THE CHALLENGE OF BEING HIGLY SENSITIVE

During all my years of self-developement I struggled with exhaustion and depression from time to time. No matter what I tried it happend again and again. Until I realized that highly sensitive people are different and need more time for themselves and to recover.

About 15-20% oft the population are born highly sensitive, men like women also in the animal kingdom. In former days when we lived in tribes these people were the ones who warned about upcoming dangers like for example the canary birds do which are used in mining. When they stop singing it is time to leave because the air is poisoned.

The hardest part of growing up was my inability to tell others why I am stressed, sad or angry. Just because I often didn’t even know it myself. Very often it is something from my environment like family, job, school or what ever what resonates with me in a certain way.

Highly sensitive people tend to feel and absorb a lot of things going on around them. It can be very exhausting to be in big groups with people chatting everywhere or lots of different smells especially perfumes. Some of us get headaches or become really sick. Others are extremely sensitive about different sorts of lights and wear sunglasses or light their homes with candles instead of lamps.

We are also taking in a lot from other people. You can compare that to an App which starts downloading und you don’t know how to stop it and another App is already starting to download more information. It is overwhelming, too many vibes from the people around you like pain, fear, and the whole bunch of emotions. All this is using your battery.

At the end we are overstimulated and exhausted.

Sometimes it is just a fingertip pointed on us or a voice which feels like a machine gun. In this moment we just can’t handle it anymore. These impressions go deep in our neurosystem, our body senses them as an attack.

Breaks are really important!

Highly sensitive people tend to listen to everything around them. They are helpers refilling empty glasses, bringing cushions, supporting others even before somebody asks for it. Sometimes they feel or see trouble arising. Balance is essential because they are so much outside themselves.

The biggest problems we usually have because we tend to reach up to other peoples expectations mostly when we don’t even realize it. We take everything in so deeply.

Our greatest capacities are our phantacy and the ability of daydreaming. It makes it easy for us to open up for the spiritual world around us and meditate. We are able to feel the power of trees and music or a wonderful sunset can make us cry. I often need hours to calm down after a movie or a concert. The hardest part for me is when people are not authentic because of the difference between their words and their behaviour. What do they really want me to do? How do they expect me to react? This is quite exhausting and a little bit like roulette. That’s why we have deep connections to animals. They are always authentic. My daughter for example has incredible relationships to animals like an animal whisperer.

We love to have deep and true relationships. There is no need to be serious or spiritual all the time. But we really hate small talk. Whether we get tired or bored.

Today I understand why I didn’t like some people from my childhood. They were not authentic. They showed a smile on their faces but on the inside it looked different. My parents never understood that. But at least they accepted that I stayed away from these people.

There was a time when I tried to cut this capacity off and just listened to the words people were saying. This was even worse because I cut off my navigationsystem. I listened to the truth of others and neglected mine. Most of the time I ended up at a point where I didn’t want to be.

It is important for everybody to find their core and listen to their intuition. For us it is more difficult because we listen to others first.

Studies say that 30% of us are extroverts. They go out and talk, are in action dominant. 70% are introverts. They go inside and their strenght is to express emotions. They don’t talk much. But you better listen when they say something. It is usually something very important.

To find our balance, it is really important to close doors behind us physically and emotionally. Like you swipe off those Apps you want to get rid off. Just to save energy and recharge.

Here a wonderful exercise:

Sit down, feet on the ground and relax. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breath. Take some deep breaths and relax even more. When you have settled down, imagine a big magnet right in front of you. It takes all the foreign energies out of your field and returns them back to their owners. When this is done, it returns all your lost energies back to you. Feel how you recover and get stronger again. When you are ready, turn back into the room and open your eyes.

It doesn’t take long so you can practise it wherever you are and feel tired. Take care.