All our senses provide information about our world, including other people. We constantly offer each other visual, auditory and other clues about our emotional states through our facial expressions, our tone of voice, our posture, etc. Our brains pick up this information instantaneously and subconsciously. In one experiment researchers found around a fifth of volunteers – the same proportion of HSP’s in the general population – experienced a surge in their levels of the stress hormone cortisol just by watching other people undergoing a stressful experience. This is called subconscious EMOTION CONTAGION.

So, if sensory clues provide information about someone else’s fear or anger, for example, a highly sensitive person (HSP) will be receptive to more of this information and respond to it more deeply. Over the years, I’ve heard many of my HSP clients say, “When someone walks into the room I can nearly always tell what they are feeling and whether I want to be around them or not!” Emotion contagion is thought to be the basis on which empathy – an understanding of how someone is feeling and a sharing of their emotion is built. Research has found a strong link between those who are more susceptible to emotion contagion and higher scores on empathy questionnaires.

Some flower essences that protect us from the negative effects of emotion contagion while keeping us positive and without compromising our special ability to display empathy are Pink Yarrow, the Yarrow Environmental Solution (YES), Garlic and Mountain Pennyroyal.

Mountain Pennyroyal Flower Essence

“Mountain Pennyroyal is for those who are ‘psychically congested’ by negative thought forms absorbed from the surrounding ‘atmosphere’. Mountain Pennyroyal flower essence repels these negative thought forms, just as its close relative Pennyroyal repels insects, leaving the mind clear and positive. Peppermint, another plant from the same family, also has a strong positive influence on mental clarity … Mountain Pennyroyal flower essence cleanses our mental field’.

Negative state:
Easily affected by the negative thinking of others (FES)
A mind congested or contaminated by negativity

Positive state:
Able to deflect and expel others’ negativity
“Mental integrity, clarity and positivity (FES)”

Extract from Mark’s book, “The Essential Flower Essence Book – flower essences for living, healing, personal growth and transformation”.
A second and revised edition is now available!

And finally, psychotherapist Ilse Sand says, “Sensitive people usually don’t need to practice their empathic skills” – they come naturally! “They need to practice remembering to focus on themselves. So, ask yourself or your sensitive child over and over, “What did you feel at that moment? Did you like what was going on or didn’t you? What do you wish should have happened?”
HSPs can definitely sense those things themselves but, unfortunately, they often just forget to focus on their own needs and feelings because they are so preoccupied with sensing and understanding the needs and feelings of others in their immediate surroundings.