It is a fact that Profoundly Sensitive people are intriguing, intoxicating to be around, and can be very difficult to understand for those who are not sensitive. For those who are Profoundly Sensitive, life on this planet can be sickening, threatening, and exhausting. Because they are so advanced, Profoundly Sensitive people can have difficulty relating to humans who are not in touch with their sensitivity, which results in them coming across as cold, insensitive (ironically), and detached.
While loving a Profoundly Sensitive person can be confusing for someone who is not sensitive, it can also be educational, transformative, and empowering. A Profoundly Sensitive person who is aware of and in command of his/her gifts is a marvel to witness and their genius can result in some of the most amazing advancements humanity has ever known.
So, how do you know if your loved one – or you – is Profoundly Sensitive? Let’s discuss the common traits of a Profoundly Sensitive person:
1. Everything IS a big deal.
Profoundly Sensitive people feel, see, hear, and experience everything in life on a grand scale and can experience within themselves what others around them are experiencing. This can lead to depression, anxiety, ongoing unexplainable illnesses, mental breakdowns, suicidal tendencies, and disassociation disorders as a means of survival.
2. They’ve been told they are “too” ___________ (fill in the blank) for all of their life as if it was a bad thing, so they believe they are broken or wrong.
Part of the magic of a Profoundly Sensitive person is that they are profoundly sensitive. However, their greatest strengths and gifts were usually turned into weaknesses and curses when they were little. Therefore, they don’t trust themselves and they feel angry, sad, and scared all the time as they fight against society to prove they have a right to live or fight against themselves to prove they don’t.
3. “At the effect of” their gifts.
Sleeping for a Profoundly Sensitive person is difficult, especially if their gifts resulted in childhood “night terrors.” Many Profoundly Sensitive people are visited at night by entities, disembodied beings, ghosts, aliens, creatures, monsters, and any other non-alive or non-human being that is not readily recognizable, accepted, or believed in by the standard human systems. Untrained Sensitives have lived with their life and sleep being constantly interrupted because they believe they have to live at the mercy of these gifts. Therefore, they are usually drained, exhausted, jumpy, and running an interesting mix of illnesses like Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and Chronic Fatigue.
4. Their brains are always going.
Profoundly Sensitive people’s brains are always ON. They may be staring out the window, unblinkingly, but they are completely aware. Of something. They are in another place – maybe Home – and wherever they are in that moment, they are interacting there, or learning, or building, or creating, or playing. Their brains are always creating, thinking, counting, reading, adding, discovering, solving, or dismantling something. Many of them have difficulty falling asleep because their brain will not shut off. Many of them have difficulty with still meditation for the same reason.
5. Over-receptive sensory systems.
Because they are Profoundly Sensitive, these people are absorbing signals from all around them. Sounds – especially repetitive sounds – can be an annoyance or distraction that can lead to fits of rage. They can hear the slightest noises as if they were atomic bombs exploding. Certain sounds send them over the edge – like papers rustling against each other or the sound of someone scratching dry skin. Textures can be their undoing – the feel of soft fabric against their skin can feel like sandpaper or grainy food can make them gag. Seeing particular images or scenes can cause them to nearly throw up – like someone sucking on a napkin or double-jointed fingers. Smells can cause nausea – strong perfumes, unwashed bodies, gasoline. They can crave certain tastes, but be adverse and avoid others because they actually feel painful. They are frequently prone to excessive allergies and life on this planet sometimes becomes near to impossible, creating the sense that they need to live in a bubble. Sleeping with their phone beside them on the nightstand can create interrupted sleep because their systems intercept the electronic signals. The Profoundly Sensitive person who is untrained (or denying or blocking their gifts) can actually feel, see, and hear the air molecules at times and this, alone, can cause them to retreat and go into hiding.
