Poetry as Medicine for the Highly Sensitive Heart with Bristena Mantu

In this episode, I speak to Bristena G. Mantu who is a Romanian psychospiritual counsellor & therapist in training based in London. We talk about the lived experience of being a Highly Sensitive Person and our shared passion and interest in the transpersonal.

Bristena shares her experiences of her pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in the summer of 2019 which sparked the inspiration for her rich and passionate collection of poems, shared in her recently published book, 'Inner Callings - a pilgrim's diary'.

Bristena has an MA in Psychosynthesis Psychology, a transpersonal context that facilitates the soul's evolutionary journey. She is also a published author, having recently published her first volume 'Inner Callings - a pilgrim's diary', a collection of soulful poetry and diary notes from Bristena's pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in summer 2019.

Both her therapeutic and artistic offerings are meant to serve anybody yearning for a deeper, more authentic connection to themselves, others and life. Bringing together raw passion, deep purpose and heartfelt compassion, Bristena's work nurtures the soul, soothes the heart and informs the mind of what is needed to make the experience of being human a more enjoyable and meaningful one for everyone involved. 

For counselling inquiries, and to book your spot at her upcoming book performance taking place on the 20th June in London, visit www.bristenamantu.com

Book your tickets for the poetry performance here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inner-callings-poetry-performance-book-launch-registration-331846490787

Her book is a self-printed special edition. Order through emailing her privately at bristenamantu@gmail.com

About Jules De Vitto, MAEd, MSc Certified Transpersonal Coach and Educator

Jules De Vitto has a BSc in Psychology, MA in Education and MSc in Transpersonal Psychology, Consciousness and Spirituality.

She is an accredited and certified Transpersonal Coach, Authentic-Self-Empowerment Facilitator, as well as an experienced teacher and educator. She works as a Transpersonal Coach trainer and tutor as part of the 1-year certificate in Transpersonal Coaching Psychology through Alef Trust.

 She is the founder of Highly Sensitive Humans - an online community that offers courses, coaching, articles and a podcast for Highly Sensitive People. She helps those who identify with the traits of high sensitivity to navigate emotional overwhelm, step into their authentic power and align with their true purpose in life.

​She is a published author who wrote 'Resilience: Navigating Loss in a Time of Crisis' which provides practical resources to cultivate greater resilience and find greater meaning and purpose through times of crisis. She has published her research in the peer-reviewed journal Consciousness, Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology.

You can stay connected with Jules through...

Instagram
Facebook Group
Highly Sensitive Humans Website
1-1 coaching (book a 30-min free consultation)
The Highly Sensitive Human Academy™ - join our 3-month professional training: coaching Highly Sensitive People

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome, I'm your host, Jules Davito, and you're listening to the Highly Sensitive Human Podcast, the show that offers an insight into the world of the highly sensitive person. And helps those who identify with the traits of high sensitivity to feel more empowered and resilient without denying their authentic gifts.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Welcome to today's podcast. And before I introduce today's guest speaker, I'm excited to let you know you can now enroll on our three-month online professional training on how to coach highly sensitive people. This training is for professionals who already specialise in working with highly sensitive people, or for those of you who have noticed that many of your clients are, in fact, highly sensitive and are ready to deepen your understanding of high sensitivity. So the training focuses on four key areas of success when it comes to thriving as a highly sensitive person coach. So the first is the fundamental skills needed to coach highly sensitive people from a holistic and integrative approach. We draw on psychological and spiritual perspectives. The second is community. This course will connect you with like-minded people where you can best support and collaborate with each other. And this community will continue well beyond the three-month course. The third is your identity as a coach. So this course is going to give you the space to clarify your purpose, your method and vision, and your reason for coaching. So the final is marketing. This can often be challenging for many of us, especially if we are highly sensitive. So this course teaches you ways in which you can tell your story in an authentic, effective, and professional way. I'm really committed to your growth, and by taking part in this training, you'll be listed in a professional directory, interviewed on the Highly Sensitive Human podcast, and have the opportunity to try and work as a guest blogger on the Highly Sensitive Human website. There are limited spaces on the next enrolment of this course. So to find out more and sign up, please click on the link in the show notes or visit us at highly sensitivehumans.com, go to the App Academy to find out more or schedule a free 30-minute call. This is a no-proper instructory phone call. It doesn't commit you to anything, it will give you the opportunity to ask questions and find out how the course works and really decide if this feels right for you. So in today's episode, I'm talking to Stenna and to who is a Romanian psychologist, but the counselor and darkist and training based on London, who has an MI and psychosynthesis psychology, a transfer context that facilitates the soul's evolutionary journal. Pristina is also published also, having recently published a first volume in a cool note, a pilgrim's diary, a collection of soulful poetry and diary notes from her Pilgrimage in the summer of 2019. So both her therapeutic and artistic offerings are meant to serve anybody yearning for a deeper, more authentic connection to themselves, others, and life. Bringing together more passion, deep purpose, and heartfelt compassion, Pristana's work nurtures the soul, soothes the heart and informs the mind of what is needed to make the experience of being human a more enjoyable and meaningful one for everyone involved. So welcome, Pristana, and thank you so much for being on the podcast today. Oh, it's really my pleasure to be here with you, Jules. So I'm really looking forward to this conversation, and as you know, this podcast is for highly sensitive people. So to begin, can you share a bit more about your understanding and your experience of what it means to be a highly sensitive person?

