Starseed Evolution: The Gift of Being Highly Sensitive

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What if your sensitivity isn't a weakness, but a superpower waiting to be harnessed? Join me, Shannon, on Starseed Evolution as I unravel the mysteries of being an empath, sharing my own journey from misunderstanding to embracing this unique gift. Through analogies and personal experience, I illuminate the often-overlooked nuances of living with a highly sensitive nervous system. This episode invites you to explore the profound ability empaths have to feel others' emotions, and how it shapes their worlds in ways both challenging and beautiful.

As we navigate through these insights, I lay the groundwork for future explorations into the essential tools that can empower empaths to thrive. By highlighting a key technique that will be detailed in upcoming episodes and offering a glimpse into a 10-day course on Insight Timer, I aim to equip you with the knowledge to manage and harness your sensitivity effectively. Whether you're an empath seeking understanding or someone eager to comprehend the empathic experience, this journey promises to enrich your perspective and encourage self-care and emotional resilience. Thank you for being a part of this transformative conversation on Starseed Evolution.

Thank you for music by: Chris Collins of Indie Music Box and Blue Dot Sessions

Artful Touch Therapies – my professional website

https://www.artfultouchbyshannon.com/ 

 

Shannon Sullivan, International Meditation Teacher on Insight Timer

(Download Insight Timer app. Then click link to my teacher page)

https://insig.ht/dlUov5SHgLb 

 

Link Tree Information:

https://www.linktr.ee/silverlunastarseed

 

10 Day Course for Empaths and Highly Sensitive People

https://insig.ht/38A3CwdPxNb 

 

Blue Heron Creates 

This is my music artist name where I share mantras and original songs from many different faith traditions.

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4I0l8GxlFZ0dD5acKgsabs?si=hVSjJSt7Quudh0-yGBQEBg

 

Silver Luna Starseed Instagram Feed:

https://instagram.com/silverlunastarseed 

 

Indie Music Box – Chris Collins

https://indiemusicbox.com/ 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, thank you so much for joining me today.
I'm Shannon, and this isStarseed Evolution, bringing the
wisdom and insight of thecosmos to you.
I'm grateful that you'relistening.
You're so sensitive.
Just calm down, lighten up.

(00:27):
These are some of the phrasesthat I often heard, not only
growing up, but even in my adultyears.
Well, it turns out that, yes,in fact, I am indeed so
sensitive, which leads me intotalking about what our episode

(00:51):
will be about today about beingeither an empath or a highly
sensitive person.
This is the absolute definitionof being an empath or highly
sensitive person.
Yes, we are very sensitive, butno, don't need to calm down or

(01:15):
lighten up.
Yes, we need to understandourselves better so that we can
better navigate our nervoussystems, which are heightened
almost all the time.
So how can we do that?
How can we take care of oursensitivity so that it's not so

(01:36):
overwhelming?
I'd like to spend this episodetoday talking more about what it
means to be an empath or highlysensitive person, and then use
it as a foundation so that, infuture episodes down the road, I
begin to bring different toolsor techniques to highly

(02:02):
sensitive or empathic people sothat they better learn to work
with this gift of sensitivity.
Instead of being overwhelmedall the time, I to have empathy
and how an empath is a stepfurther beyond this definition.

(02:33):
Having empathy is being able toplace yourself in someone else's
shoes metaphorically and withcompassion, listen and
understand what they might begoing through, even if you
yourself have not experiencedthese same things that a person

(02:54):
might share with you.
Having empathy means that youhave a good ear for listening to
others, as well as havingcompassion to take in another's
story and seeing if there's away that you can just be present
for people where they're at inthat moment.
Now, being an empath or highlysensitive person takes this a

(03:21):
step further, in that that sameperson who might be sharing
their story with you not only doyou imagine putting yourself in
their shoes, but as an empath,you can actually feel the
feelings inside your body ofwhat this person is experiencing

(03:43):
.
It's not something that you'rechoosing to do, but as an empath
with a very highly sensitivenervous system, you're able to
pick up these feelings oremotions that somebody else is
experiencing literally as thesame feeling inside yourself.

(04:04):
This is why it becomes soimportant to understand how to
work with your empathicabilities or gifts.
Many times, being an empathmeans this is something that
you're born with, that this ishardwired as part of your

(04:26):
nervous system.
Your body is like an antenna,able to pick up all these
signals from the environment andpeople around you.
The reason this can beoverwhelming is because maybe,
if you don't realize what'shappening, it can feel as if the

(04:47):
feelings you're experiencinginside yourself either in
environments or listening toanother story is that it feels
like it is your own feeling.
That's why, in my professionallife, I spend a lot of time both
with individual clients as wellas online teaching tools of

(05:13):
learning to work with yoursensitivity as something that is
a gift, but something thatdoesn't always feel like a gift
because of those feelings thatwe carry inside of ourselves.
So I'm going to give you apicture about what it's like to

(05:34):
have an empathic body versussomebody who does not.
The image is this Imagine theperson who is not an empath
being like a vehicle that is aregular four-door, four-volt,

(05:55):
automatic car who goes fromplace to place and gets their
errands done, versus someonewho's an empath.
Their vehicle or body is likedriving a high-powered V12
Ferrari is like driving ahigh-powered V12 Ferrari.
At any minute it could spin outof control if you don't know

(06:19):
how to drive it.
The difference between the twocars is like that for empaths,
who have a very fast and highlysensitive nervous system that
literally picks up any littlechanges all the time from the
environment around them.
That's why it becomes soimportant to maintain our bodies
as empaths or sensitive people,so we don't break down or lose

