The Sensitive and Neurodivergent Podcast with Julie Bjelland , LMFT

Gracie King talks with Jenn Granneman about all things 'Sensitive' -The Hidden Power of the Highly Sensitive Person in a Loud, Fast, Too-Much World - and the important messages and insights it gives into the lives of highly sensitive people.

Topics covered included:

Jenn Granneman is the founder of Introvert, Dear, the world’s largest community for introverts. Jenn is also the co-author of SENSITIVE and the author of THE SECRET LIVES OF INTROVERTS.

An educator and a journalist, Jenn has been featured in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the BBC, and more.

Since embracing her own introversion and sensitivity, she laughs about reading too many self-help books and lives a pleasantly boring life in St. Paul, Minnesota. https://introvertdear.com

Host Gracie King has a background in psychology and counseling and is now on a mission as a Positive Psychology Wellness Coach to serve and lift up HSPs who've struggled with recurring depression and exhaustion, accompanying them on their journey toward healing, belonging, and thriving. Learn more at Vibrant HSP.

You can join Gracie's group in the Sensitive Empowerment Community, Spiral Up, to connect deeply with others who are navigating depression, to feel supported around your healing and growth journey, and to learn new tools to strengthen and elevate your health and wellbeing.

** Be sure to check out Gracie's past events located in our replay library about Navigating Change and Taming Perfectionism.

We love hearing from you! Please leave comments and explore more episodes at HSPpodcast.com

This restorative sound bath with crystal and Himalayan singing bowls was created to promote deep relaxation and stress relief. 

Singing bowls elicit frequencies and vibrations that support the brain and work on a cellular level to promote a sense of inner peace, clarity & centeredness, which can help reduce stress and promote a renewed sense of well-being.

The following will help you gain the most from the experience:

Brandy Jenkins , MA, MT-BC is a board certified music therapist and sound practitioner. Her specialty is supporting nervous system health and sustainable self-care practices through a blend of coaching and sound-based interventions designed specifically for stress, fatigue, and burnout. You can learn more from her website: www.brandyjenkins.com.

Julie Bjelland, LMFT, is an HSP Psychotherapist specializing in high sensitivity, author of The Empowered Highly Sensitive Person, and founder of the exceptionally ranked Sensitive Empowerment Community. Julie's HSP Podcast is among the top 5% of the most shared and followed worldwide. Her online courses and free resources have helped millions of HSPs reduce the challenges of living with sensitivity, and her greatest joy lies in helping HSPs discover their significant value to the world. Julie's brain training program has proven to reduce anxiety within the first two weeks. Explore all her resources at JulieBjelland.com

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I invite you to join our HSP family in the Sensitive Empowerment Community! Learn more at SensitiveCommunity.com

As HSPs, one of the greatest challenges we face is managing our energy and our thoughts. This can wreak havoc when it comes to our well-being, productivity, and sense of self-value. 

It is often helpful to consider that we are not our minds. Even though our minds can feel so prominent to us as HSPs because of how extensively we are processing. 

The nature of who we are does not reside in our minds and thoughts. The truth of who we are is a much deeper experience. 

In this episode, we consider the pain associated with the false self we tend to identify with at the cost of our real sense of self. We look at the energetics of this. In other words, the energetic sensations we experience in our bodies, our hearts, and intuitive senses. 

We explore how we can learn to gradually shift our awareness back into self-ownership and experience the truth of who we are. A shift that can relieve us of a great deal of difficulty and lead us to a true sense of purpose, belonging, and self.  

Willow McIntosh is the founder of Inluminance and creator of the High Sensory Coaching Program. Unique circumstances during Willow’s childhood led to the burying of his authentic self and complete misalignment to the work he was destined for. He began to carve his own path into understanding how people with sensory processing sensitivity can learn to use their genetic traits to their advantage. As an adult this led to a lifelong enquiry and practise into learning powerful energetic alignment techniques to re-engage with the authentic self. Willow believes that all people with the trait have the ability to tap into a unique skill that draws on a deeper sensory perception. Having successfully facilitated the development of seven figure businesses Willow’s practise has taken him all over the world. Speaking internationally, training in a broad range of fields and facilitating others for more than twenty years. http://highsensoryintelligence.com/