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Yeah, well, in this very moment, my experience of being a highly sensitive person is that my heart is beating really fast. And I feel my arms heating up, and I feel, hmm. I'm really feeling this moment and connecting with you and your viewers and your listeners. I think high sensitivity is just that ability to feel, perceive, experience one's reality uh really deeply or more complex than I suppose most people do. And to really exemplify my point, I I thought to share with your memory from when I was little, and in fact, that might have been the beginning of me starting to understand my sensitivity and why that is that makes me different than others. So I might have been about 12 years old. I was at school, and my best friend at the time, she was bullied by our schoolmates. So this happens when she couldn't hold her tears back anymore. I was with her in that moment. Jules, I was sitting there with her next to her. It felt like nobody else could see us, and everybody was so distracted and interested in their own little worlds. But it felt like me and her were we were in a bit of a bubble. She suddenly withdrew into herself, she was so hurt I could tell. And all I could really do was just to put my back, put put my hand on her back and just very gently stroke her. I didn't really know what to say. I just felt her pain viscerally. I ha I felt it shoot right through my very soul and my very heart. I was already aware that um that father was being violent with her mother and how unsafe she felt inside of herself, I suppose. But just to witness her in that raw, shearing pain, you know, like in her bleeding heart in that moment, like the whole world stopped for me. I was just there 100% in every breath with her. I couldn't speak, but I just felt it so deeply. And as I sat there, all I I just had this urge to maybe um write something down for her, and a poem came through from one of my favorite poets at the time. So I wrote it down for her, and I I just you know quickly put it in front of her eyes, and she read it. When she read it, I felt something in her soul relaxed, and she uh heaved a sigh of relief. She turned towards me and looked into my eyes and just gave me a big hug. Without any words, she just said, almost as if trying to say with that hug, thank God someone understands me. And something in my soul just changed in that moment. It changed me for life. It showed me that I could comprehend someone's pain in a way that it looked like nobody else could around me? I couldn't understand why nobody else could. Why wasn't it obvious to everybody else as well? I'm still trying to ask myself the same questions nowadays. How come some people are so disconnected from their hearts? How come they can't realize how much hurt they're inflicting on others? And so in that moment I realized that, well, it exists, you know, the evil and the damage that hurt people do to others because hurt people hurt people. So it exists, there's nothing we can do to, you know, make it disappear. All we can really do, or I can really do is to bring my medicine. So yeah, that's that's what high sensitivity for me is that ability to to perceive someone's inner world, a deeper reality, and to feel so called and so moved to to show up, to attend to it, to to offer that care, that empathy, and that compassion.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

