Highly Sensitive Humans Podcast
The Highly Sensitive Humans Podcast offers 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.
Highly Sensitive Humans Podcast
Mindful Tools to Support the Highly Sensitive Person
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In this episode I am talking with yoga and mindfulness coach Journe Domek - we explore a variety of holistic approaches such as mindfulness, yoga, reiki and breath work for reducing stress and anxiety. These practices have been supportive on our personal journey’s and can also support other highly sensitive people.
We question how to find a balance between time spent on social media and connecting with nature during the pandemic. We also touch upon Journe’s experience as an occupational therapist to discuss similarities, differences and misconceptions between high sensitivity and autism!
Journé Domek has a background in health care. She is registered with the Yoga Alliance as a certified Yoga Instructor, with additional training in trauma-informed yoga. She also uses her Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy to support her yogic and sensory-informed approaches to whole-body wellness, specifically supporting Highly Sensitive People.
"Our bodies are energetic systems, so grounding diverts our attention from mental space where our anxieties live and into the body" (Journe Domek)
Get in touch with Journé Domek:
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/empathicpower
Website www.growingspace.info
Other Resources mentioned!
The Four Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz
Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss
The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron
More about your host, Jules De Vitto...
Jules is a Coach and Educator who is experienced at helping Highly Sensitive People to overcome anxiety, stress and burnout. Jules is Highly Sensitive herself, and has been practicing mindfulness for over 10 years to find greater balance and reduce stress in her day-to-day life.
She has a degree in Psychology, an MA in Education and an MSc in Transpersonal Psychology, Consciousness and Spirituality. She’s taught for over 11 years and is also a qualified Transpersonal Coach and Mindfulness Teacher.
She’s a published author through Changemaker Books and John Hunt Publishers. She wrote Resilience: Navigating Loss in a Time of Crisis to help people through the Covid-19 Pandemic!
Featured in Psychology Today, Psych Central, Medium and Insight Timer - Jules is accredited through the International Association of Coaches, Therapist and Mentors (IACTM), Transpersonal Coaching and Therapy Network (TCTN) and is an Authentic-Self-Empowerment Facilitator.
You can stay connected with Jules through the following social media:
Website: https://www.highlysensitivehumans.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highly.sensitive.humans/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/highlysensitivehumans/
Meetup Group (London, UK): https://www.meetup.com/Highly-Sensitive-Humans/
1-1 Coaching - schedule a free 30-minute consultation: https://www.highlysensitivehumans.com/highly-sensitive-person-coaching
Join the 8-week course, 'Step into your Authentic Power as a Highly Sensitive Person' starts October 4th 2021, and is limited to 20 people! Join now!
About the Host: Jules De Vitto is a transpersonal coach, trainer and experienced educator 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 and wrote one of a series of books on Resilience, Navigating Loss in a time of Crisis. Her research has also been published in the Transpersonal Coaching Psychology Journal and Journal of Consciousness, Spirituality, and Transpersonal Psychology.
You can stay connected with Jules through...
