The Highly Sensitive Person: Understanding Sensitivity as a Strength

Some people move through the world with a thinner barrier between themselves and life. They feel deeply, notice subtle shifts in energy, and absorb the emotional tone of a room before a word is spoken. These people are often described as Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs) — a temperament trait found in roughly 15–20% of the population.

Sensitivity isn’t a flaw or a weakness. It’s a way of being that comes with its own gifts, challenges, and needs. And for many of us, it has shaped our entire lives.

What Does It Mean to Be a Highly Sensitive Person?

Highly sensitive people tend to:

• Feel emotions intensely

• Become easily overstimulated by noise, crowds, or chaotic environments

• Notice subtle details others miss

• Absorb the moods of people around them

• Need more downtime to recover from stimulation

• Experience strong empathy

• Feel physical sensations more acutely

• Have rich inner worlds and deep intuition

Sensitivity is not the same as fragility. It’s a nervous system that processes information more deeply — emotionally, physically, and energetically.

The Physical Experience of Emotional Sensitivity

For some HSPs, emotions don’t just stay in the mind — they land in the body.

I’ve lived this first-hand

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When I was 19, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. Alongside the exhaustion came a deep depression that I didn’t yet have the language to understand. I remember sobbing in my bedroom, overwhelmed by feelings that didn’t seem to belong only to me. My mother would ask, “Why are you crying?” and the only words I could find were:

“I can feel all the suffering in the world.”

It wasn’t dramatic. It was simply true. Emotional interactions felt like physical pain. Other people’s distress landed in my chest, my stomach, my muscles. My body was a tuning fork for the world around me.

Many sensitive people experience this — emotions that register as aches, heaviness, tightness, or fatigue. It’s not “too much.” It’s simply how a sensitive nervous system processes life.

Why Sensitivity Can Lead to Burnout

Because HSPs feel so much, they often:

• Overextend themselves

• Take on others’ emotions

• Struggle with boundaries

• Push through overwhelm

• Ignore early signs of depletion

  
  

This can lead to chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, and physical symptoms — especially if sensitivity was never understood or supported.

But with the right tools, sensitivity becomes a source of strength rather than suffering.

Supportive Practices for Highly Sensitive People

Here are gentle, grounding practices that help sensitive people regulate, release, and reconnect.

• Flower Essences

Australian Bush Flower Essences and Bach Flower Remedies can support emotional balance, overwhelm, and energetic boundaries. They work subtly but powerfully for those who feel deeply.

• Reiki & Energy Healing

Reiki helps clear emotional residue, soothe the nervous system, and restore energetic balance. Sensitive people often respond quickly because their systems are already attuned to subtle shifts.

• Morning Intentions & Affirmations

Setting the tone for the day helps create an internal anchor before the world’s energy arrives.

Examples:

“My energy is my own.”

“I move through today with softness and clarity.”

“I honour my sensitivity.”

• EFT / Tapping

Tapping is incredibly effective for releasing emotional charge after stressful interactions. It helps the body discharge tension instead of storing it.

• Gratitude Journaling

A simple daily practice that shifts the nervous system toward safety, grounding, and expansion.

• Awareness of Triggers

Noticing what drains you — certain environments, people, or sensory inputs — allows you to plan, protect, and pace yourself.

• Nervous System Care

Gentle movement, breathwork, nature time, warm baths, and slow evenings all help sensitive bodies reset.

• Boundaries as Self‑Compassion

Saying no, pausing, or stepping back isn’t rejection — it’s regulation.

Why Sensitive People Make Exceptional Practitioners

Sensitivity is not just something to manage — it’s a gift.

Highly sensitive people often become:

• Practitioners

• Healers

• Therapists

• Bodyworkers

• Energy workers

• Space‑holders

  
  

Because they can feel what others feel. They sense emotional undercurrents, notice subtle shifts, and hold space with depth and compassion. Their empathy isn’t learned — it’s lived.

When sensitivity is supported, it becomes intuition, insight, and connection.

A Final Word

If you identify as a Highly Sensitive Person, know this:

There is nothing wrong with you. You are not “too much.” Your sensitivity is not a burden — it’s a form of intelligence.

With the right tools, boundaries, and support, sensitivity becomes a superpower. It allows you to connect, heal, create, and understand the world in ways others cannot.

And if your sensitivity has ever felt like pain, overwhelm, or loneliness — you’re not alone. There is a way to live gently, fully, and safely in your own body.