Being highly sensitive and the sorrows of the world

I wanted to write something light-hearted for the blog but found I couldn’t.

It didn’t seem right when all we see on TV just now are the horrors of conflict and war.  People might say ‘well, just switch it off’ but I can’t – it’s happening, it’s real and my conscience won’t let me.

Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) often find it hard both to deal with, and to turn away from, the sorrows of the world.

That’s not to say others aren’t affected too, just that HSPs tend to get more upset than most. It’s the consequence of caring and feeling as deeply as we do.

In amongst one of the current catastrophes, it was astonishing to see a hostage turn to one of her captors, shake hands and say “Peace”.

It was equally astonishing to hear that the same people who showed such brutality when kidnapping her and her fellow hostages had been providing them with shampoo and conditioner.

Something about that exchange and that paradox had given me and my sensitivity a spark of hope. But everything has since escalated and developed into something bordering on hopelessness.

I find myself thinking of the Rumi quote, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field.  I’ll meet you there”.

I have my own ideas about fairness, power and politics.  But, right now, for the sake of all those suffering from the decisions of others, I hope we find that field.

And to all fellow HSPs affected by the same sorrows, in the words of Becca Lee, “Be kind to your body, gentle with your mind and patient with your heart”.