“ … maybe the bottom line is that every brain is different, and some more different than others.”
(Dr Elaine Aron)

“If you’re an HSP you’ll probably be used to comments like ‘You’re too sensitive!’; ‘Don’t be shy!’; ‘What are you afraid of!’; ‘You spend too much time alone, get a life’; ‘Don’t take it to heart!’; etc. These are damaging comments because they are invalidating. Highly sensitive people cannot change who they are. Telling an HSP to stop being so sensitive is like telling someone to stop being so tall! As Elaine Aron says in ‘The Highly Sensitive Child’ (2002), ‘Trying to cure, remove, or hide a trait … is likely to lead to more trouble. Sensitive people, especially older boys and men in our society, often feel they must hide their sensitivity, and they do so usually at great personal cost … Variety in temperament is the “spice of life” – and perhaps the best hope of a species’ survival.’

Jenara Nerenberg from the Aspen Institute is a great advocate of this view and writes and speaks publicly about why neuro-diversity matters so much in health care. Her perspective celebrates neuro-diversity and approaches brain differences that are not due to injury or infection as variations in human experience rather than as disorders. I have certainly learnt, as too many other HSP’s, that, sure, my experience of life can be very different to other less sensitive people. However, I feel gifted with my high sensitivity and certainly don’t feel in any way in disorder! A disorder means someone is impaired or suffering, and my experience of HSPs is that they are not impaired or suffering simply because of having a highly sensitive brain.

Every brain is different and every individual with that brain makes essential contributions to the world. Most HSP’s do not feel that they are impaired or suffering – they just feel different, in a good way!”
extract from Mark’s upcoming book on the HSP’s
Aspen Flower Essence

The “Bach Flower Aspen is for those of us who suffer from an ever-present feeling of vulnerability or nameless dread – fear that is of an unknown origin … there is a constant sense of impending danger that has no rational basis. The leaves of the Aspen tree tremble in anticipation of a breath of wind on even the stillest day (Barnard, 1988), and in the same way, the Aspen personality is the first to be affected by any change in the atmosphere, living in constant apprehension.

Aspen can help us to develop a thicker skin without losing the [HIGH] sensitivity of our nature. It helps us to comfortably bring our unconscious fears into the light of consciousness so that they no longer act as obstacles to a full and enjoyable life”
extract from Mark’s book “The Essential Flower Essence Book”