How to connect to the heart of your creativity
Do you play an instrument or sing? Draw, paint, or sculpt? Write prose or poetry or drama? Make quilts, fashion furniture, take beautiful photographs? Cultivate a garden? Most sensitive people are creative or artistic. You are keenly attuned to beauty and subtlety....
Are you cloudy with a chance of overwhelm?
In the chaotic year after I left my marriage, I put my oboe on the shelf. After years of performing and teaching, it was a big change to work as a sort of Girl Friday for an arts organization. It wasn't a bad change, but it was a big one, and my emotional state was...
It’s OK to be “too intense” and “too serious.” Seriously.
Being sensitive means you feel things deeply. Yet many sensitive people are reluctant to express strong emotions in front of others. We've learned it isn't safe to expose ourselves this way, lest others respond by trying to fix us or by minimizing or dismissing our...
12 reasons sensitive people love Focusing
When I was a kid, my grandfather taught my sister and me how to paddle and steer our red canoe. He had just one condition: if we wanted to venture out of his sight, we had to capsize the canoe then figure out how to get it back to the dock. His big worry was drowning,...
3 reasons chores are great for HSP’s, especially when you feel anxious
I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made some marmalade. It's amazing how it cheers one up to shred oranges and scrub the floor. —D. H. Lawrence Last June my partner and I made pin cherry jelly. We picked the sweet, glossy fruit from the...
How to rescue your day when you wake up anxious
I know too well what it feels like to wake up anxious, feeling a nameless dread sitting on my chest like some heavy animal and trying to will myself back to sleep because I don't want to be awake. I first had that experience as a teenager and it went on for so many...
Don’t wait
For this week's Listening Post, I'd like to share with you an article I wrote in 2008. As you begin this new year, I hope it helps you connect to the preciousness of your time here. Thanks to Kaitlyn (kaity.wyenberg@gmail.com) for this photo, which so beautifully...
Cheating yourself out of downtime can be expensive—literally.
As we finish up 2015 with a sudden snowstorm, I'd like to share a short but essential YouTube talk by Elaine Aron titled The Highly Sensitive Person. In this eight-minute video, Elaine talks about the trait of sensitivity and makes recommendations for HSP self care....
3 thoughts about enjoying the holidays as a sensitive person
I've always loved the Christmas season. Though I think of myself more as a Buddhist now, I grew up attending the Episcopal church, and the ritual, the carols, and the stories touch a deep place in me. I've performed Handel's Messiah at least three dozen times and...
Crushed by a Death Star inner critic? Meet your unlikely rescuer
When that cruel inner voice attacks me, I can feel very alone. After all, who is going to come to my aid? Luke Skywalker? Yoda? The power of the Force? I don't think so. And I have a feeling Harrison Ford is busy. But there is someone who can help, and that's my...