Published on
Psychology Today (
http://www.psychologytoday.com)
Created
Dec 17 2011 - 2:48am Being
a highly sensitive person in the weeks leading up to Christmas can be
overwhelming to say the least. The crowds, the shopping, the parties,
and the incredible business of the season can leave me feeling like I'm
on a roller coaster and I want to get off. While it is fun, it can all
be a bit too much, too fast and we end up not enjoying the season but
feeling frazzled and worn out. But there is an advantage to being highly
sensitive, especially at this time of year. Sensitivity means
that you feel things intensely, including both sensory information such
as sounds, colours, lights and smells, and emotional information, which
includes both other people's feelings and your own. But that doesn't
mean it is always too loud, too bright, too intense, or too much. When
we absorb positive sensory or emotional input, we are able to feel a
special kind of joy, and a recognition of
beauty that others cannot even see.
What
this means, essentially, is that it takes very little to excite or
impress us or make us happy. We don't need twenty thousand Christmas
lights, a party every weekend or a mortgage-sized Christmas present.
What is wonderful, in fact, is that the simplest of gifts, the quietest
carols, the smallest of gestures are enough to fill our hearts with joy.
I am incredibly happy watching the morning sun light up the icy
branches of the birch trees outside my window. I love the smell of pine
cones in the woods and fresh coffee back at home. I can light candles in
my living room and put on my favourite music and I am in a cathedral,
as grand as any in London.
The smallest gestures from people mean
so much as well. It is always challenging to keep the negative moods of
others at bay, but when they are happy, I radiate. And it doesn't take
much. A simple politeness in the grocery store, a wave from a neighbour,
a smile from a colleague. All it takes is sincerity. A genuine
kindness. And when those simple gestures come from someone you love, the
sensitive person is set alight, flying a few feet off the ground, with a
heart wide open and blood rushing, set free with an indescribable
happiness.
No
matter what kind of presents and experiences come our way, the best
part about being a highly sensitive person at Christmas is the gift we
already possess - an amazing and wondrous appreciation of the simplest
things in life. Being able to see beauty everywhere, in everything and
in everyone is a gift I will always treasure.
Source URL: http://www.psychologytoday.com/node/82695