6. Easily distractible.
Because their brains are always ON and they are walking satellite dishes of sensory reception, the slightest thing can distract a Profoundly Sensitive person. I lovingly call this “Shiny Squirrel Syndrome.” Things that many people miss, they pick up on. Additionally, because they are thinking a million things at once, they have usually resolved whatever is before them in the first instant and have already completed several other tasks while the person who is not sensitive has barely uncapped their pen. This comes across as distracted, but in truth, they are just really fast.
7. Their very own language.
Most Profoundly Sensitive people came into this world with their own language. Many of them had delayed speech development or speech impediments, resulting from their needing to mentally translate their own language into the language of the people around them. Many of them began talking before “normal” childhood development milestones and this language was a completely constructed dialect, but was not understandable by the adults around them. Many times, if this child was put in a room with other children who also had their own languages, it would appear as though they were all carrying on comprehensive and comprehendible conversations. Sometimes this language comes through as hand gestures, sometimes it is drawings, sometimes it’s actual sounds, sometimes it’s in the way they move their body or dance. As they grow up, this language usually becomes the inner dialogue of their mind. They will continue to play mind games – looking for patterns in letters or numbers or shapes, making up sentences for the letters on license plates, reading billboards and translating the letters into their own, unique alphabet. Because they have their own language that is part of their intricate make up, sometimes their words come out mixed up – they get their “mords wixed” – and dyslexia is common for them. They easily relate to and can translate spoonerism – or it absolutely drives them nuts because they have spent their whole life being ashamed of their ongoing issue with being unable to speak fluently.
8. Sleeping and dreaming.
Profoundly Sensitive people are very active at night. Astral projection is an easy thing for them and they do it often while asleep or awake. They can wake with memories of training like unto what Neo goes through with Morpheus in this scene. In fact, they can identify with practically everything in The Matrix movies. They usually dream vividly, grandly, and fluently. They know the difference between a dream and a vision and they have both. While sleeping, they toss and turn at times and seem paralyzed at others; both are normal. If awakened while in the dream state, they may appear and feel disoriented and have difficulty “getting back” for several hours. This can be experienced as a disjointed, slow-crawl sensation.
9. The big picture.
Profoundly Sensitive people, especially Visionaries, are able to see the big picture in ways that others cannot. They can get stuck in the big picture and are unable to break it down into doable chunks. Because they see the big picture and also see it in new ways, they are able to uncover solutions that have never been considered before. But, they can also easily become bored or seem intolerant when things do not progress quickly enough. If they do not find a way to get to the big picture quickly, they get frustrated and sometimes give up.
10. Movement.
Profoundly Sensitive people are either fidgety and on the move or they are holding themselves eerily still because it hurts too much to move. For Profoundly Sensitive people, movement is of utmost importance. Things inside them are going so fast and the energy of this planet is so slow, so they feel at odds with life. Their bouncing legs can appear as though they are agitated or not paying attention or want to run away. And although it is possible that all that is true, it is usually a sign that there are things going on inside that they are having difficulty managing so they have to move. Also, Sensitives learn better in movement. This is why so many of today’s children are going bonkers in the standard school system – they are being required to be still and their systems don’t function at optimal levels in an environment of stillness.
11. Varying viewpoints.
Profoundly Sensitive people have the amazing ability to be able to see many different viewpoints at once. They are able to be strong mediators because they can identify with both parties, but it can also confound them because they can identify with both parties and get lost within the arguments. If they are not clear on what is theirs and what is everyone else’s, they will get really stumped by this gift and their life will become jumbled. When they can see many different ways of looking at a situation, they can get frustrated and not know which avenue to take for themselves, so they will just walk away. They also face the discomfort of knowing so many different ways and having to choose one, which feels like a risk because they will be eliminating all the other good options. They become unable to make decisions because they can see the outcome of all the choices.
12. Intolerance, impatience, and abruptness.
The speed at which their internal world is going causes Profoundly Sensitive people to come across as intolerant, impatient, or abrupt. They have two speeds: rapid-fire fast or turtle-in-tar slow.
