Today I will show you how to stop overwhelming feelings WITHOUT avoiding every fun activity in life using this glass example.

So, there is this dilemma many of you might know, especially if you’re highly sensitive or introvert: You feel overwhelmed or powerless because there are so many Stimuli from everyday life. To cope with that you start avoiding more and more things but then feeling ashamed and like an alien, because you cancel invitations and nights out.

First of all: Very Important! You are not alone! Basically, every person, even the most insensitive, reaches their limits at some point and can experience the feeling of overstimulation.

But, especially Highly sensitive people are affected because they have a particularly strong perceptive ability. They are exposed to stimuli from the environment more or less unfiltered.

So - At the centre of it all is our central nervous system, which is mostly our brain. The brain constantly perceives, processes and interprets the stimuli that we encounter. 

To illustrate the whole thing, imagine that this glass here is your brain:

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

If you can’t sleep without earplugs at night, because you wake up by the slightest noise, then something is wrong with you.If you are in deep grief after a break-up and still can't open up to someone new a year later, then there is something wrong with you.If you avoid big events with lots of people because you feel overwhelmed, then there is something wrong with you.

Is that really the case? That's what we're talking about today.

Highly sensitive people (HSPs) often experience, that something may be wrong with them.

Today, we want to figure out, what the right questions for that actually look like.

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

Highly sensitive people who have recognised their own limits and needs and can assert them know one thing for sure: there are things in this world they should pursue and there are things and situations they should stay away from.

If you often have to wriggle out and feel uncomfortable when all your friends want to go out partying on the weekend, you sometimes feel like an alien or are often overwhelmed and exhausted, then this survival guide is exactly what you need.

1. Schedule times for regeneration / Never skip these times of recovery

2. Plan time to leave your comfort zone / Don't fall into avoidance

3. Set personal boundaries strictly / Don't ignore your personal needs

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

No matter what I read, all authors who write about high sensitivity agree on one topic: avoidance is not a reasonable solution to deal with a highly sensitive perception.

I have also had this experience with myself and other highly sensitive people and can confirm this.

At first glance, avoidance is actually something quite natural. Our body-mind system always uses an avoidance strategy when it can protect us as a useful coping mechanism.

This is especially true in difficult situations. Introverts and HSPs, also often want to solve excessive demands, for example due to overstimulation or in social situations where many people are involved, with avoidance. 

So the field of application is large, ranging from small unpleasant situations to larger traumatic events.

And basically the mechanism is also positive, because it preserves and protects us.

But what happens when we start to avoid more and more things because we have the feeling that they could be unpleasant or possibly overwhelm us?

We fall into the avoidance trap. Because by allowing less and less, our comfort zone shrinks bit by bit. 

This robs us of flexibility in life, quality of life and, above all, the space for further development, which sometimes requires leaving the comfort zone, especially for introverts and HSPs.

Instead, we move back and forth in our ever-shrinking comfort zone like in a cage that has become too small.

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

In personal development many of us strive for this one question. Stop Asking Yourself “What Do I Want”. Sounds controversial?When you ask singles what they want best in a potential partner, the most common answer is: "I want someone who knows what they want.Having clear ideas and having both feet on the ground is very sexy. But what does that actually mean? Today I would like to invite you to think about this question with me.

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

Not every highly sensitive person is similar. The trait can be expressed in different nuances. In fact there are multiples types of manifestation in sensory processing sensitivity.

As always, I would like to emphasise that people cannot simply be classified into categories, as the human personality is complex and highly individual. The different types are also fluid in their expression. It is possible that you can identify yourself as one specific type. But you could also see all six or even more characteristics in your personality.

However, categorisation can be helpful. Our brain in particular likes to classify things because simplicity saves thought capacity and therefore energy expenditure.

So, let's start with the 6 different types of high sensitivity:

1. Intuitive Empath

2. High Sensation Seeker (HSS)

3. The Intellectual

4. The Sensual

5. The Introvert

6. The Imaginative

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.
► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

Have you ever asked yourself, wether you are a highly sensitive person (HSP) or not? Today we take the test - together.

