HSPs and the Power of Saying "No"
Over the years, I have written a number of posts here, about various aspects of "boundary setting," as it relates specifically to HSPs.As a group of people, HSPs probably have more issues with poorly defined (or completely lacking) personal boundaries than the population at large. One of the great challenges for the HSP is using the word "no." Of course, many non-HSPs also struggle with saying no, and with a sense of "guilt" when they do say no."No" is a simple little word, and yet it's extremely powerful in terms of helping us establish personal boundaries, keep our sanity, and prevent us from becoming horrib

Moments and Insights That Change Us
I've been away for a couple of weeks, and have been pondering long and hard where to resume my writing. It's not "writer's block" that's the issue, it's "too many ideas syndrome."Being on holiday allows for an interesting break of state. We "step out of the loop" of our daily grind, and stop running for long enough to stand back and observe ourselves. And we can see things we don't see, while we're trapped in our busy-ness. Sometimes, we can see the "current me;" sometimes we gain insights into specific moments and insights that allow us to realize "Oh! That's how I got here...." Change-- that is, the

The Pitfalls of Expectations
Although "getting one's feelings hurt" is only a part of high sensitivity, HSPs do tend to get their feelings hurt rather more often than most people.This is perhaps not the news you want to hear, but sometimes it really seems like we “set ourselves up” for suffering by having all sorts of expectations about others, or events, or activities… which then fail to live up to what we'd hoped for. And if you tend to be idealistic by nature, then these disappointments can hit quite hard.In an HSP web group I belong to, someone was recently lamenting how people “never write back” in response to emails, or fa

HSPs and "Changing the World"
When I find myself with a group of HSPs, one of the common topics seems to be about how we can "change the world."Perhaps it is true of everyone that they want to change the world (in SOME way), but it seems like HSPs ponder these issues more, and more often are anchored in the sense of idealism also common to "NF" Myers-Briggs types. For many, "changing the world" is more of a compulsion, than just an interest.I've previously written about the issue of c

Tribe Magazine and Community for HSPs
In 1996, Elaine Aron published her book "The Highly Sensitive Person" and since then hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people have learned that there is a "name" for these odd feelings we've always had, and that that this "thing" we feel isn't some "illness," or "mental disorder," but a natural and innate biological trait.Our journeys to understanding and healing (as HSPs and human beings) may have taken many different forms-- for most of us there has been much learning, along with a sense of relief at knowing that "we are not alone," and nothing has to be "fixed."In 1996, there was not much information available about High Se