Instagram
Linkedin
The Highly Sensitive Human Academy™ - join our 3-month professional training: coaching Highly Sensitive People
Welcome, I'm your host, Jules DeVito, 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. Okay, welcome everyone. So today we have Joanne Domek, who is a yoga and mindfulness coach, and she has a background in healthcare. So she's a registered, she's registered with the Yoga Alliance as a certified yoga instructor with additional training in trauma-informed yoga. So she also uses her master's degree in occupational therapy to support her yogic and sensory-informed approaches to whole body wellness, specifically supporting highly sensitive people. So thank you so much for being our guest today. And I'm just wondering if you can share a little bit more about the work that you do and how it relates to helping highly sensitive people.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, and thank you so much for having me and thrilled to be here. So, as you said, I offer yoga and mindfulness coaching to people who have high sensitivity. And I love it because I think yoga is such a natural fit for us, and it's a very introspective practice, which often comes very naturally to highly sensitive people. I help my clients to understand and communicate their sensitivities in a constructive way, as well as to retrain their nervous systems from a state of chronic stress to rest and healing. And I also work a lot with reclaiming and protecting our energy. Right now, I think highly sensitive people are especially vulnerable to the changes and all the challenges we're facing as a global community. So I also want to create a supportive and healing space for people to come together to kind of counteract some of the isolation and division that's going on right now, as it's really can be deteriorating to your health.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that sounds amazing. And I feel it is so important right now, like you said, for people to be coming together and having that community. So I was wondering, can you just share a little bit about what inspires you or drives you to do the work that you do?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so I consider myself a highly sensitive person, and I know I've struggled for a really long time to understand myself and love myself and really honor my needs. Um, and so it's been a long journey for me. And yoga and mindfulness practice have really transformed my relationship with myself. And I love it so much that I've turned it into my life's purpose now to be a cheerleader for other highly sensitive people and to share the tools that I've learned and that I've used in my life to help other highly sensitive people ditch some of their limiting beliefs and step into our unique and beautiful powers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, fantastic. So, with that being said, I'm just wondering what's been one of your biggest struggles as a highly sensitive person, or if you can share a little bit more about your story with that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, this is a this is a question I get a lot, and it's kind of tough for me to nail down just one because there are so many challenges that coming that come along with being highly sensitive. Um if I think back, so so I'm kind of new to this term highly sensitive. I really just learned about it in the last year or so, and I read Dr. Elaine Aaron's book, and it was speaking directly to my life. So I always knew that I was sensitive and I and I've been practicing these tools for a long time, but just finding that sense of community has been um just totally transformational. Um, but I've been reflecting a lot on you know how it's affected me, and I grew up in a really, really small town in the Midwest of America where diversity wasn't really really present or it wasn't celebrated. And so the sensitivity that I had was met pretty harshly by a lot of people as I grew up, um, being bullied and calling things like naive or a bleeding heart or a snowflake. Um, and I think that's because I am always drawn to big picture issues. I've always been called to be an advocate for animal welfare and the environment and social justice issues. And I always wondered why other people didn't care so as deeply as I did, and why they were so deeply critical of me caring so much. So it to me, it just seems like it's always seemed obvious that our society has all of these really um big structural issues and we're unwell in a lot of ways. And it was hard to connect, you know, growing up where people are all of one political party or all one perspective and feeling like I didn't really match where they were.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you for sharing that. And I can definitely relate to that idea of you know, you mentioned being called a snowflake, and I think it's so interesting how yeah, being sensitive is often perceived as a weakness and it's something that's judged. And I know that part of the work I do is really helping people to move away from perceiving it in that way. So you've mentioned tools a few times, and obviously you've mentioned the yoga and you've talked about the community that you're building. I'm wondering if you can share what's helped you in the past or what you still turn to now as a resource and your main tools for um helping yourself as a highly sensitive person.