Approximately one in ten North Americans are Highly-Sensitive People.  They make up 30% of my practice and I am one myself.  Are you?  You probably already know, but may not have had the words to describe it.

Here are some indicators taken from Dr. Elaine Aron's book The Highly Sensitive Person and from my own experience. You may

·    be easily fatigued

·    have difficulty sleeping

     ·    have a tendency to anxiety

·    have been described as too "sensitive," "thin skinned" or "emotional"

·    be easily overwhelmed

·    be overly attentive to what is going on around you

·    feel an urge to retreat to a "safe" place alone

·    cancel or avoid plans with others

·    be affected by other people's moods

·    have sensitivities to foods and the environmental

·    be exceptionally intuitive and artistic

·    be overly sensitive to noise and light

·    have unusual reactions to healing modalities  

Highly-Sensitive People are no more conscious than anyone else, but they experience things more intensely.  Extreme sensitivity is usually present at conception as a part of one's karma, though in some instances traumatic life experiences can exaggerate an already sensitive nature. In that case, clearing the residue of those experiences can somewhat diminish the degree of sensitivity.

Many have an urge to hide or suppress who they are. Some try excessive activity to try to dull the sensations. Addictions may be born from an inability to tolerate overwhelmed feelings. If you ignore the messages from the Body/Mind as to how to live your life within the envelope of your sensitive nature, if you push yourself too hard for too long, spend years chronically overwhelmed, illness nearly always follows.

It's best to find a work environment where you can control your space. Because you tend to be conscientious and good at what you do, people will seek you out.  Any job where your co-workers have free access to you will be challenging as you may not feel free to escape if you begin to feel overwhelmed. Working from home may be ideal.

Boundaries are challenging for Highly-Sensitive Persons. The line between you and another is thin, and it's easy to sense that you're losing yourself. But it's possible to learn to be totally with yourself and still acutely aware of the other as well.  I recall a life-long wish that I could "live in my own skin," without knowing what the wish meant. Donna Eden, in her book Energy Medicine, refers to this state as permeable energetic boundaries. 

This experience is doubly true with an intimate partner or family members and can interfere with having a smooth and easy way of relating. If you feel an upset somewhere and get scared that it may be directed toward you, you're distracted from being in intimate contact. The feelings you're picking up may be something that never needs to be expressed and may get resolved in some other way; or may be part of someone else's internal process that does not need discussion. But to an extremely sensitive nature it may seem very real and important and you may feel a desire for immediate resolution, or you may avoid the relationship, both of which may create more problems than they solve.

How can you live comfortably with your nature? By learning skills that can help you deal with the challenge of permeable energetic boundaries, by learning to quiet yourself and to release stress and negative conditioning, to heal old wounds, to practice more effective communication, and to learn discernment around the messages you receive from the environment.

If you don't already see your heightened sensitivities as a gift, it's harder to be gentle with yourself as you explore its challenges. For instance, if you feel overwhelmed and need to take steps to protect yourself, you may have to remind yourself that this is an act of self-nurture rather than self-absorption.  And as most most Highly-Sensitive Persons are acutely intuitive it may help to know that you were given this gift for a reason. To embrace it fully, it helps to know what that reason is.

I meet Highly-Sensitive people whose lives perfectly suit their natures; but the ones I see in my practice are usually living outside the physical and emotional boundaries dictated by their inborn sensitivity. While my own healing from a lifetime of multiple sclerosis and environmental illness required far more than learning how to live the life of a Highly-Sensitive Person, had I been able to hear the Body/Mind wisdom at an earlier age, it's very likely I wouldn't have found myself completely disabled. 

If you're struggling with your ultra-sensitivity, it's never too soon - or too late - to embrace who you are, to learn to live comfortably with it, and to cherish its gifts as they manifest in you.