Julie Bjelland, LMFT, is an HSP Psychotherapist specializing in high sensitivity, author of The Empowered Highly Sensitive Person, and founder of the exceptionally ranked Sensitive Empowerment Community. Julie's HSP Podcast is among the top 5% of the most shared and followed worldwide. Her online courses and free resources have helped millions of HSPs reduce the challenges of living with sensitivity, and her greatest joy lies in helping HSPs discover their significant value to the world. Julie's brain training program has proven to reduce anxiety within the first two weeks. Explore all her resources at JulieBjelland.com

Join us as we explore how to help our young HSP adults transition through major milestones such as finishing school, starting college, moving out of home, taking on their first jobs, and navigating the world around them.

Some of the topics discussed include:

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The Sensitive Empowerment Community is a positive alternative to social media for sensitive people. We warmly invite you to explore all it offers, join our next events, or even host an episode on The HSP Podcast! Learn more at ⁠SensitiveCommunity.com

Meet our Guest Speaker

Carolina Mariposa, M.S., M.I.M., is a licensed psychotherapist and medical intuitive who specializes in working with highly sensitive children, teens and parents.  She also has the sacred responsibility of being a mother to a strong, sensitive and empathic child. She is passionate about teaching HSP's to connect with their innate wisdom so that they feel more grounded, joyful, creative and empowered.  While she is endorsed in California as an Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist, she loves supporting children of all ages and collaborating with those who see parenthood as an opportunity for personal and spiritual growth.  You can learn more about Carolina's work by visiting butterflygrovehsp.com. Listen to another episode with Carolina on The HSP Podcast, Episode 153: Strategies to Support Empathic Kids, Teens and Parents

Meet our Interviewer

Andrea Weber is the founder of expansivehappiness.com, an inspirational site helping those with environmental sensitivities lead happy and fulfilling lives through constructive sensitivity management. On the website, you can find practical resources, sign up for regular communications and enroll in the Self-Empowered Sensitivity Management Program. Andrea is on a personal mission to create much needed change and acceptance around these conditions and supports sensitive people through her writing, programs, and presentations.

Julie Bjelland is a psychotherapist specializing in high sensitivity, Author of The Empowered Highly Sensitive Person, host of The HSP Podcast, and founder of the Sensitive Empowerment Community. Her books, blog, online courses, and free Classes have helped thousands of highly sensitive people (HSPs) worldwide reduce their challenges, access their gifts, and discover their significant value to thrive to their fullest potential. Her HSPs in Heart-Centered Business Group connects and supports HSP healers and practitioners. Julie loves connecting in her Sensitive Empowerment Community and warmly invites you to join this positive, safe, and welcoming space. JulieBjelland.com❤️🌈❤️ (she/her)

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The trait of high sensitivity is becoming more and more widely known in the world these days. We are beginning to understand the advantages as well as learning how to manage our challenges. 

It is most encouraging to know that the trait is genetic and not caused through trauma or conditioning. It is naturally occurring and designed to give the human race an advantage. Our ability to process more deeply allows us to perceive and understand the world differently. It is understood that initially, nature gave us this ability to be aware of more in our surroundings to give us an evolutionary advantage for our survival. 

As we have evolved, so has our ability to utilize these abilities in the world. We are able to see a wider picture of information around us, especially in our own natural area of purpose and competence. 

This week we will look at the various areas of life that benefit greatly from our wider perspective such as schooling, the classroom and education, healthcare and wellbeing, and the corporate world of employees and managers. We also take a look at our role in leadership and supporting those in leadership.

The range of our ability provides new ways of seeing things to continue to promote change and evolution. Empowering each of us to recognize our own area of interest and the role we can play at a personal level.  

