Highly Sensitive People are a special category of human.\u00a0 About 20% of all people are \u201cHighly Sensitive\u201d and that turns out to be true for 20% of dogs and horses.\u00a0 Possibly all mammals exhibit this category.\u00a0 The brains of HSPs are organized a little differently.\u00a0 Where 80% of the population would see two shades of red, a Highly Sensitive Person might see as many as eight.\u00a0 This means that they can see nuances and distinctions where others can\u2019t, but they can also be more easily overwhelmed.\u00a0 Since overwhelm is the essence of trauma, I suspect that HSP\u2019s are more likely to be traumatized.<\/p>\n
When I finally read the book by Elaine Aron<\/a>, I was so relieved.\u00a0 My mother was always telling me \u201cdon\u2019t be so sensitive\u201d as though I had a choice.\u00a0 Once at a wonderful retreat for women (Woman\u2019s Way) we had done \u201cdreambody paintings.\u201d\u00a0 Each of us had lain down on a large piece of paper while someone traced the outline.\u00a0 There were certain things assigned \u2014 injuries and surgery, number of pregnancies and births \u2014 and we could also add symbols from our dreams.\u00a0 When they were finished we hung them on the wall and walked around looking at them.\u00a0 Zanda (one of the leaders, Alexandra Merrill<\/a>) came up to me and said something like \u201cYou are trying to take in too much.\u00a0 Use your venetian blinds.\u201d\u00a0 That was hugely, unbelievably helpful.\u00a0 She was the first person to suggest that yes, I was sensitive, and I had to learn how to manage it.\u00a0 I told my trauma therapist about the “venetian blinds” and she thought it was a very useful image. About a decade later the book was published, and I was able to understand in greater depth what I was dealing with.<\/p>\n For more about Alexandra<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Highly Sensitive People are a special category of human.\u00a0 About 20% of all people are \u201cHighly Sensitive\u201d and that turns out to be true for 20% of dogs and horses.\u00a0 Possibly all mammals exhibit this category.\u00a0 The brains of HSPs … Continue reading