(06:45):
control or spin out.
It wasn't until my mid-twentiesthat I figured out what being an
empath meant.
So my whole life up until thatpoint, that aha moment of what
it meant to be an empath.
All that previous time as asensitive child yes, I was

(07:11):
sensitive and everything didfeel so overwhelming, but I
didn't realize why it was likethat.
And so I was often calledsensitive, but from a more
negative or shaming framework,not because friends or family

(07:31):
meant to hurt me, only that itwas trying to help me to let
things go more quickly or getover the emotions that I was
having.
So when in my 20s, when Ifigured out what it meant to be
an empath, I could kind of goback and look at my childhood

(07:53):
and understand like, oh, Iwasn't overreacting in that, yes
, I was having these experiences, I just didn't know how to work
with them.
So learning the tools over thelast 20 years to help myself

(08:13):
regulate my nervous system hasbecome important for me in being
able to really take care ofmyself.
In future episodes beyondtoday's, I'll share many
different tools and walk youthrough how to use those tools

(08:35):
so that you can learn toregulate yourself, care for your
feelings, learn to tend thatemotional framework and learn
how to regulate the nervoussystem of your Ferrari body the

(08:59):
nervous system of your Ferraribody.
Here are some traits of beinghighly sensitive or empathic,
one that you might be sensitiveto a lot of noise, sound and
bright light.
You may be sensitive to theenergy of large crowds.
You might tend to be moreintroverted.
You can also be extroverted,but extroverted empaths usually

(09:25):
are first introverted and needto care for their energy.
Another trait is picking upfeelings of situations around
you.
You can also feel the emotionsof others, either those who are
in the same room with you or, ifyou're deeply connected to

(09:49):
friends or family member, youmight experience their emotions
from a distance.
That's why it's difficultsometimes as an empath, because
you can feel what someone'sexperiencing even if they
haven't told you, and that iswhy, until you know what they're
going through, you understandthat, oh, this wasn't what I was

(10:13):
feeling.
This was what the other personwas experiencing.
So why is it important, as anempath or highly sensitive
person, to learn to care forourselves?
Here's the thing Just becausewe're sensitive doesn't mean

(10:34):
that the people around us whomight not be as sensitive, we
can't expect them to be soft andgentle with us all the time.
It becomes then importantbecause you're going to find
yourselves in many differentsituations the importance of

(10:55):
caring for ourself, settingboundaries and learning other
tools of how to navigate ournervous system, so that we know
what's best for ourselves.
It is my feeling that lifeworks on a scale of balances.
Empathic and highly sensitivepeople are here, living on earth

(11:20):
right now to balance the scalesof allowing humans to stay
human, to be in their feelings,to have open hearts, to have
compassion for those who arefacing difficult situations, so
that we don't turn away beingable to have the humanity to be

(11:45):
with others, whether it's people, the environment, animals,
trees, our water systems.
All those things need us to besensitive.
That vulnerability is what ourhuman selves need to stay in an

(12:08):
aspect of love, so that wecontinue to care for one another
.
If you see the name of thispodcast as Starseed Evolution,
the evolution as an empath oneis to begin to see your
sensitivity as a gift, even whenit's difficult.

(12:33):
The evolution of an empath isalso to learn to help yourself,
not just to cope with what ishappening through you, but
really care and tend to yourbody so that you can be part of
life and not feel like you haveto be separate.

(12:54):
Just like I used the example ofbeing a Ferrari, if you had
that highly sensitive of avehicle, you would make sure to
get it maintained all the timeso it didn't break down.
And that same thing is requiredof us as empathic people.

(13:15):
And to evolve as an empath isalso to learn to maintain your
nervous system, to not let itshut down, to not try and hide
it or numb it really tounderstand it.
Many spiritual gifts are often adouble-edged sword.

(13:39):
When we accept this sensitivity, we also accept that it
requires a lot of care.
The other part of learning tocare for yourself is that
becoming discerning about yourown energy, about who you are,

(14:02):
also means some people, whenthey understand that you are
sensitive, highly compassionate.
There are some people who maytry to take advantage of your
empathy to manipulate yourfeelings.
This requires us, in ourempathic abilities, to also have

(14:25):
the strength to place healthyboundaries in place, to see what
is best for us, so that we'renot manipulated by others.
The appropriate tools ofdiscernment allow you to make
the most wise choices foryourself Now.

(14:46):
Today, we spent more time intalking about what it means to
be highly sensitive, what itmeans to be empathic and the
reason for learning how to takecare of ourselves.
This foundation will then be agood start so that in future
episodes, when I share tools,you know the place that I came

(15:11):
from.
In this foundational episode,which leads me to our next
episode, we'll be walkingthrough our first tool together.
Is this mine?
This is one of the mostimportant tools that you'll have

(15:32):
in your toolbox of caring foryourself, and if you don't want
to wait until the next episodefor the next tool, I also have a
10-day course Tools forEmpathic and Highly Sensitive
People empathic and highlysensitive people and it's

(15:55):
available through the platforminsight timer, the meditation
app.
I'll put the link in the shownotes so that you can check out
that course if you'd like totake it.
My hope is this that by sharingthe definition, sharing the
understanding, sharing that ahamoment is that we find the

(16:22):
beauty inherent in our ownsensitive selves.
Thank you so much for being onthis journey with me.
I'm Shannon, this is StarseedEvolution, and I look forward to
seeing you next time.
Bye-bye.