Some Survival Tips for Highly Sensitive People and Empaths

     If you've read the previous four posts, you've followed my exploration into the biology of empaths and highly sensitive people.  Now, if you are highly sensitive or a highly sensitive empath, you know how hard it is to get through each day with some emotional balance and sanity intact.  Here are some survival tips:

• From Dr. Elaine Aron, who has studied highly sensitive people extensively:  spend at least 8-10 hours per day in bed, plus two hours per day in quiet time (meditation or solitude); spend at least one hour per day exercising in a natural setting; have plenty of down time, such as one day off per week and one month vacation per year; spend plenty of time in nature and with animals; carry with you earplugs (for excessive noise) and protein snacks (because over-stimulation decreases blood sugar). 
• From Kathy Moore, a hypnotherapist based in San Antonio:  energy release work such as yoga, Reiki, hypnotherapy, dance, and for empaths, some sort of shielding or transmuting practice.

     Let me explain the latter a bit more.  There are some empaths who believe the best way to get through the day is to imagine a shield or cocoon of white light protecting one's aura from other people's stuff.  When it works (which it sometimes doesn't for me), other people's moods or negative thoughts should bounce off the shield and return to sender. 

     Others disagree.  Dr. Judith Orloff, herself an empath, recommends that one stay completely, one hundred percent, open.  She believes that she can act as a transmuter of negativity, simply by being open and allowing the negativity to pass through herself like a conduit and then be transformed in Mother Earth.   I've tried this a few times, and it really requires you to be extremely grounded.  Still, it might be an answer for those who would rather put their empathy to good use.