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I do have several tools, but the most important for me has been yoga and breathwork. And the reason I love these so much is because I can carry them around internally. I don't need to bring anything with me. They are just already existing within myself. So I think this is one of the most valuable things that a highly sensitive person can invest in because it also facilitates a deeper understanding of our experience and it helps us to be more in tuned to where our nervous system is and what we need to do to get back into our zone of tolerance or our zone where we're functioning optimally. So, this has been my major tool. Um, I also really make it a point to go out into nature every once in a while because right now I live in a city and I feel very stifled and suffocated if I don't make a point to go and reconnect with, you know, the forest and the earth and water. Um, another thing, I'm sorry, this is so many, but another thing that I do is I've really trimmed my um media consumption. I call it my media diet. So I try to surround myself with inspiring people and leaders and try to cut out as much of the negative media as I possibly can.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and again, thank you for sharing that because I can relate so much, especially to the need to be in nature. And I know right now, because um we've spent a long time in lockdown, I've been spending a lot of time on social media and I've found it to be quite draining. And that's something I'm still trying to navigate at the moment. Uh, I'm trying to find a balance between doing a lot of my work online and being on the internet a lot, but also finding ways to connect with nature. And like you said, breath work, it's so amazing because you can carry it around everywhere, and I use that a lot myself. Um, so I don't know if you have any, do you have any tips for um how people can navigate this balance between being in nature or being online at the moment because it's yeah, our um society has shifted quite a lot because of the pandemic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have um noticed that here it's a little bit harder than it was before the pandemic, which you wouldn't think would be the case, but now so many people are flocking out to the natural spaces, and so it's even harder to remove yourself from being around big groups of people. Um so something that I've really done, and you know, I live in Phoenix, so we're just coming out of the summer and it's been 120 degrees here. So I I make a point to open all the windows in my house. Um, I'm I'm sorry, the blinds of my windows let in some natural light, and then I wait until the evening and I find that just a walk around the block and just really tuning in to what nature is present even within the city that I'm in. So noticing the bushes and the flowers and the trees that are around the rocks and really taking my time and being mindful about it is um something that's helped me make it through the summer. Um, now that it's cooling down, there are some places where I feel like I can escape to. And I really, for myself personally, I really need to get away from noises and people noises and traffic noises. So I'll just drive out into like a national park, and I usually go to places that aren't frequented by other people. So I'll just, you know, pull off on a little side road and maybe just go for a walk in a place that's not really busy. I don't know if that's super helpful, but that's something that's um something that I've had to adjust to. And and speaking of um being on the screen all day, that is something that I'm navigating and pretty new to the online space. And so I'm always on screens. I invested in um a pair of special glasses that um shield you from the blue lights that come from your screens, and that actually helps your brain to regulate better and to know when to be alert and when to rest. So if you're if you're in front of a screen, like um before you go to bed, for instance, your brain might not get the signals that it's time to unwind, and that can lead to like insomnia and more anxiety and overwhelm. So that's one of the investments I've made. I also really have made a point to, like I said, just really networking with people who inspire me. And so when I come to my screen, I'm or I come to Facebook, which is where I run my mindfulness group, I'm seeing positive messages more than I'm seeing the negative media.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. That that's so helpful. And I especially, I mean, the first thing you said about going for a drive and connecting with nature, it sounds so simple, but it is so important to remember what a massive impact that can make, just doing that on a regular basis. And then about the screen, yeah. I also I use something called Flux, which um is an app that takes away the uh blue light on the screen. So again, it helps with insomnia, as you mentioned. So yeah, I think that's so helpful for people who might not know about that. So, with that being said, it is are there any other tools or tips that you can offer people who are listening to help them with anxiety or stress or managing strong emotions?
SPEAKER_01Um, yes. So I have several, but I'll start with the most important, and that is to have a grounding toolbox. And what I mean by that is to have strategies that you practice to bring back into your body and bring you back into the present moment. So that can be achieved through things like breath work or yoga, exercise, stretching, even walking. Um, our bodies are energetic systems, so grounding really diverts the energy from our mental space where anxiety lives and back into the body and into the earth. So it's really balancing your energetic system. I think it's important too to recognize that our nervous systems get stuck in an anxious state. And the way to retrain our energy system is to make sure we're practicing consistency consistently over a length of time. So it's not just kind of a one-and-done thing, but it's something that you can carry around with you and pull out of your pocket when you're feeling really especially anxious, um, even making a note to just push into your feet a little bit or connect with the earth can immediately change your physiology, but the more you practice, the more your nervous system is retrained to achieve that state with less effort. And if I could just share another thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. The more the better.
