Inside the Life of an HSP: The Light, the Dark, & the Shadow

Okay, so you’re a high sensitive. A Highly Sensitive Person. An HSP.

Or are you? How do you know?

Here are just a few of the criteria that indicate you are one of us (for a more full assessment, link here). *Add “more than the people around you” to each of these statements.*

• You are sensitive to loud noises…more than the people around you….
• You avoid large crowds. When you’re in them, you feel anxious or overwhelmed or fearful…
• You cry. A lot…
• You feel as if you not only empathize with how people feel, but actually feel what they’re feeling…
• You feel as if you spend your life trying to protect yourself from the people, things, and feelings you believe will hurt you…

How did I become such an expert on high sensitivity? By being an HSP my entire life. Ever since I drew my first breath and started gasping for relief from the intensity of the world at large. And by learning how to relish my sensitivities instead of trying to manage them, fix them, complain about them, revere them above all else to where they rationalized all my decisions and actions, and/or reject them…none of which approaches ever worked anyway.

I’ll be talking about things like how HSPs engage with the world of Covid at some point, as well as HSPs and the world of addiction, but for now let’s stay general to get a sense of the big picture.

Living as an HSP in a world where logic and reason supposedly reign immediately sends us the message that we are not on the right path, that we are missing something or are broken or inept. That we have to force ourselves to conform or stay in a corner for fear of being discovered. Especially those of us who are aware we hear from spirit. Fageddaboudit. Talk about needing to hide!

I only point out the negative here to reflect on the positive, however. So…here it comes, the biggest, most critical, most life-changing message of all:

Your experiences—the way you feel and go about experiencing your life—are only indicators of high sensitivity.

“What, you say? That’s it?” I know. Doesn’t seem like a big deal. But hear me out.

What if I told you that your tendency to cough at inopportune moments (like while you’re in the middle of a solo passage during a concert) were really an indicator that you are being self-critical? What if your tendency to trip and fall and hurt yourself were really an indicator that feeling vulnerable helps you feel taken care of?

The what ifs go on forever. Indicators vary from person to person, and yet tend to follow trends based on the internalized issues we face.

Clients come to me with all sorts of “issues.” Although they often come in wanting to hear from their loved ones who have passed, more often than not, sessions become as much about their own perceived inability to cope. Doesn’t matter whether it’s coping with loss or fear or anxiety or physical ailments or guilt or shame. What matters is that as an intuitive medium it’s about helping you connect with your highest self to bring you into awareness around the brilliantly sensitive person you are.

Once you understand the theory behind indicators, you can see how much of our lives are spent mislabeling what feels real, appears real, and the people around us tell us is real:

• That our physical problems are simply a result of a body that needs fixing
• that our anxiety in crowds is a problem we need to get over
• that all our sensitivities are annoying to others who simply don’t want to be bothered

Believe me, I get it. Wholeheartedly. With the investment of someone living it every single day. What I’d like you to know is that things are not always what they seem. That YOU are not necessarily what others have agreed you are or you have bought into believing you are. That there is so much more to living life as a “vacationing angel in a biodegradable human suit” than meets the eye.

• Think about it.
• Think differently.
• Think with your heart first.

And start to live like the amazing HSP you truly are.