Being A Highly Sensitive Person Comes With These 19 Unique Superpowers
Own your sensitivity as a gift and bring more of it into the world.
malhrovitz | Canva There are many priceless reasons why being a highly sensitive person is beautiful and why it matters significantly in this world.
- Do you know somebody who has a high sensitivity and perception?
- Have you ever noticed highly sensitive, emotional human natures in your next environments, such as the workplace or the circle of friends, or family?
- Do you wonder if you might be highly sensitive and emotional?
What does it mean to be a highly sensitive person, and what are their superpowers?
Over one billion people around the world are born highly sensitive. The term high sensitivity (HS) or highly sensitive person (HSP) was characterized in the mid-90s by American psychologist and psychotherapist Dr. Elaine N. Aron.
Being highly sensitive is not an illness or a condition. It is an innate temperament trait and a personal characteristic expressed by increased sensitivity and perception. Furthermore, perceived information is experienced as significantly more intense. In combination often appears that people with high sensitivity and high perception are also highly emotional.
They have a physical and emotional sensitivity. In general, the emotional sensitivity is related to the nervous system, and all human beings are sensitive. That means we all get information from our nervous system, and we all answer to that information.
The difference between an ordinary, sensitive people and highly sensitive people is that those who have high perception and high sensitivity receive this information from the nervous system in higher intensity and unfiltered compared to those with average sensitivity, as shown by a 2014 study that found HSP is "associated with stronger activation of brain regions involved in awareness, empathy, and self-other processing".
However, high sensitivity has nothing to do with being an introvert or an extrovert. You may find more introverted and highly sensitive people, and some you will meet are considered more as extroverts.
What do highly sensitive people perceive and sense more intensely than others?
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For instance, noises, smells, touches, human emotional behaviors, human emotional connection in relationships, or environmental atmosphere/state of energy. Highly sensitive people are deep.
- They love deep conversations.
- They see the world in a more significant context.
- They start to wonder what their purpose is, followed by the question, "What am I here for on this earth?" early in their childhood.
- They often have a deeper connection to nature and tend to be very intuitive and spiritual.
I wondered about the sense of life and my purpose on Earth since early in my childhood. On some days, I became aware of my perception of emotions, smells, noises, touches, and my intuition is amazingly high. On other days, it was confusing to me.
I doubted myself and my intense sensitivity and perception. I didn't trust myself nor my intuition, or my extraordinary perception and sensitivity for a long time. Instead of owning it, I resisted it, ignored it, and created a separation from my true self as I thought something was wrong with it. I didn't notice the gift in it for quite a long time.
One day, Dr. Aron's book about high sensitivity crossed my path. I discovered this book and loved it from the very first moment on, as it opened the door to discovering more about this gift within me. It also opened my eyes and gave me new perspectives.
I started to find out more about this personal characteristic and began to learn a lot about myself. It was the first step to stop resisting my authentic self and to start embracing my true self. My curiosity supported me on that path of exploration, and I developed a greater understanding of my inner self and appreciation of myself regarding high emotional sensitivity.
From that moment on, I was able to own it and to see it as a gift and vulnerability at the same time. I experienced great learning! One of my learnings is going on a date with myself, frequently. At this time, I pay intentional attention to myself to practice centering. My commitment to my responsibility for self-care is high as well, in being disciplined by doing it.
Another learning is cleansing. As I feel intensely, in my body, the feelings and emotions of other human beings and I tend to contain a lot of emotions and feelings of others in my system, I learned to channel them and wash them through my body, mind, and soul system instead of keeping them, staying attached to them, or working them through.
It has been an excellent resource for meeting and having conversations with other highly sensitive people and sharing experiences, stories, and world perspectives with them. Another support was coaching. And it was also helpful to get book recommendations.
Today, I'm happy to be conscious about mattering in this world as a woman who owns highly emotional perception and sensation, and I'm aware of the gift of it to bring it into the world and serve the world from that place of vulnerability and gift at the same time.
Here are nineteen unique superpowers of a highly sensitive person:
- Great and strong intuition
- High emotional empathy and the capacity to step into the shoes of others
- Great listeners
- Strong capacity to see the gaps in systems
- Great hearts-strong, thoughtful mind
- High responsibility and reliability
- High tendency to name the elephant in a system
- High spiritual
- Strong connection to nature
- Strong in noticing emotional imbalances between human beings, in relationships, in families, in groups/teams, and in systems
- Strong sense of beauty
- High regard for justice
- Fast thinker
- Analyze issues with lightning speed
- High degree of innovation
- Special understanding of color harmony, sounds, and music
- Often highly gifted in one or many areas
- Emotionally and deeply connected with friends, partners, family, relatives, nature, animals, and planet Earth
- Often, they are significant loyal souls
Often, before highly sensitive people become aware of their excellent personal characteristic, they suffer a lot from it and put themselves in a box of victimization.
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The first step is to become aware of this personal characteristic and accept and acknowledge it to step out of the box of suffering and victimization. Then, continue to be curious about it and create a greater understanding of it and yourself. Develop compassion and tenderness for yourself.
Finally, connect with the vulnerable part of it and start to own it as a gift. Step into the great authority of your book of life from this place of vulnerability and gift, and start to enjoy life from there.
As important as it is to own the gift, it is also essential to maintain self-care as a highly sensitive person. It is significant to take responsibility for yourself and practice connecting to your center frequently. Also feed yourself, fill yourself up, and recharge your batteries as much as possible. A review of research on the evolution of biological responsivity of HSP found "crossover interactions where a trait generates positive or negative outcomes depending on the environment."
Maintaining self-care is high on the list to stay in balance, well energized and healthy. As well to keep the cycle of giving and receiving of love flowing and in balance.
Highly sensitive people own it as a gift and bring it more into the world instead of being dominated by suffering from it. Having high sensitivity and highly emotional perception is a gift and vulnerability at the same time!
Annabelle-Caroline Breuer-Udo is a holistic life coach who focuses on Osteopathy, Coaching ( life coaching, career coaching, somatic coaching, great story coaching), Process-Oriented Psychology, Self-Leadership, TriYoga /Coaching/Psychology, and Bodywork can transform your life.