SPEAKER_01I think also something that's been really helpful for me, and I see is helpful for a lot of people, is to find support. There's a lot of um free groups that you can join, there's blogs, there's this one wonderful podcast that you're using. So just really connecting with the HSP community and you know, maybe even starting conversations and knowing that you're not alone in this, and we do meet challenges as a group. Um, we share a lot of similar experiences, and so that can be sometimes a good way to feel less isolated. And there are also many professionals who dedicate their careers to helping highly sensitive people. I value so highly the services and the courses that you know getting more support from a professional can provide. So I would I would recommend seeking out some extra supports if you have the financial ability to do so. And if you don't, just seeking out free resources like a Facebook group or a blog or this podcast.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. There's so many amazing free resources out there, and I think for me, I know that community has been so important. And I love that you mentioned consistency as well, because I do think that having a consistent practice um can make a massive difference to your well-being.
SPEAKER_01So sorry, can I just add to that? I got a little jumbled in my answer before, but what I really wanted to say was that a professional can really guide you through some and help you to incorporate a practice consistently in your life. So if you're really struggling to commit to a practice or you don't know where you're where where to start or how to make it a part of your daily practice, um, if you reach out to a professional with highly sensitive people, that's what we specialize in, helping you where you're at to really start incorporating some of these tools instead of just delaying it or not, or you know, spinning your wheels not knowing where to start.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, brilliant. That's great advice. So, with all of that being said, um, and the amazing tools that you've shared with us today, I'm just wondering if you have a favorite book or quote or if there's something that you can share with our listeners today.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, you know, this is kind of a hard question for me. I'm an avid reader, and I feel like I've read so much over the years. Um, and everything from like medical textbooks to fiction to self-help books, I kind of narrowed it down to a few recommendations that I tell my clients about. Uh, the first one is The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, which is kind of just a structure for how to live your life presently, how to live your live your life mindfully. Another one that I really love is Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Miss, which talks about our energetic systems, our energetic fields, and how those are shaped by our experiences, and then how we then show up in the world dependent on where our energy system is at the moment. Um, and then of course, the highly sensitive person by Dr. Elaine Aaron, I think, has really helped a lot of highly sensitive people to just understand themselves on a deeper level. It's so important if you're seeking, you know, self-compassion and really being able to connect yourself and honor your needs. It's really important to understand what those needs are first and know that you're not alone.
SPEAKER_00There's some great resources, and I will put those, the links to those books in the show notes for people to access. Um, I love all of those books. I've read all of them as well, and especially the four agreements. Um, that had a huge impact in my life when I read that quite a few years ago. Um, and Caroline Miss, yeah, she's done some great work um surrounding energy work, and um, I'm also a Reiki practitioner, so um learning about the the energy body has been um yeah, amazing to read her book about that.
SPEAKER_01I would love to hear more about that. I'm so interested in Reiki. I know that it's that's also been something that's really helped me through some challenging times in my life. And I think, too, as highly sensitive people, we're very much more aware of what we're holding in our energy bodies, but maybe we don't know how to label it or how to have a framework for understanding.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. And I think for me that's um why I was drawn towards Reiki as a practice, because there was always this awareness that there was more going on um outside or as an extension of the body, the physical body. Um, and um yeah, being able to tap into those more intuitive senses, I think Reiki is a great um framework for that. Um, and actually, this might have to be another conversation, uh another recording, another podcast, but um I did my MSC research into the healing and transformation of Reiki practitioners. So I looked at how those who channel Reiki um actually heal and transform and their journey instead of looking at the um person receiving Reiki, it's the person giving Reiki and how it impacts them. Um, and again, I think those who are highly sensitive definitely are are more drawn towards these practices. So, yeah, really, really interesting.
SPEAKER_01Fascinating. Can I ask um what do you see as the relationship between practicing yoga and practicing Reiki?
