Quote:
Originally Posted by Favorite Jeans
MLS Elaine Aron's website is The Highly Sensitive Person you can get the gist of it from there and then check out the books if you're still interested / when you have time. (Like almost every self-helpy book I've ever read, the important parts could be condensed into about 20-30 pages and the rest is fluff and perseveration on the initial points. They all start to lose me when the get into case studies and the author uses each one as an example of what a brilliant therapist she is.)
What I like about her work is that it reframes a sensitive temperament as something that can be very positive (similarly Susan Cain does this with respect to introversion in her book Quiet). Eg crying easily can be a marker of someone who is sincere and caring and if you lose the shame about it you can tear up in public with a lot of dignity rather than feel embarrassed or hate yourself for it.
Re: my earlier point, I guess you can't have empathy for yourself, the word I was looking for is "compassion." |
Thank you for the link to the website FJ,
You are right about her turning it into something positive. After reading the short bit on the website I could actually be a HSP and it exlains a lot and I like the way she says it's ok, everything we are is ok. We are not too sensitive, we shouldn't be ashamed of it. I get this a lot at home and in work, where people say hurtful things and when I react they blame it in me saying I am too sensitive. As a child I was excruciatingly shy(still am a bit) and I found myself needing to be alone a lot and feeling like I had to hide my emotions. I would cry at films or songs on the radio or if I seen someone being hurt or bullied. This explains a lot, thank you
I still get overwhelmed in work with people and their emotions.