable at holding on and our arms get really strong.

But, at the core we are weak. And for those at the bottom, they are drowning. Some just get tossed around over and over, assuming that is their lot in life. Beat up and broken down.

I find the same thing as I work with highly sensitive people in my therapy and coaching practice.

> Continued in article Are you drowning in a sea of sensitivity? It’s time to walk on water.

“It’s the fundamental part of us that allows us to be touched by beauty, signs of grace, or intimate moments with others.”

She adds that it is also “the mechanism that provides us with an internal warning signal that lets us know when we’re in situations that may be hazardous to our emotional, physical, or spiritual health.

“As we grow in our understanding and practice of extreme self care, our sensitivity level rises and we pay closer attention to what we need to feel good.

From her article So Sensitive: Are you tired of sucking it up?

Chapter 8 of her book The Art of Extreme Self-Care: Transform Your Life One Month at a Time is titled “You’re So Sensitive.”

The image links to the audiobook version, which is also available as a standard book and a 12-session online course. [From Hay House.]

~~~~~

Video: Cheryl Richardson on The Tapping Solution :

..

To learn more about this self-care approach – including a video – see
The Tapping Solution – Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)

high sensitivity personality, highly sensitive people, highly sensitive books, high sensitivity resources

Jenna Forrest is a coach who offers “energy healing, intuitive coaching and spiritual apprenticeships to help sensitives experience inner peace, higher consciousness, and life transformation” and writes in her memoir Help Is On Its Way about growing up with the trait of high sensitivity. In our podcast interview, she talks about empowering and transcending sensitivity. Here is an excerpt from the interview:

“Millions of highly sensitive people right at this moment are carrying a heavier burden than the rest of society just because they’re perceptive of the world’s discord, which is coming at them every day from a laundry list of sources.

“This is where many sensitive kids and adults are right now, thinking that all these energies going on inside them are because something’s wrong with them.

“Highly sensitive people have a beautiful ability to turn these burdens into art, inventions, writing, acting and other expressions that speak to the hearts of humanity.

“They also have powerful, healing intuition that when developed, can be used to nullify the suffering that’s been endured by themselves and others.”

Continued in podcast interview (and transcript) Jenna Forrest on Empowering Sensitivity.

~ ~

Relieving anxiety for highly sensitive people

In this video, Jenna Forrest discusses “what every sensitive empath must know about anxiety in order to experience relief more quickly.”

..

Her site: Transformational Life Coaching and Profound Healing.

In the video, Jenna mentions the Tapas Acupressure Technique, which is an energy therapy, like EFT.

Learn more about meridian tapping and EFT / Emotional Freedom Techniques (including a video) on the Anxiety Relief Solutions page: The Tapping Solution – Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), and on The Tapping Solution site.

A blog post on a previous EFT World Summit said, “Rue mentions somewhere in the course of the interview [see video below] that she considers herself to be ‘highly sensitive’ and further, that she also believes that it is the nature of many people in the helping field.

“Rue Hass finds EFT to be a great match for highly sensitive people, giving them the opportunity to reframe their flaws in a compassionate and positive light, and to begin to honour themselves for continuing to be sensitive in a de-sensitized and de-sensitizing world.”

Who comes first?

In her book This is Where I Stand: the Power and the Gift of Being Sensitive, Hass writes, “Who comes first? Deep down inside we are such good people. We are so committed to bringing goodness into the world. But actually for many of us, this is exactly what leads us to being so sick and so tired.

“More often than not we put our commitment to ‘saving the world’ ahead of our own well-being.  In fact, many of us have the unconscious belief that we must ‘save the world’ before we can attend to our own needs.”

She continues, “Remember our wonderful ideal qualities:
* Internally deeply caring
* Deeply committed to the positive and the good
* On a mission to bring peace to the world
* Strong personal morality
* Often make extraordinary sacrifices for someone / something we believe in

“Interestingly, sensitive people often fail to include themselves in this mission. The other day when I pointed out to my client how good she is to OTHER people, she said to me in surprise, ‘Of course I would never let anyone else down!  But it hadn’t occurred to me that I let MYSELF down.’

“Sometimes we intentionally leave ourselves off the list, in an attempt not to be ‘selfish.’

“Self-ish? When someone mentions being selfish to me, I always reframe it.  I say,  How about spelling ‘selfish’ with a capital S – make it ‘Selfish.  I draw a big S in the air.  The capital S stands for your soul.  If you don’t take care of your soul,
no one else will So go on and BE SELF-ISH!!  You have the right.  You deserve that!”

Being sensitive is the kind of awareness that can save the world

