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  #31  
Old 08-03-2016, 08:07 PM
Clover Clover is offline
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I scored 14 on that test. I am both adaptable and sensitive to a lot of things. Too general and perhaps maybe we already have too many preconceived notions about ourselves.

Interesting to read the comments and scores though.
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  #32  
Old 08-03-2016, 09:44 PM
SoulsInMotion SoulsInMotion is offline
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Originally Posted by organic born
So, among the people that you know, and among those you meet causally, do most eventually share with you their inner gut feelings about the lives that they are currently leading? You strike me as a veteran of many such conversations. I've long been surprised by how openly people will share such visceral impressions of their lives when a supportive hand is extended to them to do so.

"Eventually" might be a good word. Many people are very cold or reserved when you first meet them. At the other end of the spectrum, I've had a complete stranger crying during our first conversation - but who really knows about what's going through everyone's heads - sometimes reading what people don't say is just as interesting as what they do.

On the internet, I'm not really too concerned with what I say to a complete stranger. I know what I'm prepared to tell someone and what I'm not. Usually when you're open to a degree, you learn more yourself one way or the other.

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Highly Sensitive People neurological variation and abilities

I really like the title to this thread. We can technically discern if an individual is Highly Sensitive or not but what truly interests me is in what happens in relation to "being" this sensitive person. If we're open to the life-impressions of others in some ways we'll be changed a bit by each and every conversation along those lines. I suspect, based on experience, that a "sensitive" person is forever in flux. We can attempt to lock-down a solid interpretation of living, but with each conversation we're being introduced to a contrasting experience of another.

For myself, I feel like I'm floating among an ocean of various descriptions. This allows for highly flexible associative interpretations when it comes to trying to define my own personal assumptions about myself and this "reality" we currently inhabit. But it also requires that I take out the garbage often, because it's easy to get distracted and absorbed among the emotional impressions of past events, and the broad-spectrum beliefs of others.

We do take in an awful lot of information. Like I implied earlier, it's not even necessarily about what people say and opine openly to you. This amount of info can be overwhelming until an HSP has learned to handle it, and even make them appear (when meeting them in person) to be stuck up, an a-hole, or various other colorful phrases - because to express how all that info truly affected us? Well, you can probably get what I mean.

HSP in other words can correlate with empathy, but it can also correlate with an extra sensitive "bull detector". Thus life becomes a confusing tug-of-war between loving and loathing humanity. Only the strongest overcome that dichotomy to the point that they can be effective "game changers", as I believe they have the capacity to be, being some of the very few who operate "outside the box".

As far as what people do share about their beliefs, in general it takes a lot to change my mind about a topic; when I come to agree, it is most often through personal experience.

So this is probably somewhat of a different type of flux than what you describe, but nonetheless the common denominator would be that we likely have a staggering amount to sift through on a daily basis as compared to the average individual, and there is a very steep curve to life.

Similar things have been observed in specific personality types found in systems such as Enneagram and MBTI, and although I don't know how much stock I put into those specifically, you definitely see patterns there, with such types having a terrible time of it in their early years, but often going on to do some pretty noteworthy things. And if you observe the young among them predominantly, what a chaotic mess when they get together, it just becomes an endless feedback loop of negativity.

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I think to be "sensitive" is both a curse and a blessing.

That about sums it up.

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So, to pick your brain a bit, when you entertain the word "sensitive" what impressions come readily to mind?

Paradoxical. Seen as weak, naive, and stupid to others, and simultaneously being potentially just the opposite of these things. Then the paradox of living both an incredible amount of suffering but also appreciation. And in that appreciation knowing that there is suffering in this world more important than one's own.

Quite the brain picker, you are. ;)
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  #33  
Old 09-03-2016, 07:17 PM
organic born organic born is offline
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Originally Posted by SoulsInMotion
Paradoxical. Seen as weak, naive, and stupid to others, and simultaneously being potentially just the opposite of these things. Then the paradox of living both an incredible amount of suffering but also appreciation. And in that appreciation knowing that there is suffering in this world more important than one's own.

Quite the brain picker, you are. ;)
That was a great and inwardly honest response SIM! Thank you!

I've been pulling at this taffy of 'how we each tend to create our own versions of living', for as long as I've been aware that we're conscious. I didn't originally like the version I was raised with, so for a time I wanted to be "anyone" other than how I saw myself to be. So I started asking others about "themselves". "What are they doing so I can then do likewise?" It didn't take long before I realize that that was not an option. "No one" knows what's really going on and "everyone" was simply guessing like I was (but perhaps with not as much intensity as drove me :). Wheew, that was a relief! So, "I am the tool that I now have to work with, and within me are the same tools that are available to all".