Yeah, thank you for sharing that really beautiful story. And as you were talking, you know, the words that came to my mind were healing presence, having that, you know, natural healing presence that I think many of us who are highly sensitive have. And then the empathy and the compassion as well. I think you know, what you touched upon was not just being able to feel other people's pain and emotions, but wanting to do something about it as well. And um, yeah, for me, that really links as well to the work you do today. And you you spoke about your medicine, and I was wondering, could you, or you know, bringing your medicine to the world, could you talk a bit more about what the work is that you do, you know, professionally and also how yeah, that medicine plays out for you in your life in different ways?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I suppose, in answer to this question, I'll speak about my work as a psycho-spiritual counselor, as well as I'm a therapist in training. So I'm still continuing my studies, um, as well as just literally just having completed my MA in psychosynthesis psychology. Um people come to me when they're experiencing some sort of identity or life crisis, when uh there is some kind of breakdown of meaning, uh, when maybe they're at crossroads and they're uncertain, unsure what they could do to alleviate the suffering or the pain they find themselves in. And in that moment, many people realize that everything they've tried to help themselves might not be working, might not be yielding the results they truly wish for. And that might be because they're you know, they're trying to maybe tackle their problem from the same consciousness that created it. Like Albert Einstein says, you know, you can't find solutions to um your problems from the same consciousness that created them. So people in those kind of moments in their lives they really need some kind of external support, some guidance, some inspiration, some other resource to help them course-correct, to help them realize that what what might be missing and how to um how to overcome this stuckness that is bringing so much suffering into their lives. Um so then what I do then, when someone comes to me like that, I um I take my time to really listen to them, to really listen about who they are, you know, what made them who they are today, what happened in their past that led to them developing certain attitudes or behaviors or decision-making processes. And um by unraveling those, you know, really understanding why that why we do the things that we do. Um we also understand where we are stuck and what our blind blind spots might be. And so gaining more of that awareness about ourselves and also coming to terms with why that why we do the things that we do, that also can create a lot of positive change. And so I'm here to help facilitate that process for people, to help them come in contact with those places inside of themselves that they might have might not have been able to touch base with ever in their lives. And as we grow up, um we we have to learn to adapt, to survive in what otherwise might appear to be a hostile world. And so we end up repressing, denying, denying, disoning many parts of us. We have to bury many emotions, we have to bury many parts of us in order to fit in and to live up to what is being required of us. But what happens when those parts of us go underground and they go unconscious is that they end up actually ruling our lives, and we don't really understand why. And so the work is about uncovering you know those those parts, and it's very difficult sometimes, very can be very uncomfortable, and that's why it's always really helpful to have someone that doesn't just um not just only helps you become more aware of those places, but also bring love and compassion and empathy to to those struggles and and and how difficult it is to feel isolated and to feel not allowed to be who you truly are. So my work is ultimately about encouraging people to become more of who they are, you know, remembering who they were in the first place before they had to change themselves to wear the masks and the roles. Um, in a world where, you know, almost like our souls are not even recognized anymore. So it's it's it's my job to help people reclaim their soul, reclaim their their true power that lies uh within themselves and uh recreate their lives accordingly, you know, in alignment with who they know themselves to be at our deepest level.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Yeah, thank you for sharing. And as you were talking, I'm relating it to highly sensitive people, and you know, from my experience, those of us who are highly sensitive, we have a tendency to disown, you know, parts of ourselves even more so than than the average person. From my experience, you know, the there's more shame associated with being sensitive, or we have more parts of ourselves in the shadow because from a young age, we've often been told that it's not okay to be sensitive, it's not okay to be vulnerable, it's not okay to be so emotional. Those are just some of the beliefs that I've heard many people and myself talk about. And so I think what you're sharing is is so important, this you know, reconnection with the soul and with the truth of who we really are, and embracing those parts of ourselves that we feel, yeah, sometimes sometimes ashamed of or that we've wanted to disown. So I I think, yeah, it's really beautiful work what you're sharing about. And um, in relation to that, I know that you've recently had a book published in The Callings A Pilgrim's Diary. And I know this book and this work is also a huge part of your purpose and um calling in life. So can you share a bit more about the book and and where the content came from and how this also relates to your medicine that you're sharing with the world? I would love to.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