Willow McIntosh is the founder of Inluminance and creator of the High Sensory Coaching Program. Unique circumstances during Willow’s childhood led to the burying of his authentic self and complete misalignment to the work he was destined for. He began to carve his own path into understanding how people with sensory processing sensitivity can learn to use their genetic traits to their advantage. As an adult this led to a lifelong enquiry and practise into learning powerful energetic alignment techniques to re-engage with the authentic self. Willow believes that all people with the trait have the ability to tap into a unique skill that draws on a deeper sensory perception. Having successfully facilitated the development of seven figure businesses Willow’s practise has taken him all over the world. Speaking internationally, training in a broad range of fields and facilitating others for more than twenty years. http://highsensoryintelligence.com/

Julie Bjelland, LMFT, is an HSP psychotherapist specializing in high sensitivity, the author of The Empowered Highly Sensitive Person, and founder of the Sensitive Empowerment Community. Her HSP Podcast ranks among the top 5% of the most shared and followed podcasts worldwide. Julie’s webinars. resources, online courses, and blog have helped millions of HSPs reduce the challenges of living with sensitivity in an overstimulating world. Her greatest joy is helping sensitive people discover their significant value and seeing them share their much-needed gifts with the world. Julie loves connecting in her community and warmly invites you to join this positive, inclusive, sensitive family. Explore her resources and learn how her brain training program reduces anxiety within the first two weeks at JulieBjelland.com❤️🌈❤️ (she/her)

The notion of value can mean different things. Yet in the context of personal value, it can mean the difference between a life of struggle and one of meaning and abundance. As HSPs, the value we bring to the world is often connected to our ability to process more deeply. In other words, the way in which we see and perceive the world brings a valuable perspective to our respective arenas of interest. For example, if we work with people, the ability to see and feel more gives us a greater capacity to enthuse, guide and lead. If we work as therapists or coaches, our higher sensory awareness gives us a great advantage in perceiving what is in the way of someone’s well-being or potential.

Our perspective is often where our value lies. Yet, for many of us, the sensitivities that make this possible were not recognized as an advantage during our early development and schooling. Therefore we can sometimes find ourselves walking a path that we are told to or believe we should walk because society dictates. The end result often leads us away from being able to recognize and actualize our value. Join us this week as we explore how all of us, as HSPs, can find our value by recognizing the area of life that matters most to us. The benefits of owning self-value are there for us all, bringing the opportunity of a life of purpose, worth, and significance.

Willow's Offerings: Willow McIntosh is a leading high-sensory coach that trains HSPs to become coaches! You can train to become a High Sensory Coach through a coaching program exclusively created for HSPs. Learn more about Willow McIntosh’s Coaching Program here. Be sure to mention learning about it from Julie on The HSP Podcast. He has a special place in his heart for you.

Julie's Offerings: My courses are currently 50% off and will help calm your sensitive nervous system, embrace your neurodiverse gifts, and learn how to harness your supercomputer brain.  Learn more at HSPcourses.com. Join us in the Sensitive Empowerment Community at SensitiveCommunity.com

In a recent survey of 326 HSPs collected over five days between December 17-22, 2022

We can learn a lot from this survey on how to support and save HSP lives.

In the survey, HSPs also identified three main areas that helped them cope, which we can use to help others. Within each of the three areas, I have resources.

These factors improved wellness, self-esteem, self-compassion, and coping ability.

HSPs reported that when they started being consistent about specific types of self-care that reduced sensory overload and supported the sensitive nervous system, their mental and physical health improved, offering greater resiliency and coping skills.

Those that reported having supportive people around them named it as one of the key factors in improving wellness and mental health.

If you know someone who is struggling with thoughts of suicide, let them know they are not alone and that there is immediate help available 24 hours a day.  They can call, text, or chat at 988, and you will be connected to trained counselors in the United States at the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, always available 24 hours a day, free and confidential. Internationally, you can find suicide hotlines in your country at the International Association for Suicide Prevention.

Resources to Support Highly Sensitive People's Mental Health

Learn more about high sensitivity and self-care tools that work, and join our Sensitive Empowerment Community for daily support! Everything can be found at HSPresources.com

Willow shares: The depth of our relationship with the natural world is often a very important part of who we are as HSPs. Yet for many of us religion and spirituality become tricky areas. Usually because we have been having a powerful spiritual relationship with the world around us ever since we were little. Oftentimes we are told or taught as young people that our world view is supposed to fit into a particular genre or existing framework.

