Being highly sensitive probably increases our vulnerability to anxiety. I’m sure that has been the case for me, and I have had varying degrees of anxiety for most of my life. Part of my motivation in researching and creating my series of sites is to better understand a variety of social and psychological issues that [...]
Savant sensitivity The term ‘savant’ may be most often used for people such as Daniel Tammet, who is autistic and can recite more than 22,000 digits of pi from memory. [See my post Savant abilities and learning differences relate to developing multiple talents] In his book Islands of Genius: The Bountiful Mind of the Autistic, [...]
Photorealist painting is one form of creative expression that demands a high degree of technical prowess and attention to detail. The image is Tom’s Diner, 1993, a watercolor by Ralph Goings – from the book Photorealism at the Millennium, by Louis K. Meisel, Linda Chase. A recent CNN article on “sensory processing sensitivity” reports that [...]
Therese Borchard of Beliefnet recently interviewed me – her article [on Beliefnet] is titled 5 Gifts of Being Highly Sensitive and 5 Curses. She also published it for her Huffington Post column with the title 5 Gifts of Being Highly Sensitive – which has over 100 comments. Here are her two questions, and my responses: [...]
By guest author Lisa A. Riley, LMFT (Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist) 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 [...]
By Andrea Runyan While college can be an exciting and fruitful experience, it can also be a challenging time for Highly Sensitive People (HSPs). As the first time when many students are living away from home, college presents many potential challenges for the HSP, such as eating dining hall food; living in a dormitory; having [...]
In her Psychology Today blog post Are Introverts More Creative than Extraverts?, writer, cartoonist and musician Elizabeth Wagele writes about how this key personality dimension relates to creative expression. Here is an excerpt : Are liking solitude and focusing inward creative gifts? My café friends and I, mostly introverts, were discussing where our various kinds [...]
“I am shy and I don’t start relationships with people normally. I guess I have a way that can seem aloof and sort of cold. They didn’t like me that much, but I never resented it. I was different than they were.” Actor Kristin Kreuk – about being in high school. Being highly sensitive may [...]
In addition to helping fuel creativity and a richer experience of life, being highly sensitive can make us more vulnerable to emotional overwhelm, anxiety, self-criticism and other issues. Healthy self concept and self esteem can be especially challenging. As John Lennon once put it, “Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other [...]
Jenna Avery is “The Life Coach for Sensitive Souls” – helping individuals recognize and more fully express their gifts as highly sensitive people. In our interview, she talks about some of the challenges we may face in taking care of ourselves and living our purpose, such as being overly self-critical or not setting good self-care [...]
The Highly Sensitive Person, By Elaine N. Aron Narrated by Barbara Caruso Audiobook: The Highly Sensitive Person, By Elaine N. Aron ..
The trait of high sensitivity is experienced by 15 to 20 percent of us. In this video are some quotes by and about Winona Ryder, Heath Ledger, Amy Brenneman, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, and Ellen DeGeneres about their experience of sensitivity. Maybe you can relate to some of them. .. Winona Ryder has said, “You [...]
“At least 50 million Americans have a finely tuned nervous system.” Books by Ted Zeff, PhD : 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 Shrink Rap Radio audio podcast interview with Dr. Zeff [...]
A recent news item by ScienceDaily reported on research that may explain more about the neuroscience that underlies high sensitivity. “Researchers have discovered that a primitive region of the brain responsible for sensorimotor control also has an important role in regulating emotional responses to threatening situations. “This region appears to work in concert with another [...]
Winona Ryder and depression Winona Ryder starred in the film based on Susanna Kaysen’s novel Girl, Interrupted, and thinks Kaysen “captures a mood we’ve all experienced. It’s like a reflective time we’ve all had in our lives, whether to kill ourselves, whether to be miserable or move on. You go through spells where you feel [...]
In her authoritative book The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You, Elaine Aron, PhD notes, we are at “the extreme end of the dimension of sensitivity,” but she adds, “..for many HSPs the real challenge is to achieve the middle ground. “No more ‘too shy’ or ‘too sensitive’ or too [...]
Adapted from Dr. Judith Orloff’s book Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life. Loneliness gets to some more than others. But why it hangs on isn’t always apparent when read by traditional medical eyes. In my practice and workshops I’ve been struck by how many sensitive, empathic people who I call [...]
About 15 to 20 percent of us have this trait of high sensitivity, which nurtures our creativity and social activism, but also brings challenges. Psychologist Elaine Aron and others describe it as a more finely tuned nervous system. She explains, “It means you are aware of subtleties in your surroundings, a great advantage in many [...]
Shyness and introversion may seem to be the same in some ways, at least on the surface.
They can overlap, and we may have both traits – but they are not the same thing. And they are not the same as the trait of high sensitivity.
Follow the link to my post with more, including a video.
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