How To Turn Your Sensitivity To Maximum Strength

According to researcher Elaine Aron, about 15-20% of people are naturally very sensitive. Society does not always respond well to such people, who often feel overwhelmed and who react emotionally as well as empathetically because of their sensitivity.

Unfortunately, modern people tend to reject sensitivity because it is often associated with weakness. For this reason, most people suppress their sensitivity without realizing that if this aspect is properly developed and strengthened in man, it can become an invaluable virtue.

Denying your own sensitivity and suppressing your emotions, especially the negative ones, will only cause these emotions to not relax and turn into unsolvable problems. However, if you are aware of your own sensitivity and express it, you will be able to release that emotional energy and it can be channeled in a creative and constructive way.

Sensitivity is natural

Sensitivity is the ability to gather information through the nervous system. It’s natural, and that’s why it’s not a good or bad thing. It’s like a sensitive microphone that picks up even the most subtle sounds.

The nervous system of sensitive people is able to pick up other people’s emotions, weather, lighting, sounds, smells, and more. The body then processes the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions that have emerged within the person.

Accept your feelings

In order to translate your sensitivity into your strength, you need to accept yourself and know how to control your emotions  so that they work for you instead of behaving like a runaway horse. This restraint is not meant to suppress or deny your emotions but rather to allow them to be released at the right time and in the right way.

Suppressing or avoiding emotions often causes so-called meta-emotions,  or in other words, feelings about emotions, such as being angry because you are sad or feeling guilty because you are excited.

Many people engage in conscious or unconscious avoidant behavior that prevents them from feeling both positive and negative emotions. Their sensitivity can make things feel too overwhelming, so they consciously avoid them.

This can be something as simple as turning on the TV after work so you don’t have to think about problems that arise during the day, or drinking alcohol (or ingesting other substances) to numb the stimuli caused by complex social environments. There are some ways you can ignore or make sense of your feelings, come up with excuses so you don’t have to deal with them. But they are not the only ways.

In order to counter this natural tendency, you need to acknowledge the feeling when you have it, accept it as it is,  feel it without condemnation, and accept the physical reactions that ultimately push you to let go of it.

Sensitivity, passion and creativity

Sensitive people are often also passionate and creative. They are often artists because they are more aware of their feelings and better able to share them with others through their work.

Unfortunately, education tends to value scientific and business-related abilities more, from an early age. This drives children away from artistic expression, leaving it to remain a mere supplement to education that is ignored when other, “more important” things take more time.

However, each of us feels a passion for something inside,  no matter what others think. These powerful feelings should be expressed because they act as a compass that tells you what you want to do in your time.

Relax and reflect

Sensitive people tend to be very thoughtful, especially if they spend too much time in intense environments that may be overwhelming for them. It is good for sensitive people to find time to do reflection exercises  and even write them in a diary. This gives them more time to reduce external congestion.

When you give yourself enough time to stop and think, you can become more aware of your own situation and the subtle things that affect you every day, such as water dripping onto a rock.