From all of my work with HSPs over the years, the connection we have at a deeper level with the world, is a big part of who we are. The part of us that feels into the truth of things. A deeper experience of reality, both within ourselves and the natural world. Feeling safe to explore this part of who we are, brings a great gift with it. It helps us to understand that our deeper experience of the true nature of things is very much aligned with our purpose and place in the world. That in fact the ability we have to commune with nature, ourselves and others at a deep level, is what gives us our ability to serve in a deep and meaningful way.

We are often referred to as the 'Spiritual Leaders', the 'Guardians of the Inner World' and the 'Spiritual Advisors'. Owning and knowing how to utilise this part of who we are is a wonderful act of self love and self acceptance.

Join me this week as I open the discussion around our high sensory experience from a spiritual point of view. An opportunity to begin to normalise a very important part of who we are. A part that can bring great clarity and meaning to the work we are here to do for both ourselves and humanity.

Willow McIntosh is the founder of Inluminance and creator of the High Sensory Coaching Program. Unique circumstances during Willow’s childhood lead to the burying of his authentic self and complete misalignment to the work he was destined for. He began to carve his own path into understanding how people with sensory processing sensitivity can learn to use their genetic traits to their advantage. As an adult this lead to a lifelong enquiry and practise into learning powerful energetic alignment techniques to re-engage with the authentic self. Willow believes that all people with the trait have the ability to tap into a unique skill that draws on a deeper sensory perception. Having successfully facilitated the development of seven figure businesses Willow’s practise has taken him all over the world. Speaking internationally, training in a broad range of fields and facilitating others for more than twenty years. http://highsensoryintelligence.com/

The HSP Podcast has been rated in the top 5% most followed and most shared globally! Thank you for sharing to help other HSPs! Check out more episodes at HSPpodcast.com

Climate anxiety and eco-grief are on the rise. Yet the terms are so new that you may not even know that’s what you’re experiencing. According to Dr. Stowe, Executive Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program, the most important impact we, as individuals, can have on climate change is by increasing "climate conversations." So let's talk about it!

I'm Alex, an ICF-accredited (ACC) climate resilience coach with a Master’s in Organizational Psychology. As a coach and someone with High Sensory Sensitivity (HSS), I am here to provide a sanctuary for other sensitive, shy, or introverted women who deeply care about climate change so that they, and the planet, can thrive. Using strengths-based approaches like Positive Psychology and Appreciative Inquiry, I support women who feel stuck, overwhelmed, helpless, guilty or don't know where to start to make a difference. Through powerful questions, deep listening and empathy, I help them discover their strengths, get clarity on what they really want for a meaningful life and sustainable future, and share practical tools so that they can learn to coach themselves and build hope, resilience, and a strong sense of confidence that they too, can make a positive difference - no matter how small. thequietactivists.com

For more information about this podcast, and the courses and community mentioned in this episode visit SensitiveConnection.com

Sharing a personal update and a new resource I created for you to help you advocate for your needs medically.  Plus, I talk about the Standford Neurodiversity Summit, the similarities and differences between Autism and HSPs, and how our challenges with Sensory Overload are similar for those of us high on the sensitivity scale.  Sensory Overload tends to be one of our biggest challenges and often the culprit of emotional reactivity, anxiety, irritability, sleep issues, exhaustion, and even loss of productivity, creativity, and focus.  I share some of the HSP events we have coming up and how to watch the replays of past events in our HSP library! I love that the community hosts HSP events every week and benefits from many different HSP experiences and gifts.  About the HSP Trait and Sharing it with Others, Addiction and Recovery, Ayurveda, Black HSPs and Leadership, Boundaries, Climate Change, Creativity (painting & cooking classes), Dreams, Empaths, Empowerment and Confidence, Energy Medicine, Healing, and Protection, Environmental Sensitivity, High Sensation Seeking (HSS HSPs), Inner Child, Intuition, Julie and Willow, Julie Teaches and Answers HSP Questions, Leadership Sensitive Males, Meditation, Mindfulness, and Grounding, Music by HSPs, Nutrition and Health (includes Menopause), Perfectionism, Relationships and Sexuality, Self-Compassion and Self-Acceptance, Sensitive Kids and Teens, Stress, Yoga

Find all the resources mentioned in this episode at www.HSPresources.com