The gentle power of highly sensitive people | Elena Herdieckerhoff | TEDxIHEParis

Being a highly sensitive person makes you feel like you're an alien on the wrong planet

When someone says “don’t be so sensitive”, I say “don’t be so insensitive”.

My wife of 6 years is highly sensitive. We married in our late thirties and run a business together. Her sensitivity used to drive me nuts. But after many long conversations, tears and many apologies, I can say she has helped me become a kinder, gentler man. I’m still improving. I feel blessed to have her. I must’ve prayed for patience at some point because the good Lord is helping me have that virtue in spades.

The opposite of sensitivity is insensitivity, and that is nothing to be proud of. Sensitive people are not weak or broken. They are stronger than the rest - feeling everything to the fullest and still leaving their hearts open. It is not weak to feel something. It is weak to push it away and numb yourself out of fear. True strength is feeling everything and not building walls around your heart.

When I’m upset, I cry. When someone else is upset with me, I cry. When I’m angry, I cry. When someone is angry at me, I cry. When I yell at someone, I cry. When someone yells at me, I cry.

When you tell someone they're too sensitive what they hear is "Your feelings arent important and I dont care about you and you need to stop being who you are"

Being a highly sensitive person who cries at every Disney movie and smiles at sunflowers, I was told " don't let the world hurt you", "it's such a little thing", " you are too sensitive " and believed that there was something incredibly wrong with me. The ability to feel vast range of emotions quickly became a sense of guilt and shame. I think it's a tragedy when a person who wear their heart on a sleeve, start locking their hearts away in gallows. There is nothing more tragic than telling a person who feels everything that there's a problem with them. Thank you for this video. I'll keep this close to my heart everytime I feel a little sad. Thank you 🌻

“Corporations should invite sensitive people to the table, because without sensitives they risk lacking integrity, innovation and humanity”. Very well said, indeed.

"Most HSPs have a genuine urge to create connection and meaning. Because they feel every pain they see, they want to elevate the forgotten, and save the misfortunate."

It really sucks when you feel like you can't speak up sometimes cause you know you'll just start crying. That's me... I'm afraid to speak my mind and tell people how I feel cause I'll just cry and it feels horrible crying around other people, especially when you're a guy.

I’m a teacher and an HSP. I had a student this year who is a HSP. He would always come over to my desk to have a quiet conversation with me when other students were working. I think he appreciated having a teacher who understood him, and didn’t see him as whiny and annoying. I will miss him next year as he moves onto the next grade.

Being sensitive does not make you weak always remember that sensitive people often feel hurt more than others but they also feel good feelings like love , empathy , faith more than others and this is what makes them strong . ❤️

"It's both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so very deeply."

"... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. ..." The HSP among you who reads this will recognize it too.

I want to hug every sensitive person right now. And say: "dear wonderful person, you are not alone! You're soooo beautiful! I quite understand you..I'm like that myself, it's good that I'm not alone!!"

I recently went to see a psychologist and discovered I’m a HSP (and I’m an Asian male). Everything starts to make sense now as I hated shopping because it will give me massive migraines due to the lights, sounds and colours and I’ve got to think “I need to buy something”, amongst other things. Been told many times that I think too much and to not be sensitive, to man up. Now I know myself better, and I’m working to accept myself for who I am.

This comment section feels like a big support group.

Imagine when you have an argument and when you are 100％ right you cant even defend yourself bc your tears coming out faster than your words and people opposide you blaming you for using your tears as a gun as if crying is a choice

HSP from Germany here. This made me cry a few times. Reading the comments feels so good. Knowing that there are so many others like me 💕 I feel you - my heart goes out to you.

HSP from Australia… I am 59 years old and only just realised I am a highly sensitive person. So great to have a name for my sensitivity at last. I was on a mission all my life to change who I was and I hated myself for feeling so much… I love so so deeply and that scares people… I am so sensitive to sound, light and too much activity around me. I spend lots of time by myself now and I love it. I was so scared because I didn’t want to be around people much and I labelled myself a loner… but I’m not …. And I’m me and so so accepting of myself now…. Th all my fellow HSP’s, keep being yourselves and know there are lots of us out here and we are needed by this world to keep it balanced because there is so much cruelty and hate in this world now…. Keep shining your bright lights 😃😃😃❤️❤️❤️