Sensitivity is a Strength!
Have you noticed you have a tendency to react to things more strongly than many people do?
Researchers have found that about 20% of people have a genetic predisposition to react more strongly to their environment.
Elaine Aron was one of the first to identify this tendency, and wrote about it in her groundbreaking 1997 book, The Highly Sensitive Person..
In the decades since, thousands of studies have looked more deeply at this trait, which has come to be called Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS).
People with this trait tend to experience many aspects of the environment more strongly including:
Physical environment - sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and how things feel
Internal environment - our thoughts and emotions
Social environment - picking up on other people’s feelings, social cues and dynamics.
Some of the many ways sensitivity can be a strength are:
Compassion and empathy. Sensitive people tend to have more highly active ‘mirror neurons,’ the cells in our brains that let us experience what other people are experiencing, knowing what is like to “walk in someone else’s shoes.” This leads to strengths such as being kind, helpful, and intuitive.
Creativity. Because of taking in so much information from the environment and processing it deeply, sensitive people often are highly creative.
Conscientiousness. Another benefit of processing information deeply is being conscientious, having an acute awareness of the potential effects of our actions.
Our world needs more of these gifts - we need people with qualities such as kindness, compassion, creativity, and cooperation.
Sensitivity also can bring challenges such as feelings of overwhelm and fatigue.
By retraining our brains to be more resilient, we can fully participate in life and share our gifts of sensitivity without becoming burned out and exhausted.
What are some of the gifts of your sensitivity? Send an email or message and let me know.
I’d love to hear from you! Send your comments, questions, and suggestions to liz@happybrainlife.com.
To your beautiful sensitivity!
Liz
P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about the science of sensitivity, The Orchid and the Dandelion by W. Thomas Boyce, MD is a fascinating recent book.