If they have embraced and understand their gifts (or have turned them off), they have developed the ability to take everything in, process it, and move on at rapid-fire rates. Therefore, they move, talk, think, and act really quickly. They expend as little energy as possible on whatever they’re doing and they want to do it only once (and right the first time) because there is so much that they want to do – and know they need to. They feel that “do-overs” are a waste of precious energy and time and will get very frustrated and explode in this type of environment. They want to know project expectations up front and then be given free reign to complete as they see fit and on their own timeline. They get angry if “rules” are changed midstream. They frequently will not tolerate drama so if you’re in relationship with them and they’ve made a decision that is something they know you will not agree with, they will shut down the conversation with a comment like, “This is how I do it,” and won’t even provide space for there to be a dialogue. They can be considered to be control freaks.
If they have been denying, ignoring, or blocking their gifts, they often move sluggishly and have a hard time comprehending what’s going on around them, so they’ll come across as rude or unavailable. They can also move even more quickly than those who have mastered their gifts because they are trying to outrun the gifts they are ignoring. If this is the case, they are very accident-prone and have bizarre injuries continually. These are the people that also get stuck in the unending cycle of perfectionism and self-beatup. They will do things over and over and over, but never hit the ultimate mark and they will expect the same perfection of those around them, speaking to them disdainfully when they do not achieve the always-elusive perfection. They get easily confused and want to know all the rules before they start so they won’t do it wrong. (Very different stance than the fast-paced people spoken of earlier in this section.) They never want to appear unknowing or unskilled because that would be “stupid” and they are doing everything they can to be not stupid. They get angry when they don’t understand everything or don’t have all the details. Because their systems are on sensory overload from being constantly open and “on,” they can be considered to be lazy, unresponsive, and distant or overbearing, demanding, and bitchy.
13. Organization.
For a Profoundly Sensitive person, “organization” is a unique thing. They have their own, often elaborate, systems that make sense to them and maybe to no one else. Sometimes they organize in piles that appear to be random to others. Sometimes it seems to only be a “mess.” Sometimes it is fastidious with intricate codes and color schemes. No matter how they organize, it makes sense to them and it is created to manage the plethora of data they receive on an ongoing basis.
14. Multitasking.
Profoundly Sensitive people either require multitasking or loathe it. The more advanced they are in their gifts, the more they will crave to be involved with many things at once. All their lives, they’ve been told they “don’t complete anything” but, in reality, they complete more than anyone else; it just looks different than the completion of those who do only one thing at a time. If they have been blocking their gifts and are in sensory overload, giving them more than one thing to focus on could possibly fry their circuits. If they are a rapid-mover Sensitive, lists of more than three items will be entirely forgotten; they won’t even remember the first three items because they have so much going on in their mind. Conversely, because they have so much going on internally, they develop incredible skills that enable them to complete many things seemingly at once, creating an octopus-like illusion of multiple accomplishments instantaneously.
15. Commitment and passion.
Because a Profoundly Sensitive person feels and experiences life so deeply and vastly, when they are passionate about something they become doggedly committed to it. They make engaging activists and regularly lead movements that transform the face of humanity. They can focus intently on something if they are excited and either emotionally or mentally engaged with it. They do big things in big ways and make huge changes and seek out ways to contribute to the underserved. When they are committed to and engaged in something, they can become so singularly focused on it that they may ignore everything else – including family, eating, and hygiene. When they are focused on a cause, they can become a locked-jaw rabid dog that will not relent. This combination of commitment and passion sometimes can come across as elitist, fanatical, or even maniacal.
16. Emotionality and difficulty concentrating.
As has been mentioned, Profoundly Sensitive people feel and experience on a grand scale. Therefore, if they are in an emotional upheaval, they will have difficulty concentrating. Those who have learned this about themselves may have resorted to turning off their emotions so they can succeed, causing them to seem almost robotic or inhuman. Other Sensitives who have allowed their emotions to run their life may have lost their drive to stay engaged with anything because they are an emotional wreck. High emotions for a Sensitive cause their focus to disengage. It is part of the reason some of them will shut off drama and eliminate the possibility of conflict.