On her author site Intuitive Mentoring, she writes :

Have You Ever Heard:
“Oh, you are just too sensitive!”
“You take things so hard!”
“Just let it roll off your back.”
“Why can’t you just let it go!”

And maybe even, “What’s wrong with you? You are such a cry baby!”You have probably thought they were right – there must be something wrong with you! Being sensitive is not only a real emotional temperament, it is the kind of awareness that can save the world.

I speak as a “highly sensitive person” myself. It has taken me most of my life to understand this temperament and value it for its gifts. In my work as an Intuitive Mentor I have worked with many people like you or your loved ones.If you’re reading this and feeling, “Yeah, that’s me, alright!” YOU are the help that is on the way, whether you are sensitive yourself, or partnered, working or interacting with, or the parent of someone who is sensitive.

This book [This is Where I Stand: the Power and the Gift of Being Sensitive] describes the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of the highly sensitive temperament, and teaches how to resolve and heal them using the self empowering new techniques of Energy Psychology, specifically Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). It includes many personal stories of how to use this wonderful new method to transform your experience of being sensitive into feeling its true power and gift in you.

Using a supposed disability to stay safe and stuck

In her article Thoughts on Psychological Reversal, she talks about a man she worked with, who was challenged with ADD. “Tapping” refers to one of the main techniques of EFT therapy or self-help.

“The problem—’my learning disability,’ which over the years in this sensitive person had been a difficult challenge for him – was now something that was limiting his progress. Now he wanted to move ahead, but his unconscious mind had become committed to keeping him safe from failing.

“Way back there in his past, somehow, he had brilliantly but mistakenly turned his ‘learning disability’ into a strategy. Its positive intention was to keep him safe from a judging, critical world—in which he felt alien and ineffective.

“We tapped on all the statements we had elicited, using them as set-up statements, beginning of course with tapping on the side of his hand. He ended the session in a state of meditation, staring into the flame of the candle on my table, saying quietly:

“Whenever this confusion comes up now, I know I have a choice. I can always choose to honor the flame at the core of my being.”

~ ~ ~

“Experts like Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor, Cheryl Richardson, Bruce Lipton, Joe Vitale, Dr. Joseph Mercola and so many others have come out in support of Tapping…These experts aren’t just casually saying they think it’s ‘ok’ – they’re saying that they use and and fully endorse it as a powerful tool for creating the life you want.” [From The Tapping Solution site.]

[Note - The Wikipedia page on EFT lists some criticisms, but also has references to positive clinical research studies.]

Learn more about meridian tapping and Emotional Freedom Techniques (including a video) on the Anxiety Relief Solutions page: The Tapping Solution – Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), and on The Tapping Solution site.

Emotional Freedom Techniques, high sensitivity personality, highly sensitive people, highly sensitive books, emotional balance, emotional intelligence programs, meridian tapping

The North American (U.S. and Canada) HSMs (highly sensitive males) who reported that they had supportive parents as boys and who played group sports as a boy were “never” or “rarely” teased for being sensitive.

However, the North American HSMs who reported that neither parents were supportive of their sensitivity, and who never played team sports as a boy were “usually,” or “always” teased by other children.

Dr. Zeff found that sensitive boys who participated in team sports had higher self-esteem, and, regardless of physique, were “never” or “rarely” teased.

Most HSMs “always” or “usually” avoided fighting as a boy, and “did not like watching violence on television or in movies.”

Cultural differences

The HSMs from India, Thailand and (most from) Denmark stated that they were “never” or “rarely” teased as a boy for their sensitivity regardless of the variables of supportive parents or participation in team sports.

The HSMs from Thailand and India indicated that they “usually” or “always” had many friends growing up, while virtually all of the HSMs who grew up in North America indicated that they had few if any friends except those who participated in team sports.

Other items from his research include most sensitive boys in all countries indicated they “usually” or “always” thought there was something wrong with them during their childhood, and didn’t fit in with other boys.

They have been intuitive, gentle, responsible, a peacemaker, good at counseling people, and most (94 percent) are heterosexual.

From the news section of his site drtedzeff.com

..

..

Books by Dr. Zeff :

The Strong, Sensitive Boy

“Every parent of a sensitive boy should read this book.” –Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. author of The Highly Sensitive Person and The Highly Sensitive Child

“The Strong, Sensitive Boy offers practical advice and innovative solutions for parents, teachers, and anyone working with sensitive boys.  I highly recommend it.” –Michael Gurian, author of The Wonder of Boys and The Minds of Boys