Elain Aron is the most important psychotherapist working in the field of high sensitivity today.In her book "The Highly Sensitive Person - How to strive when the world overwhelms you" she published a test with 23 questions on the whole subject.If you didn’t read the book, I can highly recommend her work. Link: https://amzn.to/3UxZI4x (Ad)

This way you can find out whether you are also on the spectrum of high sensitivity.

High sensitivity, like almost all personality traits, can be thought of as a kind of scale or spectrum. It is not that you are highly sensitive or not. It is not a black or white scheme, it is fluid. Everyone is somewhere on the sensitivity spectrum. I would say that high sensitivity is in the top 30 - 20 % of that scale.

Remember that this is only a theoretical test. The human psyche is a very complex entity and highly individual, so it cannot be easily categorised.

I always keep this in mind when I do a personality test. However, in my experience, the following question scheme can serve as a good rough guide.

So let's get started. I will read the 23 questions one by one. For each question you make a note whether this is true or false for you. In the end you calculate how many of the questions are true. I will tell you about the scoring in the end of the episode.

Get The Book by Elaine Aron "The Highly Sensitive Person - How To Strive When The World Overwhelmes You": https://amzn.to/3UxZI4x (Ad)

Elaine Aron's Website: https://hsperson.com/

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

I write 3 books every year. And maybe you should too.

I'm not an author. I'm also not a publisher neither an editor.

I don't make any money from writing. Still, I write about 3 books a year.

And I'm talking about this thing here: my notebook.

Some call it a diary, others call it a journal these days.

I just call it, what it is: “writing”.

Wherever I go, this notebook is with me.

When I was younger I hated writing. I’ve never had a diary or something similar. I have found writing to be very helpful for my life later on as well from the therapeutical context.

Among others, the psychologist Bettina Löhr, who was also once a guest on this podcast, as well as other therapists recommended this exercise to me.

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

These are 10 Strengths of Highly Sensitive People that make them unbelievable loveable.

10 great characteristics that will make you love your highly sensitive trait. 

Being highly sensitive is both - a curse and a blessing at the same time. In previous episodes we have already highlighted several times the challenges that HSPs often face and why in particular - relationships between people can also bring difficulties.

But because many highly sensitive people tend to perceive their characteristic as a kind of curse, in today's episode I would like to share with you 10 strengths of this wonderful gift of sensory-processing sensitivity. 

Maybe it will help you to better understand and even love your sensitive nature. (At least I hope so)

Also, what I want to emphasise upfront here is the following: While researching my own head, books and material for this episode, I recognized that many of the characteristics I list up right now are of course also applicable for Non-HSPs. I think it’s quite obvious that many people share these amazing values, not just people of the highly sensitive kind. But, nevertheless a sensory-processing sensitivity might promote these traits.

1. Solving Discrepancies

2. Incredibly Good Listeners

3. Knowing Exactly What They Need

4. Deep Talk Instead Of Smalltalk

5. Strong Loyalty

6. High Understanding Of Moral & Ethics

7. Importance Of Tolerance

8. Emotional Intelligence

9. Strong Sense Of Intuition

10. Full Of Creativity

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.

Why can highly sensitive people (HSPs) sometimes be hard to love? Today we talk about why highly sensitive people are sometimes difficult to love and to understand.

And this does not only apply to romantic relationships, but also to the relationship with oneself.

Many highly sensitive people (HSPs) don't even know that they are highly sensitive, or why they behave the way they do.

They often perceive themselves as being too sensitive, too emotional or too intense. 

We remember the previous podcast episodes. This is due to the strong perception and processing of the emotional experience.

This behaviour can be overwhelming to oneself or others, which is why it sometimes makes HSPs hard to love. Not saying they're not lovable, btw. 

So, today we look at 5 exemplary situations where this is applicable.

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► About: UNDERSTANDABLE makes Mental Health, especially the Sensory-Processing Sensitivity Trait of Highly Sensitive People (HSP) understandable.

► Disclaimer: None of the contents are therapeutic recommendations. The contents are not to be understood as therapeutic-medical instructions and are neither intended as professional health advice nor as education.