It really is my pleasure. It's um it's a dream come true for me, and it feels like I'm uh finally bringing my baby to the world. I guess I always knew there was a seed of a book inside of me, but I never took it seriously enough to pursue, to pursue it until only recently, and that's only really come about as a result of becoming even more committed to my healing journey. The more I've healed myself and I've gathered all the support that I needed in order to help me move through my own challenges and stuckness in life. Uh, this this book comes to honor that journey of transformation for me and to uh capture some of those turning points. Um it's a collection of poetry I I I wrote during the seven years since I realized that a major shift has to occur in my life when I dropped out of law. I came here to London from my home country, Romania. I came to London to study law and um I found myself in a very foreign environment, having to live up to something that felt so strange. So not me. Um Yes, I landed that university degree because I was competent enough, but my soul wasn't in it. So that moment of my life um really changed everything for me when I had to take that leap into the unknown and have no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life, but I knew that if I carried on doing that, I would end up miserable and unhappy. So I had to take that leap of faith. Um so what happened as a result, you know, you can read in my book. Um yeah, these these moments that I distill in every poem, they're like um those moments of victory when I when something in me really comes to a new place of understanding or acceptance. Whereas before I would struggle or I would tussle with a certain dilemma, and I write a poem, and then something finally makes sense, and I come to a place of peace inside myself. Or I like to see my poems as a message in the bottle from those places I had to visit that were dark and confusing and full of despair and loneliness. And it really helps me to remember looking back, God, that was really difficult. You know what happens when we overcome our issues. We kind of forget, they're in the past, we're fine now. And so actually, those poems are there to remind me, God, I've really been through a lot. And they can also be like the breadcrumbs that are helping others find their way, you know, towards more understanding in their lives. Yeah, it's it's the medicine, it's the medicine of my heart. Uh, that when I experience a place of vulnerability, you know, what we were talking about, the sensitive moments, the sensitive parts of ourselves that we have disowned. What normally happens is when those parts get triggered or upset or hurt, it's so hard to really know how to really relate to them. Um, if we weren't taught how to, you know, be with these parts of ourselves. It can be really destabilizing or really confusing how to hold ourselves through, through those triggers and those really difficult emotions. And for me, these poems are kind of like the dialogue I had to have with myself. Um, the symbols I gathered as I had to find some kind of resolution. You know, I had to come to some kind of peace with all these parts that would want different things, and and someone had to come in and bring some kind of wisdom. And so, yes, it's it's quite an alchemical process. Every single poem is sourced from that deep tussling inside my. Myself and somehow only through writing, through a poem that you know was like the poe from the grit of the oyster, or like the coal that under the pressure turned into a diamond. So yeah, that's how I see my poems to be.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yeah, it's really beautiful. And as you're talking, I'm you know, to share something of my personal experience, when I was a teenager and I was going through quite a difficult time, the one way that I helped myself through that process was to write poetry. And I remember writing a lot of poetry in my late teenage years, and since then it's always it's always when I'm going through a really difficult time or grieving that I find myself able to connect with a part of myself and I can write this poetry, yet I often feel I don't know where the source of that poetry or insight comes from. And I'm just wondering if you have any insight or what is your experience of when when you write this poetry, when it comes from this really raw place, do you have a sense of um yeah, it coming from a higher source or coming from uh a soul aspect of you? Or yeah, what what's your experience of that? That's a really good question.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