I'd been getting splashed in the face with all sorts of odd happenings which steadily helped focus my attention. It became apparent that if we can effectively demystify our 'interpretations' of who we are and focus instead on what comes to us freely, then a more solid connection with living will form. A bit spooky though. Our brains can't predict what it doesn't have ready access to, and yet our brains are designed around continually predicting. As we venture steadily into the unknown our brains will cry "danger" or "omg this is intense!" and attempt to return us to familiar assumptions. I was awoken from numerous lucid dreaming episodes early-on, on account of these responses. My brain is still cautious when I find I'm lucid dreaming, but likely, do to repetitiveness, it now seems less concerned. (I had one here recently where I was playing a game of tag-your-it with an F16, and me without a craft, just my body. We were high-flying and quick moving, and I was "awake" for it all. I enjoyed the freedom of such movement without the need for a prop. ) So our brains can adapt to such things when it concludes that such things are now predictably okay.
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Originally Posted by SoulsInMotion
Paradoxical. Seen as weak, naive, and stupid to others, and simultaneously being potentially just the opposite of these things.
I repeat your quote above because you are so absolutely correct! If the word "sensitive" is used in a way that points to the refining of ones perceptive abilities, then clearly there's nothing that I know-of that's remotely more powerful. If we're interested in something, then we only need to let-go and drop into it. From there what is discovererable is base on our sensitivity to what then comes our way. The more we are open to our tools of perception the deeper we can immerse, and derive value, from such.

Also.. and this part is pretty cool.. you will never find an absolute answer. One layer unfolds into another, and then another, and as discoveries become clear they begin overlapping with other things that we'd been discovering along the way. But there are no answers that will steadily remain stable.

As we realize that this is the case then there's no need to project a make-believe appearance of certainty, so there goes that chest-thumping part for our ego, we are then free to become "humble" as well. :)
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  #34  
Old 09-03-2016, 09:27 PM
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Originally Posted by organic born
... you will never find an absolute answer. One layer unfolds into another, and then another, and as discoveries become clear they begin overlapping with other things that we'd been discovering along the way. But there are no answers that will steadily remain stable.
This is golden!
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  #35  
Old 09-03-2016, 09:52 PM
SoulsInMotion SoulsInMotion is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by organic born
It didn't take long before I realize that that was not an option. "No one" knows what's really going on and "everyone" was simply guessing like I was (but perhaps with not as much intensity as drove me :). Wheew, that was a relief! So, "I am the tool that I now have to work with, and within me are the same tools that are available to all".

Exactly. There are certainly figures I gravitated toward trying to emulate at various points, and perhaps that's not so uncommon. We try on different suits and try to see what "suits" us. There came a point when I became pretty full of it because that's the way the game is played and I had a lot to compensate for. But I actually have pretty low tolerance for acting, and so it was quite the relief when the eventual realization dawned that everyone else is just as messed up and clueless, perhaps even more than I. That reveals itself in new ways with every passing year, as I learn about different facets of society. What it has bred exceptionally well is merely an image of absolute knowledge, intelligence, and success, which is in reality more result of an ability to parrot so-called "facts" and follow a bunch of breadcrumbs dropped by the influential. "Wink wink nudge, this is the way it's done."

With that realization in mind, the courage and drive to share what I know to be true myself, becomes much stronger.

Quote:
I was awoken from numerous lucid dreaming episodes early-on, on account of these responses. My brain is still cautious when I find I'm lucid dreaming, but likely, do to repetitiveness, it now seems less concerned. (I had one here recently where I was playing a game of tag-your-it with an F16, and me without a craft, just my body. We were high-flying and quick moving, and I was "awake" for it all. I enjoyed the freedom of such movement without the need for a prop. ) So our brains can adapt to such things when it concludes that such things are now predictably okay.

Lucid dreaming is probably a very valuable tool for exploration. I've done it several times, more when I was in my school years. Usually though it was about going back in and changing a dream I didn't like the ending of... ha, ha. I'm fascinated by what regular dreams can teach us, too.

Quote:
Also.. and this part is pretty cool.. you will never find an absolute answer. One layer unfolds into another, and then another, and as discoveries become clear they begin overlapping with other things that we'd been discovering along the way. But there are no answers that will steadily remain stable.

