When sensitivity is part of who you are

There is something worth saying plainly to anyone who has been told, directly or indirectly, that they feel too much: your sensitivity is not what is wearing you out. What is wearing you out is moving through a world that was not built with you in mind, in a culture that still tends to mistake emotional depth for fragility and exhaustion for weakness.

High sensitivity is not a problem that needs solving. Research into sensory processing sensitivity, the trait first described by psychologist Elaine Aron, consistently shows that around 15 to 20 percent of the population process experiences more deeply and are more affected by the emotional states of others. Not as a flaw. As a trait. One that comes with real gifts and real costs, depending on how much support it has around it.

The advice that gets offered most often is some version of “feel it less.” Shield yourself more, build better walls, care a little less. And there is nothing wrong with good boundaries but that framing quietly misidentifies the problem. You cannot live well, love well, or connect well with the dial turned down. What you actually need is a nervous system that can hold what it needs to hold and still find its way back to itself at the end of the day.

This is where essences designed for empathic sensitivity are worth understanding. They are not numbing agents. They do not flatten emotional experience or make you care less about the people and world around you. What they support is the resilience of the structure around the sensitivity: the capacity to return, to regulate, to process without it accumulating. The feeling does not diminish. What diminishes is the cost of it.

If you have been treating your own exhaustion as evidence that something is wrong with you, I would like to ask you to sit with that a little. The most deeply feeling people I know are not the ones who have managed to feel less. They are the ones who have quietly figured out what actually supports them.

Here are some essences that could help if you feel this resonates with you:

• Pansy (South African Essences) - This essence strengthens the sense of self, developing an ability to protect the self, without being defensive. It brings warmth, understanding of and compassion for the self. It also works with strengthening the intuition.
• Carers (Australian Bush Flower Essences) – This essence brings a feeling of calm, helps with revitalisation, allows oneself to look after oneself, brings renewal and inner strength.
• Mumma Mojo (Australian Bush Flower Essences) - This remedy was created to help make mothering more easy and joyful! A great essence to enhance intuition and eases any burden of responsibility and overwhelm. Quite importantly it also helps a mother to pay attention to and look after her own needs, not just her family’s. (You can substitute the word Mother with Therapist for example.)
• Clivia (South African Essences) - This essence facilitates caring for others with inner strength, calmness and trust in the ability to hold loved ones in thoughts of health, protection and expectation of safety.
• Protection (South African Essences) - This essence utilises the energy of crystals and flowers to create a bubble of protection around us. Be grateful and know that you are loved and valued by your Higher Self and Soul, as well as by those in your physical reality. Be conscious of your power of choice – choose to be safe and protected in all that you do and allow this essence to lift your resonance to one in which negativity cannot exist.
• Protection émotionnelle (Deva) - This blend is recommended for those who feel vulnerable, fragile and insecure around other people or their surroundings. For those who are overly emotional, sensitive or easily influenced. Helps to protect from ambient negativity and to develop a sense of security.
• Anzen 24 (Petaltone Essences) - This essence can help with sensitivity by reducing the overreaction of the immune and subtle energy systems (which are often sent into ‘hyperdrive’ by certain external stimulants). It may also assist with other conditions of sensitivity where the body or Aura is working overtime fighting intrusions.
• Northern Twayblade (Alaskan Essences) – This essence helps us ground our sensitivity to the subtle realms more fully into our physical body and life experience; helps us enlighten our needs and realities with the finest aspects of our spiritual wisdom.
• Achillée Jaune (Deva) – This essence is for hypersensitive and vulnerable types who tend to isolate themselves from the outside world for protections. Helps people to open up and lead active social lives while maintaining their individuality and sensitivity.
• Aigremoine (Agrimony) (Deva) – This essence helps those who appears cheerful, jovial and uncomplaining but hides mental torture and worry behind a carefree mask. Agrimony clears suppressed and obstructed emotions, bringing peace and stillness.
• White Violet (Alaskan Essences) – This essence helps those who are highly sensitive or acutely aware of their surroundings maintain a strong sense of self regardless of the dynamics of their environment.
• Raspberry (Spirit-in-Nature) - Raspberry is a vital essence for emotional well-being; by choosing to let go of past hurts, we embrace health. By being compassionate instead of holding onto our pain we become whole in ways which allow us to help others in their quest for wholeness. The healing professions abound with individuals strong in Raspberry-like qualities, simply because their own past pains have taught them great compassion.