17. Extremes in focus.
Items 15 and 16 show the different ways the Profoundly Sensitive person can fluctuate in focus. Truth is, they can swing between singular focus and no focus, and back again, seemingly at will. Even, at times, they can be in both stances at once. It is astounding to be witness to a Sensitive’s ability to take themselves into or out of focus, but their ability to vacillate in such a way can be exhausting and debilitating. Depending on how they have chosen to “survive” on this planet will determine how gently they swing.
18. Emotions are befuddling.
Because most Profoundly Sensitive people spent the bulk of their younger years completely clueless as to what was theirs and what was everyone else’s, they can be perplexed by another’s emotions or their own. This is another time when a Sensitive may choose to turn off their emotions all together which can be experienced as a “flatline” or “emotional unavailability.” If they don’t turn off their emotions, but allow them to run them around, they come across as a blubbering, explosive mess. They can be incredibly uncomfortable in the presence of another’s emotional expression and have no idea what to do or say because they are in overwhelm themselves. Especially in the face of another’s grief, their experience will supersede that of the person who is grieving and suddenly the situation will become all about them. Sometimes they become so confused about and uncomfortable in the face of emotions, they will resort to controlling the situation and “making everyone happy” because they don’t like feeling unhappy and they don’t know how to not feel unhappy because everyone around them is.
19. Need to express.
Profoundly Sensitive people are expressive! They must find ways to express themselves and often become writers, artists, dancers, or speakers so that they have an outlet for their energy. They usually received the feedback as children that they were noisy or wiggly. When a Sensitive is blocking their expression, they can develop throat or digestive problems. Sometimes, especially when they are untrained, they become a “verbal vomiter” and cannot stop talking or blurting. If they received the message that they talked too much as a child, they may have become “quiet talkers” or the “strong silent type” as an adult.
20. The vastness.
The world of a Profoundly Sensitive person is vast. They feel and experience on a remarkable level and therefore it can make them seem intimidating. If their gifts are more spiritual in nature, they can almost seem irritatingly infallible and knowledgeable of things that are so far above most people’s heads that they are not understandable. They love the field of quantum science because it speaks to a very deep part of them. They are generally on the cutting edge of discoveries and inventions because they are willing to live in the unknown and in the realm where all things are possible.
Compassion, willingness to learn, curiosity, and accountability for your own experience is imperative when it comes to loving a Profoundly Sensitive person. For those who are Profoundly Sensitive themselves, the same is true. Profoundly Sensitive people are some of the most intriguing people on the planet and I am blessed with the opportunity of attracting them into my world in droves. They are beautiful people who are here to change the face of humanity and I feel inspired – and awed – by their bravery and strength. Each time one of them follows their heart to me, I am touched by the courage required to take those steps. It isn’t easy to be Profoundly Sensitive on this planet, but once they wake up to themselves and remember their power, Profoundly Sensitive people are masters of transformation.
Humankind is in an upswing, an advancement, and those who are willing to embrace their gifts are part of this evolution. We are divine creatures having a human experience because we wanted to understand what it meant to experience life, feel life. Profoundly Sensitive people are those who have chosen to do that in the biggest and most beautiful ways possible. To love a Profoundly Sensitive person is to experience magic on a regular basis, if you but step into willingness to do so.
And to you Profoundly Sensitive people who are reading this, thank you for being willing to see the truth of who you are and stepping forth in your brilliance. You are making a difference every day and in every way.
Editorial Note: While humanity craves a “label” so they can understand whatever it is they are interacting with, I use the terminology “Profoundly Sensitive” not to pigeonhole this fantastic sector of humanity, but rather to give name to a Tribe of people who have long been looking for a place to belong. While the Sensitives are vastly populating this planet now, many of them are still feeling as though they are alone, lost, and forgotten. I, and others like me, hold space for the awakening of their magnificence and embrace it with love. If you identify with this post for yourself and are one of those who feel isolated on this globe, reach out. You are not alone.
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