So even in those dark places of suffering, of grief, of despair, of even when we're in those kinds of places, there is still something in us that is there to look after us, is there to protect us, is there to help us through it, even though consciously we're not able to access it. But it's always there. It's in our biology, it's in our spirit. It's we call this in psychosynthesis um the modality that I study, uh self-emergence. The self is always trying to emerge through all of our symptoms and all of our issues. The life force energy might be stuck in one way or another, but it's always there, it's always longing to emerge. So, yes, one could say that those those poems are are sourced from that wiser part of ourselves that is like the yeah, we call it the higher self or like the wiser aspect of us who if we allow it, you know, because we don't always allow it. We can just um feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in our pain, and you know, just just get stuck there. That's also very possible. And I see that in my clients all the time, even though the wise part of us is apart, it just needs to also be consciously called upon. And when you're in that dark place, you forget that there even exists one. But I guess the more you engage with this process, the more you flex those muscles, and the more you can remember, you know, no matter what I'm going through, there will always be something inside of me, or that I can also find around me, the people that I do trust and that I know look after me, that something is always loving me, no matter what I'm going through. And I can resource myself from that place and and and move through it with more ease.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah, and it's so important to remember that, isn't it? I think it's a great reminder for anyone that's listening today that that self-energy is always there, that wisdom is within us. It's about staying in connection to it and finding ways to come into connection to it. And I do find for myself, poetry is a way for me to connect with that energy, with that source. It takes me to places that I can't always go to in my day-to-day life. And um, I think again, for highly highly sensitive people, our ability to uh or our need to connect to something deeper than is more so than the average person. So we're we're more drawn to poetry and art and creativity and and and nature and those things that help us to connect to something more than. And speaking of which, this brings me to the next question, which is I know that your book was based on a pilgrimage you did in 2016. Uh, and it was a pilgrimage you walked in Spain, and I was wondering if you could share a bit more about that experience. It's also something I have wanted to do myself for a long time, so I'm really interested to hear more about what you experience on that journey.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Yeah, absolutely. A little correction there, it was 2019. Um, well, before I begin, so I walked from Porto in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Spain on the um on the on the route, um which otherwise can begin in many other places. In France, uh, that's where it normally begins, Saint Jean, the Piedport. That's where most people begin and it takes them a whole month to work it, but it can also begin in other places in Spain, in Porto. I chose that one because it was a medium difficulty. I didn't want to go for the full full-on for a week without any previous training. So I worked for two weeks. So, what motivated me to embark on such a solo journey? I must confess, at that time in my life, I was really struggling with um codependency and with losing myself in romantic relationships. So, what would happen is I would get attached to someone really quickly, and then I would give my power away, which means that I would become influenced by everything they would want me to do, everything they would say I should do, and all the ways in which they wanted to change me. Because I was so sensitive to their energy that I all I wanted to do was mold and adapt myself to suit their interests. Having done that repeatedly, it just became obvious to me that um I could no longer afford to lose myself in other people because I was just sacrificing myself. And it became so painful that I realized I must put myself to the test. I must find a way where I no longer feel the need to compulsively rely on other people to in order to feel okay, to feel like I can exist as a person in and of myself. That was a really, really tough choice. And I mean, I sat with it for probably a year before I finally plugged the courage to go. And I left my phone behind. I just wanted to experience life from one moment to the next. I wanted to test myself to see how I can make it, you know, from one day to the next, just with myself in life on a path I've never been before. You know, can I rely on myself? Can I feel secure enough in myself? Can I look after myself in a way where it proves to myself that maybe I don't need to rely as much on others to make me feel safe? Even like a journey of initiation or like a rite of passage. I mean, my whole thesis actually speaks to pilgrimage and how I re-envision it from a psychospiritual perspective. It's that journey of um almost like a birth canal, like a rebirth, like um I saw it as me rebirthing my true self, put it succinctly, because I had to come up against all those limits of my physical, mental, emotional, spiritual endurance every single day, walking between 12 to 20 kilometers and possibly even more. The longest I walked in one day was 33, and that is without any previous, you know, physical training, not much, just a bit of yoga here and there. Yeah, that's huge. You know, you had to just reach those places of sheer exhaustion and uh uh desperation or