People ask me how they can know for sure if they are a sensitive or an empath all the time, and my goal with this blog is to help provide an answer!
First, let’s define a “highly sensitive person” as a person whose nervous system is more acutely attuned than 75-80% of the earth's population. These people are high in sensory processing sensitivity, have increased emotional sensitivity, and can even be empathetic—feeling on behalf of another. We have stronger reactivity to internal and external stimuli like pain, hunger, or light for example. HSPs also tend to have a complex inner life, which often means we're spiritually-focused. See yourself yet?
Most times, we don't actually recognize that there is anything particularly special or different about us because it’s just who we are. These traits are woven into our fabric, and we can assume everyone experiences the world the same way we do. It usually takes someone outside of ourselves to point out that isn’t the case, and many times this isn’t done in a loving and supportive manner. It often sounds something like, “Get over it! Why are you so sensitive!?!?”
Image © Olya Kobruseva/Unsplash
That’s how it was for me until one day when I was sitting with one of my teachers and I said, “You know how you walk into a room and just know what everyone's thinking and feeling?”
She said, “That's actually not something everyone can do.” She went on to explain that this was something unique to me, or a very small part of the population. In that moment, the world made sense. Until then, I hadn’t been able to rectify how people could do and say the things they did, creating such a pain-ridden world, if everyone felt and understood each other.
I understood myself at a deeper level than ever before and felt free to be more of myself and to approach the world in my way, understanding it wasn’t everyone’s way.
My hope is that the things mentioned here will help you to understand your greatness—how you are different and unique—and how you can better be of service to yourself and to the world through the sensitivities that truly are your superpowers.
Here are 5 simple ways to recognize that you're sensitive or empathic:
1. Overstimulation. Strong sensory input can completely derail us. Things like potent smells, loud noises, bright light, or too much movement, can cause us to want to shut down and protect. We often need to withdraw to have relief.
This is one of the first things we can notice with highly sensitive children. They tend to get overstimulated and act out or shut down. We can support them (and ourselves) by giving them a place to go and making it safe for them to get away. This will give them the opportunity to regroup and re-establish themselves.
Then allow them to choose to stay away or to reenter the situation from a more grounded and stable place.
As adults, we often convince ourselves that we need to go back into the situation, but giving ourselves the freedom not to is also a valid choice. It's within our power and our right.
We need to be just as understanding and loving with ourselves as we are with others, maybe even more so.
2. Chemical Sensitivity. Many highly sensitive people are sensitive to chemicals, cleaners, dust, pollutants, soaps, etc. We also tend to have food sensitivities or be greatly affected by certain additives in food.
All input is magnified in our systems, and because we're more sensitive than most of the population, we react. A little goes a long way for us, so listen to your body!
3. We Feel Others’ Pain. We feel or intuitively know anothers’ need, pain, discomfort and often feel compelled to respond.
For example, if you go into a doctor's office waiting room and see somebody who's uncomfortable or worried, you might feel called to speak with them so they feel more relaxed and comfortable. It's the healer in you, and sensitive people tend to have this quality.
Our ability to feel or anticipate another's pain means that we can be an agent of healing for them, if we so choose. We intuitively know what to do to alleviate discomfort. Even if we don’t know where the guidance comes from, we just know what to do.
It also gives us the ability to make choices in situations that others might not realize are possible. We are able to read it in more depth, process more information more quickly, and act accordingly. This is often the case for people who grew up in volatile situations and have honed their sensitivities as a result.
4. We Deeply Resonate with Beauty. Things that we can perceive through any of our 5 senses can have the power to affect us at our core—art, color, a scent like an essential oil, a delicious taste, a lovely sound, or music, etc. We feel these things at their essence, and they can realign us very quickly.
This is a key superpower because if we are having a bad day, or are stuck energetically, sensory input can help us to turn it around really quickly. (It’s not all negative!)
Aside: I had a friend that would order food in a restaurant and the most beautiful plate would come out. The waitstaff would set it down in front of her and she would immediately send it back, much to their confusion. When asked why, she very plainly told them that the cook was in a bad mood, that energy was in the food, and she was not about to ingest it.
It was really interesting watching them grapple with how to explain this while being baffled that she actually knew what was up in the kitchen! (The rest of us usually ate, as we were not sensitive in the same way that she was.)
That’s the thing. We are all individuals and completely unique expressions of the Divine, even when we lump ourselves into the same boxes.
5. Aversion to Pressure. Because so many of us have learned that we need to push through, this one often goes undetected. How we do under pressure in competition or under observation can point us right to our level of sensitivity.
If the idea of being observed doing a task that you would do every day makes you nervous, jittery, or shaky, chances are pretty good that you're a highly sensitive person.
Even Sensitives who are normally super-talented at something can enter a competition feel shaky and nervous. We might even do much worse than we would normally, or not even be able to perform!
Our nervous systems are running on 10 all the time, and when we add this extra pressure it can become too much for us to handle. We might even find ourselves losing control in the situation.
If you recognize yourself or your child in at least one or two of these items, it's safe to say that you're a highly sensitive person, maybe even an empath. One does not always equal the other, but they often go hand in hand.
Most sensitive adults have grown up and have entered a workforce that has demanded we function like the other 80% of the population. There was no place for our sensitivity when we needed to show up and perform. This caused us to adopt pushing behaviors to overcompensate, exerting more energy than we actually had just to get through the day.
Eventually, we would fall to the couch or bed exhausted and have to recoup ourselves for days to weeks.
Because we are now in positions of leadership, things are changing. There is more understanding for children who are sensitive and the way they process. In some cases, they are even being guided to work with their sensitivities instead of against them!
This will continue to change as we grow to accept ourselves on deeper and deeper levels and leave ourselves space to figure out what works for us as individuals, as well as as a group.
If you would like to take the full assessment to see if you are a highly sensitive person as created by Dr. Elaine Aaron, the person who coined the term, you can tap this link.
It's my sincere hope that we can all see ourselves clearly and step more fully into our authenticity. The earth sorely needs us to show up as we were created—exactly perfectly suited to do the work we are here to do!
XO
Theresa
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If daily energy work would help you to step into your authentic, sensitive superpowers, check out The Membership, where you'll also experience a phenomenal community of like-hearted people working to expand themselves the same way you are.