SPEAKER_00That is a good question. I I think that both uh practices, from my experience, are they work in different ways, but both practices are bringing you closer to this spiritual dimension and they're enabling you to actually feel very embodied but also feel very expansive at the same time. So it's a sense of um yeah, being really connected to yourself, but then at the same time uh being connected to uh a greater consciousness or everything that is uh surrounding the individual self. Um so yeah, for me, yoga, I mean, yoga can be practiced in so many different ways, but for me it's always been a very spiritual practice, um, a way of, like I just said, connecting with something greater. And uh Reiki is the same, it's uh channeling, it's moving um life force energy and uh being aware of how that moves within the body. And I feel like it's these other practices that enable us to do that. Uh uh, but just to go back to something you said earlier, it's that consistency, it's uh practicing on a daily basis which enables us to develop uh yeah, this more subtle awareness of let's say the energy body. Um, so yeah, does that make sense or is that something that you can relate to?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. That's beautiful. Um yeah, I I see that they're so related because both of them truly are about. Recognizing where the energy is and then being able to move or transform that energy or direct that energy into where it's needed at the time. I'm not super familiar with the um the actual techniques of Reiki, but I know that it was quite an energetic experience when I was on the receiving end of it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I I definitely agree. It's about uh transformation, transforming energy and um moving energy, like you said, into the areas where it's needed. Um so yeah, I feel um for highly sensitive people, uh these are yeah, just great, amazing resources to be able to uh implement into our lives, you know. Um so yeah, again, if anyone's interested in learning more about Reiki as a practice, I can um add some links into the show notes. So I wanted to touch upon now something we've spoken about recently. So last time we connected, um we were talking about the differences between autistic spectrum disorder and highly sensitive people. Um, and this actually came up after an article I'd written about the similarities and the differences. And um, I know that you have a background in occupational therapy and you've worked with autistic children in the past. So I wanted to ask you what you would say the overlapping traits are, or even what the differentiating traits are from your experience.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So um, like you said, I worked as an occupational therapist for the last few years, and I've been working with kids who are on the autism spectrum for oh boy, maybe 10 or 11 years. Um, and so of course I can't speak about um I can't speak their experience for them, but I can tell you how um I've noticed or related to them. Um, one of the overlapping traits that I see and I've seen with my clients who are on the autism spectrum is the sensory overload that's experienced by by these children. And um, that's something that I know very well. That's very personal to me because I also experience sensory overload. Um, not everyone on the autism spectrum has sensory processing disorders or sensory processing sensitivities, but a lot of them do. And this is a trait that we share. So, you know, with sensory processing disorder and sensory processing sensitivity, what that means is that our nervous system gets really overwhelmed with excess sensory information, or even what other people would consider a normal level of sensory information. So things like um loud or over overlapping sounds, strong smells, certain textures, um, visual chaos, these types of things, which can kind of just send us into a fight-fight freeze uh response. And um I would also say that they're that both of the groups, highly sensitive people and autistic people, definitely confront challenges in awareness of this as an issue from the general population. Um, most people don't really understand what this is, what sensory overwhelm is, because they can't relate to it on a personal level. They are two different things, though, autism and high sensitivity are definitely two different things. Both of us fall outside what would be called neurotypical functioning, which just means that we process to the world in unique ways. And the research is showing that both highly sensitive people and people with autism um have different brain functions. So either differences in the regions of our brain that are functioning or anatomical differences. So that's something that we share. Um one of the distinguishing features that I've noticed in my experience is uh the differences in communication styles. So one of the distinguishing characteristics of autism is having difficulty picking up on and reciprocating social cues and missing nuance in communication exchanges. And um of the things that I admired so much about some of my autistic clients was their incredible ability to communicate directly, you know, without all the fancy flair that we tend to put into our communication styles. And I think highly sensitive people are our opposite when it comes to communication. We're very, very likely to pick up on social cues and notice body language and facial expressions, and we might shy away from directly communicating our thoughts and our needs because we are so receptive to other people's emotional states that we don't want to upset the other person, or we don't we fear that the other person is gonna judge us for being vulnerable or weak. And sometimes this really comes at the expense of our own happiness. Hopefully, that uh kind of answered your question a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you. It it's really interesting, and I appreciate what you've shared. Um, I know that when I was looking into this topic, um I found some very similar things to what you've just mentioned in terms of the differences in the brain. Um, but it does seem like there's still a gap in the research, and there's a lot of confusion or misconceptions surrounding um autism, actually, um, even though it's something that's been studied for decades now, there's still a lot of research that needs to be done now to truly understand what it means to be on the spectrum of autism. But definitely in terms of being highly sensitive, I can relate to being really receptive to the emotional state of others. And I will say, from my personal experience, that is something I've struggled with in the past. Um, yeah, I can shut down and sometimes find uh social interactions or communication difficult, but it's not because I have a lack of understanding of what's going on in the other the other person. It's actually the opposite. It's because I'm overly aware of what's going on. And I do think that is something that can be difficult to articulate to people if it's not your direct experience.
