As I have written before, I am one of these highly sensitive people. I sense, pick up, and connect with so much that I even have a difficult time making sense of it. In fact, I am sometimes not even aware of all that I pick up, but I feel it all the way to my bone. Some days it helps me greatly and other days it is pure hell to deal with in life.
For instance, when I walk into a building and/or office, I can sense an energy or a feel to the place. Within moments, I get a generalized sense of many characteristics of that building and/or office. It isn't just the decor or interior decorating. It isn't just the pleasantness of the receptionist or the cold hard stares. It is much more than that and I base all of my reactions in regards to what my senses tell me.
Another case where this comes into play is in a sense of knowing that certain events may take place. I'm not talking about being psychic here, although many may claim it is and they may be right. I'm talking about a sense of knowing that things aren't going to go the way everyone intends or that things aren't quite right. Recently, I went to a potential job site the night before so I could make sure I would be able to find the building. When I arrived at the building, I instantly knew that this was not the place for the job, but had no way to verify it. Sure enough, the next day my intuition and gut sense feeling was spot on.
There are times when I'm walking through a crowd of people and the images that flash before my eyes can be overwhelming. It is like each person has a movie screen playing with major events of their life. I still struggle with this because it is hard for me to turn this off and ignore it. I see it as plain as day and sometimes I feel it so strongly. The more people there are and the closer I am to them in proximity, the stronger this gets. As it gets stronger, if I am not careful to recognize it quickly, it becomes overwhelming.
When I work with or around people in business situations, I am often succumbing to what is going on in their psychological and energetic field. Even though in a business situation, I can't sit there and chat with someone on a very deep and personal level, it is almost impossible for me to ignore everything else taking place in their life. It happens instantly with people these days and sometimes takes so much energy from me to focus off of these things. I never would violate any personal boundaries in discussing this stuff with anyone who is not a client of mine, but all of this is happening internally for me in that moment.
Being a highly sensitive person, I feel and sense all kinds of input around me. Most people would not even pick up, see, sense or feel what I do (and what others like me would). Some people may or may not hear a sound, but to me sounds are magnified by a thousand and so that same almost inaudible sound would be excruciating noise blaring at loud decibels.
The same goes for light. What people may barely notice is blindly excruciatingly for me. Seeing headlights at night can be painful, just as the flashing lights from emergency vehicles. It is magnified many times over for me to the point where I become overwhelmed and exhausted because of it. It is one of the reasons why I paid extra to install an auto dimming rear view mirror in my vehicle. Trust me when I say, it makes a big difference for me driving.
On top of all these things, I sense stuff from the plants, rocks, trees, clouds, wind, sky and sun. I sense it to a point where I feel like I am at one in communication with all these things. They aren't just things that exist, but they provide an energy that I connect with. Some days that is a good thing and other days, the messages I pick up are overwhelming. For people who claim they are vegetarian and eating plants causes plants no harm, is a statement that has no basis of fact in my mind.
For a long time, I thought being a highly sensitive person meant I was going to experience a lifetime of torture. I saw no good in it until I met some people who were this way and began to show me how to find balance in my life. The more I learn about how to let go of all that I hold on to and all that I have experienced throughout my life, the more I see there can be peace. I see there is a way to live and exist in life with all of these abilities and things that I sense and pick up.
I still struggle in business situations with my sensitivity because too many will easily try to take advantage of this. I find it appalling, but then I see these forces at work in our world and can understand it. Some times, the hurt deepens widely and other times, I can just let it go. Either way, it takes a great deal of energy to do this and survive through a day.
There is so much more around us then many of us realize. We don't live in a two dimensional world like we are taught or we often believe. There is so much more and so much to connect with, if we only allow ourselves to do this. It requires a person to be whole with their intentions and their heart, along with a willingness to travel into these unknown worlds. Highly sensitive people can help others in our world come to know and sense these things, if people so choose.
I write this blog post as a way to explain more about myself to the world and to help me understand who I am. I write this blog post as a way for the world to understand a little more of what makes up everything that many don't often see. The world is not an either or situation, but a shade of many colors created by many dots of light. What we sense and know is only a small part of all that there is and the quicker you come to that realization in your every day life, the more the world will open up.
At this point in my life, I no longer shy away from realizing I am living as a highly sensitive person. At one time, not long ago, I would have avoided this subject and tried to hide everything I just wrote about myself.
Blog Post And Images (c) 4/6/13 by Don Shetterly
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Thanks Don. I too am a highly sensitive person. It's destroyed my life in a lot of areas, but I feel blessed in other areas.
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