Self-care for Empaths by Tanya Carroll Richardson is a simple, easy-to-digest (and therefore good for those days when you don’t feel like self care is even an option emotionally) book full of 100 activities to help you recharge and rebalance. Based on research, this book offers practical advice on making the most of all personality combinations. At the same time, reading this book makes you feel understood as an HSP because the author describes clearly how an HSP feels in a relationship. Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person: Improving Outcomes for That Minority of People Who Are the Majority of Clients Overstimulation is a sensitive’s bête noire. I’m wondering if I qualify. I do react strongly to caffeine and alcohol, so I rarely drink either. I’m often cold. Some noises make me lose my mind. I swear at motorcyclists whom I suspect have modified their exhaust pipes to amplify their revs and I harbour dark fantasies about the feral dogs my neighbours keep in the yard and who bark through the night. But perhaps I react strongly to caffeine and alcohol because I don’t drink them much. For the other example, I could be responding as much to perceived selfishness as noise itself. Plus, it is often cold. HSP? TBC.

The healing methods the author uses in this book is rooted in Christian theology . But there are also self-reflection exercises to help you be in touch with your authentic self and embrace your gift as an HSP. Reading this book makes you feel that you are not alone.I would have preferred this if it had been geared at informing and not at fixing the way we think about sensitivity. Understanding something leads to changing our concept, and telling a large group of variable people how to change something is just not helpful. I hear this exact metaphor used in the pub, by someone who hasn’t read the books. Other people I know are also well aware of their powers. “We’re called hispies in the community,” Ella informs me. Ella has a diverse social circle and always seems to be on a boat, surrounded by male models, even though she works in publishing. “You could have this lifestyle if you were an empath like me,” she writes. I tell her I am an empath and her remark has deeply wounded me. “I’m an empath and your remark has deeply wounded me,” she replies. Touché. Are you easily overwhelmed by such things as bright lights, strong smells, coarse fabrics, or sirens nearby? Is it possible you just have feelings, and loud noises… are annoying?” I reply. (Maybe I’m less empathic than I think.)

In other words, I know I tire easily after being around people too much, and need restorative alone time, (despite the fact that I might seem like a social butterfly on the outside), and I know that I have a low tolerance for doing B.S. jobs that aren't "on the front lines" (Aaron says HSPs often crave meaningful careers).In this documentary, Art Aron (well-known love researcher) and Elaine Aron provide the science and advice behind the film Sensitive and in Love. Learn more about Sensitive Lovers here . It also paints non-HSPs in a bad light, as those prone to aggressive, even violent, behavior, uncaring about environmental issues, the evil corporate CEO, etc. Makes it sound like the author thinks all social liberals are HSPs, who are loving, nurturing, caring and peaceful people and all social conservatives are non-HSPs and evil warmongers out to destroy the environment.

Aron writes of her own and other HSPs ’stories and how they have used their skills to help others and themselves to grow and live full lives. She writes of all the research that went into this book with many helpful tips on exploring your sensitivity and using it to your advantage. Reframing.You must actively reframe much of your past in the light of knowing you came into the world highly sensitive.So many of your "failures" were inevitable because neither you nor your parents and teachers, friends and colleagues, understood you.Reframing how you experienced your past can lead to solid self-esteem, and self-esteem is especially important for HSPs, for it decreases our overarousal in new (and therefore highly stimulating) situations. As yet another reviewer notes, Aron does get into New Age and religion. I won't deny that it probably helps many HSPs in their daily lives, but it went a little too far for me and I definitely just wanted the book to end. For this book, the author has gathered 44 uplifting stories contributed by HSP from all over the world. Reading their stories make you feel that your highly sensitive traits are normal. You are not the only one who experience these struggles. At the end of each story, the author also offers his own perspectives.But the key quality is that, compared to the 80% without the trait, they process everything around them much more—reflect on it, elaborate on it, make associations. When this processing is not fully conscious, it surfaces as intuition. This represents a survival strategy found in a many species, always in a minority of its members. Most of us feel overstimulated every once in a while, but for the highly sensitive person, it’s a way of life. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person herself, shows you how to identify this trait in yourself and make the most of it in everyday situations. I found this to be extremely interesting and insightful. I only just realised now at the time of writing this review that the author was not the narrator. This doesn't matter, but I assumed it was her. Being a HSP and psychotherapist herself, the author has tremendous experience and clinical knowledge into the phenomena behind this mostly unrealised personality type.