SPEAKER_01Yes, you sum that up so beautifully. And I think that's like I said before, I think that's something that's just um there's a lot of misunderstanding, and there's not a lot of awareness of uh neurodivergent ways of relating to the environment. But I think that the awareness is building. Um, there are a lot of wonderful um autistic groups that are run, you know, by the autistic community who are doing a they're working really hard to kind of bolster awareness and share their experiences and what it's like to have to have autism. And I think the same goes for highly sensitive people, it's just this is kind of a new, newer term that a lot of people aren't familiar with, but there are a lot of highly sensitive people now who are advocating for embracing our sensitivity and learning to communicate it in a way that can be understood by people who don't necessarily share our experiences or our ways of relating to the world.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And that's why I feel like the conversation we're having now and these conversations are so important. Um, so just to add, when I when I wrote this article recently, which again I'll put in the show notes, it's um shared on Medium, um, I was asking if any people who identify with being highly sensitive or identify with being on the spectrum would like to share their experiences. And I I still stand by that question or um that desire to have people share their experiences. So if there's anyone listening now who feels they relate to being autistic or they relate to being highly sensitive, and they might even relate to being both, um, I'd love to hear from you because I feel to have this open conversation about what the similarities and differences are is so important. And um yeah, with that being said, uh we also spoke about some of the myths surrounding autism. So, again, from your experience, is there is there a myth that you find comes up a lot when we're talking about um ASD.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I am so glad that you asked this. Thank you so much. And I just really appreciate that you're starting conversations about this. I think it's so important. Um, one of the myths that I have heard so much, and it absolutely drives me bananas. I even read this in a Psychology Today article recently. And that's the myth that autistic people lack empathy, and that's simply just not the case. Um, many of my autistic clients care really deeply about other people and they show their concern in a lot of different ways. They want to connect with people just as much as you know anyone does. But I think where it's getting lost is that the general public just doesn't understand different communication styles. So they might interpret differences in communication as a lack of caring, but that doesn't mean that autistic people don't have empathy or don't have the desire to connect with other people. Um, again, if I would say to the listeners, if you're interested in this topic, find uh an autistic ally to speak with or join their forums or their groups. There's so much conversation going on right now. Um, and they they can tell you, I think a lot of them would agree with that point, is just that's that's one of the biggest misconceptions. And I think it's really hurtful and destructive to the autistic community.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you for bringing that up as well. Because again, just to say that when I was doing my research, that is something that came up again and again. Um, this idea that um if you're on the autistic spectrum, then you lack empathy or lack theory of mind. And I remember that being one of the first things I ever learned when I was studying about autism. So again, it just feels like there is um huge room there for more research to be done in this area. So, is there anything else you'd like to add or share about this topic?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um, you know, one more thing I would I would love to just share is just like we were talking about having these communications are so important. I think we're at a wonderful junction in our experience as humans. Um, now that we can connect so much more easily online and digitally, it creates so much space for people to have these conversations. And, you know, people um with autism are now kind of finding their voice online because it's kind of um they say that the numbers of autism have gone up, but truly what's going on is that it's being diagnosed at a higher rate uh than it was maybe when I was a kid. So now people are coming learning about um the traits of autism and maybe being diagnosed later when they're already adults. And so now they they are starting to kind of um come together online and really share their experiences, which I think is so powerful coming from their point of view, because a lot