"Kindred Spirits" are intimate friends, people with whom you are comfortable being your true self. HSPs are often on the hunt for kindred spirits, especially at parties, gatherings, or networking events. Having a deep, intense, shared connection with someone else is essential to meeting the emotional needs of sensitive people.

In this episode 23, I also talk about Anne of Green Gables, Susan Cain (as per usual), and why it's ok to let go of friends you don't truly connect with.

If you like the podcast, please leave a positive review on iTunes! Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

The Susan Cain & Marie Forleo interview. (The "kindred spirit" part is around 13:00)

• How to meet other Highly Sensitive People
• Finding the Stasis of Peace
• 2014 Gift Guide for Highly Sensitive People & Introverts

Podcast music attribution: By the Coast (2004) (Antony Raijekov) / CC BY-NC 2.5

Emotional cutting is reading or watching things that hurt us emotionally...but we keeping doing them anyway. I do this when I look at dog rescues on Facebook that show when animals were saved or euthanized. Why do I, and other HSPs, seek out this pain? Even though it hurts, sometimes makes me cry, and can take a long time to recover from, I still do it. Do I, deep down, want the pain?

If you like the podcast, please leave a positive review on iTunes! Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Related posts on highlysensitiveperson.net:

• Emotional cutting: Reading things that make me sad
• HSP Podcast #10: HSPs & Animals
• Compassion Fatigue
• 2014 Gift Guide for Highly Sensitive People & Introverts

Podcast music attribution: By the Coast (2004) (Antony Raijekov) / CC BY-NC 2.5

The holiday season is here and I've been thinking about gift giving. HSPs' temperament makes them well-suited to picking out the perfect gift for loved ones. We pay close attention to details so we are likely to pick up on the wants and desires of others.

In this episode, I talk about the most thoughtful gift I ever received and I also go off on a rant about gift cards.

If you like the podcast, please leave a positive review on iTunes! Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• 10 Reasons Gift Certificates Make Horrible Gifts from Lifehacker

Related posts on this blog:

• 2014 Gift Guide for Highly Sensitive People & Introverts
• 2013 Gift Guide for Highly Sensitive People & Introverts
• My heart still hurts from something that happened when I was 5... (about losing a gift someone gave me.)

Podcast music attribution: By the Coast (2004) (Antony Raijekov) / CC BY-NC 2.5

Anticipatory grief is a grief reaction that occurs before an impending loss, typically, the death of someone close to you. This episode is about how us HSPs can experience this grief more than others, and not just about death.

If you like the podcast, please leave a positive review on iTunes! Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The pet photo from from SkyMall that makes me cry
• Could I handle having a dog?

Related posts on highlysensitiveperson.net:

• Anticipatory Grief
• Empathy toward other people’s loss
• Fearing (Other Peoples’) Death

Podcast music attribution: By the Coast (2004) (Antony Raijekov) / CC BY-NC 2.5

The previous episode was about the single best job for HSPs--working for yourself. Today's show is about more traditional jobs and careers, including what you should look for (and avoid as an HSP). What qualities of being highly sensitive are a benefit to certain jobs?

If you like the podcast, please say "thanks" by leaving a positive review on iTunes! (And if you don't like it, then please don't leave a review!)

Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Further reading on highlysensitiveperson.net:

• Resources for people who want to change their career / work for themselves online
• HSP Podcast #06: The Importance of Caring Less at Your Job
• Jobs and Careers for HSPs
• Here’s the best job for a highly sensitive person
• All the Battles I Fought When I Worked in a Cubicle

Since HSPs are detail-oriented, and can be bothered by too much stimuli, there is one job that seems to make the most sense for us! Learn about it here in episode 18.

If you like the podcast, please say "thanks" by leaving a positive review on iTunes! (And if you don't like it, then please don't leave a review!)

Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Mentioned in the show: Resources for people who want to change their career / work for themselves online

Further reading on highlysensitiveperson.net:

• HSP Podcast #06: The Importance of Caring Less at Your Job
• HSP Podcast #15: Needing Control
• Jobs and Careers for HSPs
• Here’s the best job for a highly sensitive person
• All the Battles I Fought When I Worked in a Cubicle
• My Goal is to Take Down Bright Lights in the Workplace
• Don’t Stand Over Me While I’m Working

Episode 17 of the Highly Sensitive Person Podcast is brought to you by the word sensitive.

A blog reader, Mike Voss, gave me the great suggestion that maybe the moniker Highly Sensitive Person could be changed to something without the word sensitive, because it's such a loaded word.

How about Highly Sensory Person? I like that a lot better.

(Actually, the trait's scientific term is Sensory-Processing Sensitivity, or SPS--but I don't hear that used very often!)

I discuss how the word sensitive might turn off male HSPs, and even how I denied being HSP at first because I didn't like "sensitive", either. Oh, did I mention it's kind of a rant?

If you like the podcast, please say "thanks" by leaving a positive review on iTunes! (And if you don't like it, then please don't leave a review!) Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Futher reading on highlysensitiveperson.net:

• I’m reminded that most people don’t understand (or respect) high sensitivity
• HSP Podcast #01: What is (and isn’t) a Highly Sensitive Person?

Episode 16 of the Highly Sensitive Person Podcast is about High Sensation Seeking HSPs. You have no idea how many times I had to edit myself saying that mouthful of words incorrectly in this episode.

HSPs are careful and evaluate everything around them thoroughly. But those who are also High Sensation Seekers crave excitement, arousal, and new experiences (not necessarily extreme stuff like skydiving or bungee jumping, mind you.) How can those two traits co-exist in the same person?! I think it's an interesting concept.

If you like the podcast, please say "thanks" by leaving a positive review on iTunes! (And if you don't like it, then please don't leave a review!)

Sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Mentioned on this episode: Take the test to see if you are a high sensation seeker

Further reading:

• From Dr. Elaine Aron's website: Personality and Temperament: The Highly Sensitive Person Who Is Also A High Sensation Seeker
• This blog: Are you a High Sensation Seeking HSP?
• This blog: Finding the “stasis of peace”
• This blog: How to Travel the World Long-Term When You’re Highly Sensitive

Episode 15 of the Highly Sensitive Person Podcast is about control. It wasn't until I started writing about all my HSP stuff that I realized so many of the things that bothered me were about a lack of control. From working in a cubicle, to a fear of flying, to drop-in tennis, I outline the sneaky ways needing control is in my life.

If you like the podcast, please say "thanks" by leaving a review on iTunes!

And sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Mentioned on this episode: What would Aristotle do? The fear of losing control

Further reading on highlysensitiveperson.net:

• Deadlines, Schedules, and Commitment Stress Me Out
• Working at Night = Complete Control
• Bad news: we can’t change the world to fit our needs
• Airplane Turbulence Scares Me So Much
• All the Battles I Fought When I Worked in a Cubicle

Episode 14 of the Highly Sensitive Person Podcast is about empathy, which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another being. I talk about wondering if Muay Thai fighters are lonely or sad, and crying about the tragedies of people I don't think I have a right to be that sad about.

If you like the podcast, please say "thanks" by leaving a review on iTunes! And sign up for the weekly newsletter to be notified of the latest blog posts, podcast episodes, and HSP news.

Mentioned on this episode: Dr. Elaine Aron's empathy brain study

Further reading:

• On this blog: Fearing other people's death
• On this blog: Feeling the physical pain of others
• The Condolence Note Coach website - a wonderful resource helping people deal with and write condolence notes
• A Few Suggestions for "Regulating" Fear, Grief, Anger, and Joy by Elaine Aron
• Being empathic versus being empath - crucial differences