We’re living in some super charged emotional times and navigating that kind of energy every day from family and friends and colleagues and the evening news and the pings and the tweets…. well, let’s just say, it can feel absolutely, totally and completely overwhelming.
And then, just for good measure, throw into that frothing mix… you’re sensitive! Very sensitive. As in highly super sensitive.
You’re the kind of person who picks up on energy from the other room, from down the hall, from the town next door for crying out loud. You don’t always know what hit you but you sure can go from feeling just fine, thank you very much, to scrapping yourself off the floor in about 1/2 a millisecond.
And so there we are, you and I, we highly sensitive empaths. Managing our energy isn’t a luxury for us, something we might want to get around to some day, it’s imperative.
There can be a pretty strong pull to blame all this energy on the craziness out there in the world and the people who are out of control and unconscious with their emotional messes and turmoil. And, well yes, that would be true. But I also see it a little differently.
I believe this chaos is forcing us to embrace our genius. It’s inviting you—albeit a bit loudly—to rediscover that part of you that is truly 100% pure treasure…
…that part of you that can be moved by a raindrop on a leaf or the whisper of a breeze through a branch and the song of a bird.
When we delight in life and the ways it touches us, we shower light out into the world. And that, is one of our greatest gifts as highly sensitive people—a win/win/win.
The dark side of this pure genius is that when you disconnect from the open hearted energy of wonder, the world can go pretty negative, pretty quickly.
Self care isn’t optional for you.
Flight correction when you’re caught up in a side wind that’s taking you where you don’t want to go is absolutely necessary.
Because you and I feel things and we feel them too strongly to ignore them. The price tag for ignoring these emotions is way too high—binging on food or wine or Netflix; relationships that don’t fit or work for you; codependence like nobody’s business; unfulfilled dreams that break your heart. And the conclusion of all that is a very watered down, muted life that leaves you blah.
So let’s talk about managing this wonderful, incredible energy that’s Y.O.U.
The absolute number 1, don’t leave home without it, survival tool for a highly sensitive soul is a habit pack.
Okay, now hold on. Don’t stop reading here.
I know you and I aren’t particularly fond of habits and to do lists and all that kind of regimented stuff. It’s not cool. It’s not artistic or creative.
But here’s the thing, that habit practice actually does translate into creative and artistic and cool stuff. Once you develop a habit practice, it will:
- support you and helps self correct energy that’s not yours;
- bring you back to yourself;
- center you;
- get what I call “chakra schmutz” off your chakras;
- harnesses your energy and aims it in the direction you want it to go.
Habits—as in “this is what I do no matter how I’m feeling”—are like a great Golden Retriever covered in mud stepping into a shower and then coming out and shaking all that stuff off.
Here are a few things that I think should be in your habit pack at some point. (And by the way, if you’re just starting with habits, just start with one. One habit, even a tiny one that lasts 2 minutes, done religiously, will set things in motion and will give you huge dividends.)
- Meditation
- Time in nature
- Breathing exercises (I love the 4-7-8 breathing–it’s easy and you can do it throughout the day.)
- Some kind of exercise
- Yoga
- Mindfulness
- Make your bed every morning (I know, may seem silly. But it sets up the day and it tells your brain who’s in charge. The catch is you’ve got to do it even when you don’t want to. Give yourself a day off but do it on the days when you say you’re going to).
- Journal
- Creativity–play the guitar, paint, knit….
- …..
Again, please start small. If there are no habits on your plate, start with one super tiny one you know you’ll do. Let me know how you do. I’d love to hear. What’s working for you and what kinds of changes are you seeing?