of times we think when we think of autism, we think of kids, kids with autism, and they haven't learned the tools that they need to communicate their experiences well, and OTs really help a lot with that as well as um speech therapists, and so that's that's wonderful, but I think it's really important to listen to the adult community as well. And another thing that's so great and powerful about the ability to come together online is that um highly sensitive people. I've found so many great communities and groups for highly sensitive people to share our experiences and to be advocates and to learn how we can leverage our sensitivities. I firmly believe that highly sensitive people are needed so much right now as leaders in the world, you know, as we're watching some of our systems kind of crumble before our eyes, we have an opportunity to build things, build a world that's better than it was, you know, pre-pandemic. And I think that highly sensitive people have so much to share. We are so empathetic, we're so perceptive, we connect to the world with more compassion, and we have a great ability for foresight and seeing things in bigger pictures. And I just think that's so important that we're empowered right now as we learn as a group, as a community, how to move forward from where we're at in the world right now with the pandemic and coming out on the other end stronger.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I love what you've just uh shared, and I feel really uh moved by it actually, because you mentioned highly sensitive people being leaders in the world, and I think that's something which, from my experience anyway, isn't often um being a leader isn't often associated with being highly sensitive. But I do think I agree we have so many strengths and gifts to offer the world, and definitely it's needed so much right now. And um you also, yeah, again mentioned using the internet, using social media as a force for good. And um, this has helped clarify something for me actually, just going back to what I said earlier, which is uh yeah, how to find that balance between being online and being in nature. Um, I've been feeling a bit drained uh with uh the amount of um time I'm spending in front of technology, but actually yeah, just being reminded that we have this great tool and ability to use it for a positive um yeah, a positive movement and helping people connect in um transformative ways and make yeah, making a difference in the world. So yeah, just thank you for that reminder. I think it's so important.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, I'm excited to see how things evolve over the next few years. I I'm an optimist, I think, just in the nature of my spirit, but I really do see so much potential right now for us to really be reflective on how things are going and what we can do differently to make our world better.
SPEAKER_00With that being said, you mentioned um community and Facebook groups. I'm just wondering if you want to share, because I know you have a Facebook group, and I know that you have some other amazing tools and um resources. So, yeah, did you want to just take a minute to share where people could find out more about the work you do and what you're offering?
SPEAKER_01Yes, absolutely. So everything can be found on my business website, which is growingspace.info. Um, and that includes, you know, a link to my Facebook group, or you can also search it directly on Facebook. The name of my group is Mindfulness for Highly Sensitive People, and it's at facebook.com slash groups slash mindful HSP. And what I do there is um I've created this amazing community of other highly sensitive people, and I offer my tools and tricks, a lot of free resources, a lot of discussion prompts and reflections. I do a lot of guided meditations, and that's been wonderful. And then my newest venture is putting together an eight-week course that really um dives really deep into how you can find balance as a highly sensitive person. You can um go to go onto my website or go into my Facebook group, reach out to me if you want to jump on a Zoom call together. I would love to meet you. We can talk more about what I do, or just come and you know, view the content that I have and let me know if it resonates or if if you need extra support anywhere. I'm here to serve.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for sharing. Um, I'm sure that's going to be really helpful for people. Um, the eight-week course you mentioned, and like you said, the mindfulness, the meditations, and the free resources. So really appreciate you sharing those. And thank you for being on the episode today. Yes, thank you so much for having me, Joel.
SPEAKER_01This was amazing.
SPEAKER_00Thanks 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 eight-week 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.