As we realize that this is the case then there's no need to project a make-believe appearance of certainty, so there goes that chest-thumping part for our ego, we are then free to become "humble" as well. :)

An interesting example of this (don't know how interesting it'll be to you, but it is to me) is I've actually made a point of continuing to draw reference to my background of Christianity in every new thing I incorporate into my world view. Like "Can this agree?" Most often, the result is that the words of scripture take on a different, but far more meaningful shape.

Take what you just said, and apply 1 Cor 13:12... "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

The typical evangelical Christian can't help but act completely certain of everything within the accepted worldview of their denomination, even when verses like this stare them in the face.

When you get into study of anthropology, ethnobotany, and a number of other interrelated fields, things get very nuanced, but interestingly for me, rather than completely driving me away from my former "blind faith", it actually creates some compelling connections. The result is that I cannot throw the message of Christianity in the dumpster like so many other former Christians - but I cannot ignore either, that if the truth is there, it is also far outside the boundaries of the walls of a church, or pages of a bible.

So I am driven to explore many multiple directions at once, with some kind of feeling at the same time that it all represents something singular.

Do you have some kind of "singular theory or truth" that you follow? Because there is a difference between bouncing from idea to idea haphazardly, obviously and being driven by the feeling that things connect together in some form of meaningful web.

In other words, there are different levels of certainty. There is arrogant "chest-thumping" certainty usually bred into us by systems such as school and church, and then certainty that comes from experience.
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  #36  
Old 09-03-2016, 10:12 PM
Holly Holly is offline
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I ran into this test a few weeks ago and I can't remember my score but it was high. All the points minus 2 or 3.

I knew I was unusually sensitive. I have been since my earliest memories. Tho I never knew there was a name for it!

Clairvoyance, empathy, telepathy....yep. check. Tho I didn't develop those until I was 20 odd and I've been sensitive like this all my life. I don't think you need to be clairvoyant to be a HSP .
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  #37  
Old 10-03-2016, 04:22 PM
organic born organic born is offline
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Originally Posted by Olivia13
This is golden!
Thank You Olivia!
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  #38  
Old 10-03-2016, 06:22 PM
organic born organic born is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SoulsInMotion
Exactly. There are certainly figures I gravitated toward trying to emulate at various points, and perhaps that's not so uncommon. We try on different suits and try to see what "suits" us. There came a point when I became pretty full of it because that's the way the game is played and I had a lot to compensate for. But I actually have pretty low tolerance for acting, and so it was quite the relief when the eventual realization dawned that everyone else is just as messed up and clueless, perhaps even more than I. That reveals itself in new ways with every passing year, as I learn about different facets of society. What it has bred exceptionally well is merely an image of absolute knowledge, intelligence, and success, which is in reality more result of an ability to parrot so-called "facts" and follow a bunch of breadcrumbs dropped by the influential. "Wink wink nudge, this is the way it's done."

Indeed! If we don't act a certain way or be responsive to certain catchwords or sayings then somehow we haven't hit that mark of ritualized credibility. A quiet person with a reflective mind may indeed be following a long explored track, and may indeed be immersed in a rhythm of wondrous insight, but that came for them at a cost. We may be seeing the glow of years of "tried and failed" of which time they were embedded in many of the trials that we may be or have-been facing. To watch them in their quiet and reflective mode does not mean that they've crossed a "finish line". There is no point in life were we "finally get it", and to pretend that we have is rather awkward in light of the emotional turbulence that may be encountered in later trials.

I know this because I've tested this with folks who project such certainty. At first blush you would think that "they've arrived". But start poking away at their veneer with direct and specific questioning, and observations of your own, I've watched the secure boundaries that they've erected for themselves start to sway and sometimes crumble into honest uncertainty. Now I don't mind going there with them, because I'm admittedly and honestly uncertain myself, and I will readily add that to the mix. I'm deeply comfortable with not knowing, in fact I see this 'not knowing' as part of the fun, while those who are "projecting" and simply acting as so, reveal rather quickly that their secure assumptions are ultimately conditional.

A police officer will often appear secure because he/she is part of an army. A preacher will often appear secure because he's memorized the script and projects in such a way that those looking for similar will supply him/her with a mutual subject-related codependent support. People tend to confuse the act for the thing. Watch a CEO from an internationally successful business attempt to pick up an infant and "try" and be at ease with the young child the way a mother, who's not so highly placed, will do seamlessly and naturally with warm comfort. This mother may in turn be deeply frighted by this business mans partners, while none of them could hold the same infant with this mothers inwardly secure maternal integrity.