maybe even hopelessness, like wow, how can I do this? How can I keep going when I thought that um all the fuel in my tank is gone, you know, but I still have to carry on somehow to get to the hostel for the night, which I didn't even know whether it would still have spots for me because people booked in advance, but I didn't, so it was always very risky every night. However, what turned out to happen instead was just very beautiful and magical every single night. You know, I never ended up having to sleep under the stars, even though you know some part of me was gonna have to, you know, take up the challenge if needed. I ended up in some beautiful places with some beautiful people, just pure synchronicity and lots of, I can give you an example of a really scary moment that turned into something really magical. So one day I was walking for quite some time, so probably I'd already walked up to 25 kilometers, and um, looking at the arrow and um names of the cities nearby, I realized I would still have quite a few more kilometers to walk until I got to the next sleeping place for the night. And so I was just so done. I was just I was so ready to give up. It's pretty late already. It seemed that almost every place was already fully booked, and uh, what was I gonna do? You know, I'm gonna just do the bit of hitchhiking, just you know, I'm just gonna break the rules a little bit because traditionally you're not really allowed to take the public transport or car, you know. Well, I said, this is the one time I'm gonna allow myself. This is this is all too much now. And what happened was two minutes later, a posh car stopped by, and this um old guy's like, come in. And um I was like, okay, well, he had a policeman hat uh in the car, so you know that made me feel a little bit safe. So he starts asking me some really weird questions, and I was a little bit frozen and a little bit having to hold it all together. So I had to say a white line, I had to say that someone was waiting for me. But uh I end up finally, everything's fine, I'm safe, I get the next place, and um I walk down the street, someone from a nearby restaurant beckons at me and says, Come, come here. And so I turned towards him. He turns out to be the boss of this Turkish restaurant, and he's incredibly generous and charitable, and he helps me find accommodation for the night, and he looks well after me, and he feeds me with the most delicious Turkish feast, and he also gives me some free wine. All of that whilst I was witnessing an incredible parade, um, yeah, in the city with all their instruments and their colorful clothes, and that moment for me was such a celebration because you know, like an hour ago, I was so I was so vulnerable and so exposed, and everything was so scary, and suddenly I'm in this magical place of abundance, and the universe is looking after me, and somehow, like this angel of the guy just turned out of nowhere and just you know helped me find my way that night. It was just beautiful, like these kinds of moments where um you think that's it, it's impossible, you're finished, you're done, you know, just something comes in out of nowhere and makes you feel like the universe is benevolent and it it does have got your back. And so that kind of learning, you know, and that kind of practice really makes you feel like you can trust yourself and you can trust life, and you can trust those people, even though some of them might hurt you. You know, you can still hold yourself and you can still trust and have faith that something is always there looking out for you and helping you find your next step. And so I learned that in the end, through this pilgrimage, that the way will hold me and will help me reach my destination. And but also that maybe it's not about the destination in itself, it's about the journey. So that's what happened on the pilgrimage. Uh, if you want to read more about it, you can find it in the third part of my book where I um present some of the diary notes I wrote whilst I was walking.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Yeah, it's really inspiring what you're sharing, you know, that sense of trust and surrender. And it sounds like a lot of synchronicities as well happened for you. And I think again, that's such an important message. I think it's a lot of um it's the thing that a lot of people struggle with the most, the sense of trusting or knowing that they can surrender and they can almost um lean into trusting that the universe is supporting them and whatever they're doing, I can, you know, I can definitely relate to that sense of sometimes not feeling like I can trust or surrender. And so an experience like what you're describing, it feels like something almost like something everyone should do, that that rebirth process. Um, and I guess whether we choose to do it or not, life will find a way to take us on that that pilgrimage or that rebirth process. Something will happen perhaps where we feel we are pushed to our limits, and we have to find that inner strength and uh and and surrender to that. And um, you know, as we're talking, we're touching upon spirituality and the spiritual path. Um, and for me, this is about transformation and awakening as well. And from my experience, the Highly Censored people that I have worked with and um shared experiences with, they are and we are drawn to a spiritual path. We are deeply connected to things that are spiritual, or like I said before, going beyond the individual ego or self. So I was wondering if you could share a bit more about your perspective on this and this connection we have to what we could call the divine or God or a spiritual connection. It can be labelled so many different ways, but how do you think do you think there is a connection between being highly sensitive and being on a spiritual path?

