Are You a “Highly Sensitive Person”?
ByIn 2012, I attended a life-changing retreat for “highly sensitive persons” with Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person
and numerous other books. People with this trait, which Dr. Aron discovered and put on the psychological map in the late 1990s when her book was published, make up approximately 20 percent of the population. The distinguishing trait is that their nervous systems are more finely tuned than the rest of the population. As a result, they process emotions and experiences differently than most people.
Although only 20 percent of people have this trait in the general population, a much larger percentage of my clients–perhaps even 80%–seem to have this trait. I think this is for three main reasons:
- HSPs need higher quality nurturing, and most parents do not know how to parent HSPs. (Elaine has an excellent book on how to parent an HSP.)
- HSPs who do not get quality nurturing, research shows, tend to have more problems than non-HSPs. But also–HSPs who do get good nurturing do better in life than most people. So environment is key.
- HSPs tend to be drawn to a spiritual approach, and since The Healing Codes address issues from a “heart” or spiritual perspective, many are drawn to The Healing Codes as a mode of healing. (Also healing prayer and other spiritual approaches.)
Elaine Aron’s work fascinates me for a number of reasons. First, it was such a ground-breaking discovery for the world. No one had identified that trait before. At least, no one had done it in such a penetrating, comprehensive, and positive way before Elaine Aron.
Second, as a former publishing coach I’m fascinated by the success of the book. It is selling just as well now as it did when it came out in 1998, Elaine told me, with no real advertising. It is a prime example of success due to word-of-mouth marketing. People read the book, the light bulb goes off for them, and then recommend it to other people who might be highly sensitive also.
Just as I’ve been doing for clients, and am doing now.
Finally, I love the book because of how much it personally helped me. Like many HSPs, I was told I was “too sensitive” when I was young. It was seen as a defect, and most of my life I have tried to overcome it. Elaine Aron has shown me it’s not something to be overcome, but embraced. There are many benefits, to myself and to others, of this trait. And the challenges, such as needing more down time and time to process experiences and emotions, Elaine addresses beautifully in both the book and workbook.
If you think you might be a Highly Sensitive Person, take the Highly Sensitive Person self-test and get the book, perhaps the workbook as well. My clients who have done so find them tremendously helpful.
UPDATE, 8/6/14: If you want to know what it’s like to be a Highly Sensitive Person, click to read this article, “Ten Challenges of an HSP’s Daily Grind.” If you find yourself relating, you can address some of the issues with a Healing Code –either the universal Healing Code for a custom Healing Code from me.
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I Just love all of the Healing that has happened since i starting The Healing Code 10 years ago. The simple little code is all i have done over the years in and out of experiences and obstacles that have come up in life. I am a Sensitive Artist and my secret is to just keep it all simple…if you believe you will see results…nothing fancy…so glad to have discovered Diane and her writings now at this stage…they are the icing on the cake for my healing code journey!
Thanks so much for sharing, Sonia! What an encouragement to others–and to me! Your comment came at just the right time for me. 🙂 Much love and blessings to you! I love to hear from Sensitive Artists. “Keep is simple” is one of the current themes God is trying to show me–so thanks again!
[…] have written before about being a Highly Sensitive Person, because so many people who come to The Healing Codes are HSPs. HSPs feel and process things more […]
Hi Diane: I have been doing healing codes for 3 months and although my heart issues test went from 188 (with 4 minuses) to 233 (with no minuses), no healing is apparent. If I only had one health problem, this could be the case but I have many, so change should be apparent. The only thing that is apparent is my increasing impatience. I used to be considered a very patient person so I was looking forward to the Master Key as maybe the breakthrough. I did not realize nor could anyone else that there were 2 programs. the one… Read more »
Shirley, I can understand your frustration about not getting healing and so trying all these new things, still no relief, and always the sense that something new and better is down the pike. But healing is a tricky thing. So often, people who say, "The Healing Codes haven't helped at all, I don't feel any change," then go get some medical tests and find out that things have changed for the better. In your case, though, it sounds like your "heart issues" have gotten worse. I find when that happens, it's a sign that hidden issues are coming to the… Read more »
I think Alex is truly trying to help people, but I, too, found that the healing codes did nothing for me, so bought the Master Key and finally the ultimate master key. Still no healing. I keep getting emails about new and better products from Alex. Like the last gal, there is just so much one can afford
Anne, I wrote a post on this blog that addresses this: http://healingheartissues.com/what-we-really-want/.You might enjoy it. At least you’ll know how I feel about such things.
Hi Diane: I hope I did not bother you by writing to you during your vacation time, I did'nt know you were on vacation.
Yes, I feel I'm Highly sensitive and you enjoy your vacation, I'll wait for you to return from your vacation. Please feel free to call me; I've started doing codes, dont know though if I'm doing it right or not.
Enjoy your vacation.
Sina
Sina, I have a detailed video you can view at http://www.healingcodevideo.com. That should help a lot.