The Perks of Being Too Sensitive

And why it's energetically important not to shut down...

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Too sensitive. Yep. Growing up, I felt everything.  In a family system of mostly shut-down, traumatized people, I was the one who stayed open and observed, witnessed, felt. (And please note I am not saying this in any kind of superior way--because we’re all always just trying to cope with being human) but to “feel” back then was to feel agonized and frightened and confused and also full of a painful yearning for love and harmony for everyone. When the feeling got to be too much,  I tried to shut myself down, but soon realized that this state of numbness and denial was even more toxic and agonizing than the state of facing the honest agony I was trying to deny.  To face is to process, after all; to deny is to suppress.  One is movement and growth; the other is not. And one of the Laws of the Universe is expansion. The Universe is ever-expanding. So is consciousness. We have no choice but to expand. And yet, so many of us try to Stay Exactly The Same, Thank You Very Much. And how’s that working for you these days? :)

Anyway, back in the day, my struggling, shut-down, trapped-by-social-conditioning father would criticize me angrily for being “too sensitive.”  I would counter that he was entirely insensitive.  Back in my teenage years, my father and I both saw the others’ state of being as fundamentally flawed, both of us fixed in our false perceptions.

I was also, in his eyes, too analytical.  Too suspicious of stepping onto the capitalist conveyer belt. Too “unrealistic” (meaning: I believed in the necessity of art and that one could make a life as an artist.) Too questioning as to why people could not just be authentic.  Too unwilling to just make small talk when there were real humans in the room, with important thoughts and feelings that seemed to me to be pushing at the edges of their auras, begging for release. Oh, what karma we had together!  Sometimes I think my entire existence pushed his buttons, but I also think that this is how people change and grow and evolve...by having their buttons pushed, and I was quite a button-pusher as a teenager.  (Once again, I offer a full and sincere cosmic apology to my beloved father, and honor the soul who took on the role of my father in this lifetime...). 

The good news is that we did reach a place of harmony, my father and I. And now he is in the Pure Lands, liberated from this realm, and hopefully he will never have to take human incarnation again.  The only comforting thought I have these days, as we witness the Fascist takeover, is that none of my three parents--who experienced presidents like Roosevelt--have to witness such a travesty.  

But weren’t we talking about sensitivity? When I heard Glennon Doyle requote Hannah Gadsby the other day, I remembered how perfect this quote is.  There is no such thing as “too sensitive.” Because to be sensitive is to be open and aware and willing to be human.  To be sensitive means that all of your subtle body energies are flowing properly, without obstruction. To be sensitive is to have the capacity to access your own true nature, your inner chitta, your Bodhicitta. And to awaken and offer compassion is the most beautiful human exchange we can share.  

I know a lot of people are overwhelmed by the goings-on of the external world right now.  By the colossal misdeeds of the oligarchs. Those of us who feel are feeling not only our own fear and disappointment and worry, but the global fear and disappointment as well.  You’re not alone. None of us are.  But please don’t shut down.  Don’t try to lower your empathetic antennae. It’s our sensitivity that could help save this world.  Or at least help one person or neighbor in your community who, right now, might be having having his/her/their basic identity scrubbed from websites or banned in schools.  Yes, it’s painful to feel, but it’s also crucial.  

And pain can be transformed into nectar, but that’s another long story.

I am sending so much love to all my “sensitive” friends and relations. I’ll keeping feeling you in the airwaves.....

WHAT IS THE “INNER NECESSITIES” NEWSLETTER, AND WHY?:

Dear Readers: In January 2025, as the world titled on its axis, I decided to start sharing shorter posts here—the kind of short bursts of insight or inspirationand images that I usually share on social media. As many of you know, things are shifting quite dramatically in the social media realm, and I am not sure I want to remain connected to a platform like Meta, which does not have pure motivation at its core. We need to stay mindful of the energy we are transmitting at all times, and I want to stay aligned with an energy that comes from a place of truth. I’ll share these shorter posts on the sub-newletter “INNER NECESSITIES.”