SPEAKER_00 38:29

100%, yes. Well, maybe if it hadn't been for my sensitivity, I wouldn't have been able to be more subtly attuned to those synchronicities and those, you know, magical happenings that sometimes if you're not paying attention to, they can go unnoticed. So that's one uh perspective. Another one I would like to refer to what Clarissa Estees speaks to in her book Women Who Run with Wolves, which by the way I totally wholeheartedly recommend to any woman who wants to reconnect to her instinctual side. Very, very jittery and wild and rory. Um so she speaks of Rio Abajo Rio, which means the river underneath the river. What I take that to mean is that there is a reality underneath this surface chitcha or the surface stuff that happens in our daily life. And us as highly sensitives, we have this innate capacity to access that river underneath the river, which is ultimately that which connects us to that divine infrastructure that we are all a part of, that interconnectedness, you know. Um, if we look at trees, if we look at um human biology, you you see how those branches they're all interconnected, you know, even though they're they appear to be singular, somehow they all belong to this greater infrastructure. And in the same way, we we are like that too as humans, and it's so easy to forget that. But as highly sensitives, uh I suppose we we just have a way of being more aligned to that deeper truth, that deeper reality, that we are all part of that bigger oneness that you know we are here to express through our individuality, but at the same time, we're all part of this universal being, expresses itself you know, through me and through you. We're all essentially made of the same substance, but it just expresses itself in different ways, and and that's the beauty of it. Um and in psychosynthesis, we also truly believe that our innermost selves are actually deeply spiritual, like there is no there is no divide between um matter and spirit. In fact, I really love what Gabrielle Roth, um founder of the Five Rhythms uh Dance Class, Dance Style, she says that Western's um Western world's main neurosis is the divorce of flesh from spirit. When I read that, when I read that, it just sent shivers, chills down my spine because it's so true. You know, if we look at all the cultures, um the tribal cultures, the more ancient ones, they all knew and they all expressed it through a variety of philosophies and approaches to spirituality. But somehow in our you know, post-industrial westernized capitalistic world, um, we've somehow forgotten that. And I suppose it's people like me and you and the higher sensitive that have that ability to tune into something beyond ourselves that can bring back that knowledge and help to infuse, reinfuse the world with spirit because it's in dire need of it. As I said at the beginning, like why is all that hurt happening? Why do we still witness so much injustice and so much violence and so much wounding when we know that you know it's our birthright to be able to have our needs, you know, basic needs met, and more than just that, but to be able to thrive. And there is more than enough for everybody to go around. But why? Why still we haven't managed to live up to that truth? I wonder. We we need more more consciousness to remind us, to reconnect us with our souls. And um, I I fully vouch for Highly Sensitives to be, you know, that superpower team that is bringing beautiful truth back to back into the collective consciousness. It's so needed. So well done for all the work that you're doing, everybody that's listening now. I know how much you care and how much you want to make a difference in the world because you feel so deeply, you know, you feel the suffering and you feel how wrong things are and you want to make a difference. Um, well, if I might remind you, be careful also with some of the limitations that you come across because you know it's so easy to get exhausted and drain yourself trying to be the superhero all the time. So I don't recommend that. I think to wear the you know the clothes of the superhero and then also put them down and uh just return to being human and tending to your needs. And rejuvenating yourself. I don't think it's possible otherwise.

SPEAKER_02 44:04

Yeah, and I think you just said that so perfectly. I think that quote is also spot on. I think this sense of spirit and matter being the neurosis of the Western world, that's what you said, wasn't it? That was the quote. Yeah. And as highly sensitive people, we have this inner knowing, this inner knowing of our connection to spirit and the fact that everything is spirit, that we are all connected. And um yeah, as you were talking, I was thinking, and that's it, really, isn't it? That's where all the suffering in the world comes from, the sense of thinking or believing that we are disconnected from each other and from spirit. And so, yeah, I wanted to ask you actually if there's anything that readers could take from your book after reading your book and the experiences that you share in it. What would that be if they had a message or something to take from it? Or maybe you want them to read it and decide for themselves. Is there anything you hope they will take from it?

SPEAKER_00 45:18

Well, of course, like every piece of art, you know, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. But sure, um, if there was one piece that I would like everybody to be left with after reading this book, would be that never lose your faith. And um whatever it takes to stay with it, stay with the challenge, stay with the turmoil, stay with the turbulence, because you really you really are much bigger than who you think you are. It's so easy to forget to give ourselves credit for the goodness that is already within us. And so this book comes to remind each and every reader that there is so much value, so much beauty, so much love, so much possibility that is already inside of you. Um if only you are open to open to let it come through, I suppose.

SPEAKER_02 46:21

Yeah, again, that's really beautiful and um a really important message. And I I feel like you were speaking to me as you were saying that, and I'm sure many listeners will have the same sense that that's a message they need to hear. Would you be able to share an extract from the book or one of your poems with us?

