The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You

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Today, we know that it does. Kagan and his associates followed many of the babies into adulthood. Those high-reactive infants, now in their 30s and 40s, have become high-reactive adults. They still have big reactions – they confess to getting nervous in crowds, over-thinking things and worrying about the future. But they also work hard and excel in many ways. Most earned high grades in school, built good careers and made friends just as easily as anyone else did; many were thriving. And many described how they had built confidence and calm in their lives while still preserving their sensitivity. This book is a major contribution to the subject of intuitive sensitivity and its relationship to the evolution of human consciousness. It provides an insightful and instructive understanding of this profound subject, and the various other experiences that often accompany it. Filled with a rich assortment of helpful tools, it is a must-read.” —William Meader, author, international lecturer and teacher of esoteric philosophy Talk about a powerhouse! This book uses proven therapeutic techniques to take on anxiety, stress and emotional overload — all presented in a thoughtful warm-hearted way. Author Julie Bjelland draws on years of clinical practice working specifically with HSPs. The book offers inspiration, self-insight and a hands-on method to reshape your brain. And I would LOVE to be able to claim that I have a legitimate, neuro-scientific cause for these traits--I could justify needing a nap every day and needing to not hate my job! Vivid dreams, a deep need to have alone time, easily overwhelmed by loud noises, sensitivity to pain, a rich and complex inner life or searching for a deeper meaning to life… All signs you might be an HSP.

As yet another reviewer notes, Aron does get into New Age and religion. I won't deny that it probably helps many HSPs in their daily lives, but it went a little too far for me and I definitely just wanted the book to end. If you have a son that is highly sensitive and you want to understand how he is different from the other boys, this book is for you. Another cause for Aron and her fellow HSPs to celebrate is the acceptance into mainstream psychology of the HSP personality trait. After numerous in-depth interviews, as well as surveys of over one thousand people, Dr. Aron’s findings have been published in Counseling Today, Counseling and Human Development, Personality and Social Psychology Review, Brain and Behavior, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience and the prestigious Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, as well as in chapters of various books such as The Handbook of Temperament. Most of us feel overstimulated every once in a while, but for the highly sensitive person, it’s a way of life. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person herself, shows you how to identify this trait in yourself and make the most of it in everyday situations.

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In the last chapter, the author also provides a guideline to help you set up your own HSP discussion group. I love learning, and here I realised there are so much to this concept. Things I knew but was not made concrete until now. A sensitivity to light, sound, smell just to name a few. I suppose most interestingly to me was the susceptibility to cold. This rang so true for me. As did those prior sensitivities. I am unfortunately well able to a high level of discomfort when working with people who don't have clean clothing or who possibly are not very hygienic. Sometimes this is honestly hard to tolerate, and knowing I'm not abnormal is helpful.

Sensitivity has a PR problem: we’re accustomed to seeing its downsides,” says Jenn Granneman, one of the writers of a new book on the subject, Sensitive: The Power of a Thoughtful Mind in an Overwhelming World. Co-authored with Andre Sólo, they’re also founders of Sensitive Refuge, described as the world’s largest network of HSPs. Sensitive is synonymous with oversensitive, explains Granneman, and HSPs are often told they should “be less sensitive”. Yet it’s impossible to change the reactivity of one’s nervous system. It’s like trying to be less tall. It’s impossible to change the reactivity of one’s nervous system. It’s like trying to be less tall Identifying which type of empath you are is essential for HSPs. It gives you a way to discern what kind of stimuli will affect you most. It also helps you to recognize your strengths. For instance, knowing you’re an emotional empath can guide you to help people who are compatible with your sensitivities while avoiding others who can be emotionally draining.This book so far has been all over the place. It's talking about "highly sensitive" to outside stimuli, but then talks about sensitivity in regards to being caring and nurturing, as if those things are the same or always go together - which is untrue. For this book, the author has gathered 44 uplifting stories contributed by HSP from all over the world. Reading their stories make you feel that your highly sensitive traits are normal. You are not the only one who experience these struggles. At the end of each story, the author also offers his own perspectives. I am easily overwhelmed by things like bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens close by. Is it possible you just have feelings, and loud noises… are annoying?” I reply. (Maybe I’m less empathic than I think.) In our culture, however, possessing this trait is not considered ideal and that fact probably has had a major impact on you.Well-meaning parents and teachers probably tried to help you "overcome" it, as if it were a defect.Other children were not always as nice about it.As an adult, it has probably been harder to find the right career and relationships and generally to feel self-worth and self-confidence.

Do not overschedule yourself. Allow time to think, to daydream. Keep your expectations realistic. Do not hide your abilities. Be your own advocate. Support your right to be yourself. Accept it when you have narrow interests. Or broad ones. However, after the first three or four chapters, I felt that the book was repeating itself, saying the same things but merely changing the settings. "HSPs are sensitive as children. HSPs are sensitive as adolescents. HSPs are especially affected by puberty. HSPs are especially affected by trauma. HSPs are especially affected by relationships."

I decided to read this after Anne from Modern Mrs. Darcy (modernmrsdarcy.com) recommended it for those of us who would consider ourselves more sensitive than the average person. I remember the blog post distinctly because it was the first time I had ever heard anyone else mention the topic of people who tend to "screen" books with violent content because they prefer to avoid any type of entertainment with it. As someone who has always avoided books, movies and TV shows with violence as well as scary movies in general, this caught my attention. I always thought that my tendency to avoid scary movies was due to my overactive imagination that caused me to have frequent and vivid nightmares after watching these types of movies, which is in part true, but this is also a sign that you might be highly sensitive. stars because I found reading this book to be tremendously validating and meaningful, but at the same time I had a lot of criticisms of it. This book describes that percentage of the population whose systems are easily (over)stimulated by sensory information. Wow, do I wish someone had given me this book to read, like, 10 years ago. I have known Mel for 17 years and she brings light and energy in all that she does. This book is an extension of that and will bring a huge insight to thousands of people.” —Alan Dudley, retired Principal Officer, HM Prison Service 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 .