HSP Mentoring and Coaching

“Your story is your path.”

Each HSP journey is a unique pilgrimage of sorts that moves us away from an imposed external way of knowing toward an inner way of knowing. This journey asks us to let go of old beliefs, and embark on an unknown path that calls for faith, trust and a deeper connection with Self, which in turn offers the opportunity for renewal, inspiration and identification with our strengths and gifts. This process connects us to our wise priestly advisor self which asks that we step into our own unique HSP positions of wisdom and responsibility.

I love how at the end of the documentary: Sensitive: The Untold Story,  Elaine Aron shares:

“…Our world is going through vast changes, many of them frightening and many not clearly understood … and we all need these sensitive hearts and minds…people to study and reflect on our world as it is now…”

“…To the highly sensitive I say, I beg you: speak out, you now know you are in good company… we can support each other….. you are not the only one.”

The HSP Journey
Six pathways, in no particular order, that we can travel and explore together

Adapted, with permission, from Elaine Aron and The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive When the World Overwhelms You (sometimes now referred to as the HSP Five to Thrive).

Self Awareness, Understanding, Acceptance

Reframing

 Healing From Past Wounds

Knowing When & How To Be Out

Be With Other HSPs

Authentic Sensitive Living

HSP Highlight & Insights Newsletter 

Sharing education, science, wisdom, inspirations, programs, events, and
thoughts, feelings about our Sensory Processing Sensitivity trait.

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 Self Awareness, Understanding, Acceptance

What is a temperament? It is genetic, inherited trait that one is born with. Although it never changes, it does develop, grow and evolve but the core gene elements remain.

Understanding the temperament and science of Sensory Processing Sensitivity is only one very important part of becoming an empowered HSP. There has been much research, exploration and testing of the many types of temperaments that can affect the quality of our life or our relationships. Some of those I have found most helpful are:

Tools I use in my practice:

  • The Myers Briggs Type Indicator:
    Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.”  ~ Rachel Naomi Remen
  • The Enneagram, for understanding our psychological and spiritual growth.
    “There is a part of every living thing that wants to become itself: the tadpole into the frog, the chrysalis into the butterfly, a damaged human being into a whole one. That is spirituality.”  ~ Ellen Bass
  • The Nine Temperaments developed by Chess & Thomas. Although developed first for children, these are helpful in relationships, work and families.
 

A helpful place to begin might be to become aware of –  What is your Stage of Cultural Awareness and
Acceptance as a Highly Sensitive Person, go here.

Reframing

Your story becomes your path but we must not let our stories define us. When we deny our stories, they define us. When we own our stories, we get to write the ending.”
~ Brene Brown

Reframing is a learned skill which helps to us to understand an experience, situation or problem from a different, more expansive perspective. So, now that you know and understand your HSP trait, it is important to begin reframing all past experiences in your life, especially those in which you may have felt unsuccessful or ‘less than,’ or misunderstood or humiliated.

 Healing From Past Wounds

Your wounds are your gifts.” ~ Carl Jung

Our childhoods are usually where our wounds began.  It is important to uncover and understand erroneous beliefs from past experiences which have served to keep us prisoners of our story or our wounds.  It is important to know wounding can happen at any stage of life, and healing is always within our grasp.

As I’ve grown older I’ve come to gain a deeper understanding of this Kahlil Gibran quote:

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Knowing When & How to Be Out in the World - What an important thing to know

This is where we are challenged to know and create intellectual, physical, spiritual boundaries. It is also a time to hold fast to our own values, while also attempting to respect and understand other value systems. We ask ourselves each morning: what do I need to protect and nurture what is most important to me? What are the needs of my own unique nervous system? What does your unique HSP Owner’s Manual look like? Does it need a few new chapters? To whom, and what am I opening up my “moat” door to each moment? Each day?

Be With Other HSPs

It has been an honor to witness, first hand, the inspiration, motivation, insight, clarity, compassion and confidence that comes from being in a safe environment with other highly sensitive people. Differential Susceptibility tells us we thrive in positive environments and struggle in negative ones. Since 2001, the HSP Gathering Retreats have offered this unique vantage sensitivity, in-person experience. And now, thanks to social media, there are innumerable opportunities for HSP to find a sense of community.

Authentic Sensitive Living

I’ve come to define Authentic sensitive living as an ongoing journey which indicates a willing awareness to hopefully find and engage in a loving relationship with one’s higher self, not just as an HSP, but as a human being, who is part of a world with others who are striving toward the same basic needs we all have: love, belonging, safety, survival, and a bigger picture of unity.

Authentic Sensitive Living asks us to show up each day, from the inside out, as we strive to live our lives based on our own values, knowledge and wisdom, while trying, as best we can, to honor others along the way.

  As Brene Brown says:
“…authenticity is not something we have or don’t have … it is a practice, a conscious choice of how we want to live.  It is a collection of choices that we make every day… about the choice to show up and be real, to be honest, and to let our true selves be seen.“

Of course, this type of living is easier said than done.   With you on this journey,

with love,
Jacquelyn

Depth of Processing

Depth of processing is the most basic aspect of our SPS trait, and results in the deep, rich inner life most HSPs experience. Research has shown more brain activation in the prefrontal cortex and in a part of the brain called the insula which has sometimes been referred to as the ‘seat of consciousness.’ This creates the tendency to reflect more than others about the “way the world is going or “the meaning of life.” By integrating information and experiences, from both past and present, the HSP’s unique depth of processing can enable a sense and understanding of longer term consequences and may be able to influence future decisions with more creative and expansive thought.