When most individuals are moved outside their long rehearsed comfort zones (and I'm just a big enough jerk to help stimulate such movement :) the appearances that they project of such certainty will likely crumble toward a more honest base uncertainty. It's a delicate game that we play with ourselves. And it's exhausting to maintain when projection is all we have for the anchoring of our inner-feeling of continuity.

We could easily observe that people are generally faking it, and demonstratively aren't being genuine, but in their defense, that's all they usually know as how to go about living.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SoulsInMotion
Lucid dreaming is probably a very valuable tool for exploration. I've done it several times, more when I was in my school years. Usually though it was about going back in and changing a dream I didn't like the ending of... ha, ha. I'm fascinated by what regular dreams can teach us, too.
What I like about lucid dreaming is in the rawness that comes with them. You are so in the present in a lucid dream. One tends to connect "directly" with their -experience-of-self- and it's this connection with the moment, and this inner direct experience, that's eventually and rather easily, carried-over into our physical waking state. I don't really view the lucid dream as a subject of interest, I see them more as a tutorial toward a truly honest state of being.

In the physical world we have a lead-into collection of cyclical habits that tend to adjust to our expectations in relation to most events. We know we're going to work, we dress for it and prepare, and then adopt our work persona from the moment we enter the door. But in a lucid dream you just appear into rather random, unpredictable environments and situations. One needs to adjust to such instantly, while the tools that you can use while there are not limited to the physical cause-and-effect collection of our normal assumed certainty.

But it took me awhile to realize that the events and situations are not the "thing". It's the manor in which you are "present" that's essentially the theme and the focus. It's the discipline of being alertly-present that appears as the consistent "goal".

When I mentioned in my last post that "we only need to let-go and drop into it" this is something I learned how do do through lucid dreaming. Don't "assume" that we know the outcome from any particular endevour (it's nearly impossible to fully control a dream environment) just be present and interact with the environment as it presents itself. Generally 'surprise' is the rule, and spontaneous adjustment is the key. Now, you can't do any of this if you're attempting to apply ones previously learned assumptions, pretty-much everything about the dream state is unpredictably complex. So the "moment" and "flexibility" becomes everything. And there's no hint of a need to be honest in relation to such occurrences, the situation is so raw that you have not choice in the matter. The feeling you encounter while being there is one of honesty without measure!

After a number of these occurrences, the understandings in such, tend to seep into ones physical experience-with-self. That doesn't mean that I can't still lie if I have to, (which is now very selective and very rare) but it does mean the presumed need to do so has been whittled down to near irrelevancy. Why bother when I'm no longer attempting to maintain a perpetual act.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SoulsInMotion
An interesting example of this (don't know how interesting it'll be to you, but it is to me) is I've actually made a point of continuing to draw reference to my background of Christianity in every new thing I incorporate into my world view. Like "Can this agree?" Most often, the result is that the words of scripture take on a different, but far more meaningful shape.

In spite of a number of my previous posts I'm completely a big fan of "some" of what's found in the bible. The bible itself is a political document, designed to control a populous based on an entrapment of spiritual conformity. But sprinkled among the text are choice lines of great wisdom, observations that were around long before the current bible was formulated. I've long thought that it could be condensed down to a very small book, and without all the fake drama that came with it.

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Originally Posted by SoulsInMotion
Take what you just said, and apply 1 Cor 13:12... "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

And now apply this to what I just said about lucid dreaming. :)
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  #39  
Old 10-03-2016, 06:28 PM
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Thank You Olivia!
right back atcha ob!
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  #40  
Old 20-03-2016, 07:19 PM
7luminaries 7luminaries is offline
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I can agree with most of these items, but I have had to learn how to cope and deal in most any situation, and save the recovery/downtime for later.

I also had a merciless and brutally cruel father, around whom one could not be upset or hurt or express any heartfelt or sincere feeling, as he would have only continued to draw blood if he knew he'd been successful in the initial attacks. Those had to always be withstood as if you were made of stone.

So I learnt how to develop a good deal of that thicker skin from a very young age, whilst still retaining who I was at core and expanding it to a great degree. It has taken time to trust in the revealing of it again. It's a gradual process.

We learn those with whom we can trust with our true selves. They are those who are kind and loving and supportive. In all other situations, we endure as and (only) if we must

Peace & blessings,
7L
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Here we must be unafraid of what is difficult.

For all living beings in nature must unfold in their particular way

and become themselves despite all opposition.

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