Is Sensitivity a Blessing or a Burden?

Published by Ben Brown on

Q: Are you Ultra-Sensitive?  Do you considered it a blessing or a burden?

The Burden

Most Ultra-Sensitives (US) people find life here on Earth to be painful.  Even ‘normal’ behavior by others feels harsh and inconsiderate.  Many US’s find just making through the day challenging. If you feel a lot you may have a physical sensation or discomfort, this sensation can grow to indecision, indecision can progress to anxiety, anxiety can progress to panic and destroys US’s ability to function. It is difficult to know where these waves of feelings come from or how to turn the volume down, so many numb themselves. How do they numb themselves?  Usually with addictive activities or substances (TV, gaming, gambling, drinking, smoking). They may have just become emotionally numb, learned to tune it all out, but unfortunately life’s joy goes away at the same time as the pain.  Some may have found solace by retreating to a small town that is friendly or created a life with more animals or plants then people.

Most have learned the challenge and not the gift. They resent their sensitivity and see it as a burden. They have never been taught the Skill Set Needed to work with being sensitive.

The Blessing:

If you are ultra-sensitive and my voice is the first one to tell you that you are gifted I am sad,  but also relieved you are finding this article and reading it.  Your sensitivity is both a burden and a gift! The burden is likely clear, the gift may not be as obvious.

Since you feel more, you are have the opportunity to translate this feeling into art, poetry, music, healing, intuition, love or empathy.

It often takes being ultra-sensitive to penetrate the depths of humanity and come out with something authentic and valuable to share.

The Skill Set Needed

The skill set for an Ultra-Sensitive is both practical and critical to navigate a harsh world.

Here are the key life skills that can help ultra-sensitives:

    1.    Learn to identify your internal stability.
⁃    There is a part of you that is objective and stable, this is your center. US’s need a regular way to identify with that part of themselves (note this is not your emotions, not your physical body nor your mind/thoughts.  It includes them, but is deeper.)
⁃    Meditation and Mindfulness are helpful tools to facilitate this re-identification. (especially Witness Meditation).
⁃    Start your day with Meditation —> re-identification.
    2.    Learn to distinguish ‘self’ from ‘other’.
⁃    When you learn Witness Meditation (as discussed above), you can use this to identify and name what you are experiencing and its most likely source, then separate from it, work with it or move forward with clarity.
3.    Take Care of the Fundamentals.

Listed in the most common order of priority:
⁃    Sleep: most need a full 8 or more hours to process the world.
⁃    Moving Emotions: the word E-motion is great, it is Energy that needs motion.  Most of the time this is best done with creativity (see 5 Healthy Ways to Move Emotions, but the short story is get up and move.  Be it art, journaling, throwing clay against the wall , punching a bag, talking to a friend or therapist or going for a brisk walk, move that energy.
⁃    Warm Nourishing Meals: when challenged eat oatmeal not cold cereal, soup not salad.
⁃    Staying warm: wear an extra layer or jacket and don’t get stuck in the cold wind.
⁃    Nurturing: having animals around that are cuddly can be so healing, taking a warm bath with your favorite scented water, by candlelight with soothing music, soft nurturing massage. You get the idea.
4.    Learn to protect yourself
⁃    Energetically: it is often helpful to imagine a protective shield around you. A Brilliant Blue diamond hard electric light force field the shape of an egg can work well. Many have learned something like this in your tradition as nearly all traditions have faced this issue.
⁃    Verbally:  If there is a repeated scenario that leaves you feeling hurt snappy responses to common challenges are helpful. Work with a dear friend, a coach or a therapist to help you be prepared for these common scenarios. Also learning how to say ‘No’ gracefully can be an invaluable tool.
⁃    Physically: Taking a self defense course, martial arts classes or other forms of self defense can be super helpful to give US’s a deeper confidence navigating a harsh world.
5.    Learn how to non-locally affect change.

This is often done with a practice known as Meta-Meditation or Loving-Kindness Meditation or Prayer.  These can be learned easily (more on a future post). You can start with sending good thoughts to a situation.
6.    Get professional help when needed: Especially for issues like addiction, panic and early life trauma’s.

As you learn these skills and practice them you will start to see your sensitivity as a gift . This will help you develop the resiliency to turn your burden into a blessing so you can safely share your gifts with the world.