If you've spent most of your life being told you're too sensitive, too emotional, too intense, that you need to toughen up, let things go, stop taking everything so personally, this episode is for you. Today I'm going to walk you through what the research actually says about being a highly sensitive person, or HSP. We'll look at what's happening in your brain, why the world feels so intense for you, how to recognize this trait in yourself, and most importantly, what you can actually do with this information so your sensitivity stops running your life and starts working for you instead. And, as always, I'm going to give you five practical tools so you can start feeling more at ease with who you are, right now.

Chapters
0:00 Intro
02:53 What Is a Highly Sensitive Person?
06:32 The DOES Framework: Four Things That Are True About You
12:25 What's Actually Happening in Your Brain?
17:28 What Does It Actually Look Like in Your Life?
22:57 Why Has This Been So Hard?
26:49 5 Tools for Working with Your Sensitivity Instead of Against It
28:18 Tool 1: Learn your overstimulation threshold before you hit it.
29:36 Tool 2: Build recovery time into your life, not just your emergencies.
31:47 Tool 3: Get strategic about sensory input.
32:33 Tool 4: Separate the signal from the noise.
33:53 Tool 5: Use mindfulness as a regulation tool, not just a stress reducer.

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References
1. Boterberg, S., et al. (2016). Sensory processing sensitivity: Review of the research. Personality and Individual Differences.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915301033

2. Aron, E. N., & Aron, A. (1997). Sensory-processing sensitivity and its relation to introversion and emotionality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 345-368.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9248053/

3. Lionetti, F., et al. (2018). Dandelions, tulips and orchids: Evidence for the existence of low-sensitive, medium-sensitive and high-sensitive individuals. Translational Psychiatry.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29353876/

4. Jagiellowicz, J., et al. (2011). The trait of sensory processing sensitivity and neural responses to changes in visual scenes. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 6(1), 38-47.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20203139/

5. Jagiellowicz, J., Aron, A., & Aron, E. N. (2016). Relationship between the temperament trait of sensory processing sensitivity and emotional reactivity. Social Behavior and Personality, 44(2), 185-199.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299540223_Relationship_Between_the_Temperament_Trait_of_Sensory_Processing_Sensitivity_and_Emotional_Reactivity

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