“An insightful, important look at the role sensitivity has in true masculine power. A wonderful guide for parents, sons, and educators!” –Judith Orloff, M.D. author of Second Sight

More books:

The Highly Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World

Highly Sensitive Person’s Companion: Daily Exercises for Calming Your Senses in an Overstimulating World

Photo from thaifootball.com

Also hear our audio interview: Dr. Ted Zeff on how people can benefit from being highly sensitive

highly sensitive men, high sensitivity personality, highly sensitive people, highly sensitive books, high sensitivity resources, highly sensitive and creative

Clinical and research reports confirm that is often true – as well as comments by many creative people about their own experience.

> Excerpt read by Assoc. Editor Cat Robson:

For example, therapist Lisa A. Riley, LMFT comments:

Throughout my practice, I have encountered a connection between highly sensitive people and their own creative impulses.

This characteristic does not discriminate between painter, actor, or musician—they all appear to have one thing in common: they experience the world differently than the average individual.

Creatives often feel and perceive more intensely, dramatically, and with a wildly vivid color palate to draw from, which can only be described as looking at the world through a much larger lens.

From her guest post on this site:
Highly Sensitive Personality and Creativity.

Of course, being creative is not limited to people identified as artists, or even pursuing creative ventures.

Both creativity and being sensitive are on a spectrum – a range of different levels.

And being sensitive does not mean you are necessarily creative or an artist.

I appreciate Jewel’s lyrics:

Oh please be careful with me, I’m sensitive

And I’d like to stay that way

From the song I’m Sensitive by Jewel Kilcher
- from her debut album Pieces of You

…
Writer Pearl Buck made a very strong declaration about sensitivity :

“The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.

“To them… a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.

“Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create — so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off…

“They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.”  [Unknown source.]

Her novel The Good Earth won a Pulitzer Prize, and in 1938 Buck won the Nobel Prize in literature.

Her statement, even if today it sounds overblown, is something you may relate to if you experience high sensitivity, and a compelling need to create.

Psychologist Elaine Aron, PhD is probably the leading expert on high sensitivity, or more technically, sensory processing sensitivity.

Her research has found it is an innate personality trait present in 15 to 20 percent of us. It is not the same as introversion or shyness, though there are interactions and overlaps, as I noted in my post Shyness, Introversion, Sensitivity – What’s the Difference?

Dr. Aron explains:

“Highly sensitive individuals are those born with a tendency to notice more in their environment and deeply reflect on everything before acting, as compared to those who notice less and act quickly and impulsively. As a result, sensitive people, both children and adults, tend to be empathic, smart, intuitive, creative, careful, and conscientious…”

From her book The Highly Sensitive Child. Her newer book is The Undervalued Self.

Quotes are from my Creative Mind column post: Being Highly Sensitive, Being Creative.

Back to Pearl Buck’s famous quote above: “The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive” etc. – while I appreciate some of her perspectives, there are parts I don’t agree with: What does “truly creative” even mean, and is she implying that only those who are highly sensitive qualify as “true” creators?

Also, she says “inhumanly sensitive” as though it were some extreme or even pathological condition – but research by psychologist Elaine Aron, PhD and others indicates the trait occurs with 15 – 20 % of people.

In an edition of her newsletter Comfort Zone, Dr. Aron writes that Buck “was saying all creative people are highly sensitive. I don’t know about that, but I know ALL HSPs are creative, by definition. Many have squashed their creativity because of their low self-esteem; many more had it squashed for them, before they could ever know about. But we all have it, as I will explain…One of the best ways to make life meaningful for an HSP is to use that creativity.”

More in my Creative Mind post Elaine Aron on Creativity and Sensitivity.

Also, much as I appreciate Jewel’s idea in her lyrics: “I want to stay that way” – her saying “Please be careful with me” can imply the criticisms many non-sensitive people have about those of us who are highly sensitive, saying things like “Lighten up” or “You’re too sensitive” of “You’re over-reacting.”

As a sensitive person, it isn’t up to others to “be careful” toward us, it’s up to us to learn our needs and limits, and take care of not getting overwhelmed, so we can really embrace our valuable trait of sensitivity and use it creatively.

~~~~

NOTE – This is an excerpt from a longer PDF report which you can get for free by subscribing to my Developing Talent newsletter – just sign up in the form below.

Also, a longer version is my first book on Amazon – a mini ebook for Kindle: Being Highly Sensitive and Creative.