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Oh, absolutely, I would love to. I'm just uh flicking through the pages, trying to decide which one, uh, because it's it's hard to make a choice between all your babies, right? Well, I could just open it randomly and see what the universe wants to do. Yeah, show we yeah, I think that's a great idea. Okay, got it. It's called toiling and sweating. I'm toiling and sweating and shape-shifting my soul, for there was no better way, no higher way than to follow my calling into its unknown, whatever the timing, no matter the cost. I'm paying the cost and reaping my rewards slowly and steadily, chaotically and dauntingly. For there was no other drive, no other bliss, than to drop back into the abyss and skyrocket up towards the sun over and over, again and again. It's all cooking and brewing deep inside my soul, this legacy, this gift, this offering into the world that is my path, my voice, and my choice of how I show up to the best of my ability through thick and thin ease or adversity. And so I carry on, I must carry on, bearing my cross, shedding a few tears, laughing quite a lot, loving deeper and deeper, trusting stronger and bigger. For that which tries to knock me down, I always conquer. Blocks dissolved, barriers transcended, wounds healed, through all that I toil and sweat and shape shift. To my name I shall rise with honor and grace, my true destiny. I am poised to embrace.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

Thank you for sharing. Yeah, it's really beautiful. Do you remember when you wrote that poem? Do you remember what inspired that one in particular? I remember where I was.

SPEAKER_00 49:09

I remember I was with one of my best friends, Phoenix. He would love to hear me speak of this. Um, I don't remember exactly the context, but uh every time we get together, we just uh sit down and have a long, proper quality time, brother to sister, where we just unpack you know everything we're going through down to all the nitty-gritty details, and everything gets laid out, and no corner, no stone gets um missed to be you know turned and investigated. So everything is exposed, and so in doing so, we we empty our hearts, we empty our souls, uh, we we cleanse ourselves, we hear each other deeply. And uh this poem just came as an idea to as some kind of medicine to that place in my heart where I just felt really exhausted by having to tussle with all these challenges all the time, all these emotional turbulences of which I speak, is obviously as highly sensitive, we feel so much. So it's like I have to, you know, oh like you're in the plane, you just gotta make sure you just have your seatbelt on, and uh just gotta breathe through that period of turbulence. Um that's the kind of place I was speaking to in myself. Like, I'm just gonna keep toiling and sweating and shape shifting no matter what I go through, because I know it's all worth it, and I know it's all for a good cause in the end.

SPEAKER_02 50:49

Yeah, I again something I can relate to a lot as you were talking. Um, yeah, just that sense of connecting deeply with someone else and uh that being a source of inspiration for the poetry as well. So thank you so much for sharing about your work, about the book that's come out. And is there anywhere in particular listeners can go to find out more about the book, your work? Where would you like to uh direct them towards?

SPEAKER_00 51:23

Just go to my website www.bristanamantu.com. You can find there uh, first of all, super exciting details about my book launch coming up uh in June in London. For any listeners of yours in London, you are very warmly welcome to join me on an evening of poetry, um, of more of this, of everything that we've spoken about today, all of it, and much more at my book launch on the 20th of June.

SPEAKER_02 51:55

Yeah, brilliant, thank you. And I can't wait for the book launch on the 20th. So I will definitely put the link for that in the show notes as well, so everyone can access that easily easily. I know it's going to be an amazing evening. And whereabouts in London is it?

SPEAKER_00 52:12

It is um Jackson's Lane Art Centre in Highgate. Uh you have the woods there as well. That's where we met. Jules, remember when we were in the first dance um earth ceremony?

SPEAKER_02 52:26

Yeah, such a beautiful venue. Yeah, I love it there.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

Yeah, so it's a converted theater. Um, sorry, converted church. It's a theater, converted church, so it's beautiful, beautiful, stunning, um, huge, spacious room.

SPEAKER_02 52:42

Brilliant. Well, thank you so much again for sharing everything today on the episode. Wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to express and bring my voice and my gifts.

SPEAKER_01 53:00

Thanks for joining me this week on Highly Sensitive Humans. Make sure to visit my website, highly sensitivehumans.com, where you can subscribe to the show and find out more about my upcoming workshops, my online course, and where I also offer one-to-one coaching for highly sensitive people. And if you found value in the show today, I'd really appreciate a rating. Or if you'd simply share this episode with your friends or other highly sensitive people, that would help support this podcast.