Category Archives: spiritual

I Was Lost But Now I’ve Found Me

Hello Everyone!ย  Happy New Year, Everyone! Happy New Decade! Yay 2020!!! I hope you are doing well.ย  I hope you find hope in my sharing my journey of feeling lost to feeling found. I understand, I care, and I found ways to heal that perhaps can help you too.

 

10 years ago today I started this blog!ย  It was a new beginning for me as the blog helped me to find my voice as a writer; as a coach, mentor, and spiritual counselor for other highly sensitive souls and empaths with childhood wounds; and just …as a person, a soul, a human being on the planet! I did not realize I had started my blog at the beginning of a decade! I did not realize until yesterday how serendipitous and special it is that I started my blog at the beginning of the previous Decade!ย  Wow exactly 10 years ago! I was 48 then and felt kind of old and yet unaccomplished and green.ย  I am 58 now and I feel younger than I did at 48 …and in fact younger and happier than when I was in my 30s!ย  2020 vision and clarity is ahead for us all–a new hopeful path is emerging before our very eyes! I invite you to get out your journal or think back to january 2010 and look at how far you have come.ย  Please share your healing journey in the comments belowย  or if you resonate with realizing you started some positive changes or awarenesses in your life in 2010.

 

one whole decade

 

I found my true soul’s purpose as a result of writing this blog and an ability to express myself that had long been hidden inside me. When I started I had no idea how importantly the work I did on this blog would impact my life. I remember thinking, if I could just help one other person with what I’ve learned on my journey then this blog would be a success. Such a valuable thing to learn I think because I had low expectations so when the blog gained momentum and had lots of engagement it gave me so much confidence! The success of beginning my career as a life coach on the blog lead me to following my intuition and trusting my own inner guidance at deeper and deeper levels.

I was helping others through sharing my journey through a pen name at first–using my middle name, I was known as Elaine back then. At the height of my coaching career, I then started writing more and more songs, going to open mic nights, met musician friends in my area, and overcame my terrifying fear of singing alone on stage in public. I started performing around Indianapolis and getting paid for it and made an album of original songs that is on all the Worldwide music platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon.

While I deeply loved my blog, my coaching and my clients, my heart was torn in 2 directions. I realized I had to put all my songs under my legal name and until then they had been divided–half were songs about inner child healing under the name of Elaine. When I changed my name on the blog and stopped writing as regularly, the blog audience changed and grew as I changed and grew. Even when I didn’t write for a few years on this blog, the old posts continued to get readers and new followers and I continued to get emails from grateful sensitive souls who felt their childhood wounds had been “seen” and their inner feelings “voiced”.

My journey took a spiritual turn as the intuitive abilities helped me realize many of my songs and blog posts had been “channeled” by me–I realized I was co-creating with the help of my higher self. My soul’s purpose grew to include being an energy healer, and the training and certification I received as a Reiki Practitioner in 2012 was fitting beautifully with my channeling abilities, and I attracted opportunities for office space to do this Reiki work and Intuitive work in Indianapolis. Now, in addition, the music and the Reiki are fitting together as I learn about sound healing and things like Reiki-infused music and music-infused Reiki. It is so amazing to me how life unfolds in ways that amaze but we somehow get glimpses of what could be, yet we don’t know how we can get to our dreams and yet the dreams unfold into yet even better dreams and magical abilities.

We also all have so many unexpected hardships along the way and think we are off track sometimes, but I believe it is these very hardships and side roads that make us stronger–strong enough for the next thing that our higher self has planned for us! The last 2 years have been an upheaval for me, revealing unhealthy patterns in me that I couldn’t see without some shake-ups and re-formulating in some very close relationships.

But it all makes sense now–if you have painful childhood wounds you need to relearn how to bond with people with pure love at the core. I have even more self-compassion for my wounds, even more strength to observe them and release them and grow stronger with each layer of emotional pain from the past that presents itself.

The result is a really strong foundation at my core, an independence and confidence to stand on my own 2 feet, and empowerment that is not codependent on a partner or children, or a role, or achievement in life but in a power of being that is centered, grounded, and wise with knowing that I am worthy of having it all just by being. And that we are all worthy of having it all and I LOVE helping others to get to this same feeling of wholeness and vitality and creative expression.

Whew! What a ride the last 10 years have been! The first 3 years of this blog contain the meatiest, most substantial posts in my opinion so I am going to be reblogging those posts on the day that they were posted 10 years ago as they come up. I will also be posting updates in the present day too interspersed with these older blog posts.

So here is the very first blog post from the first day I signed up for the wordpress site– I was back then just learning to navigate the brand new wordpress world (and with my very first laptop computer too–I was still just learning the computer) at that time–my youngest child was now settled in college.

The first post was lyrics to an original song that expressed the hope I felt at going from “lost” to “found”. Thank you to all of you who follow me and to any of you who have followed me from the very beginning, I am sending you big hugs!!! ๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿ’ž๐Ÿ’žI’d love a comment or a hello from you!! Please join me in celebrating my 10 year anniversary of teaching and learning self-compassion through this blog–all the way from Elaine to Roxanne Elaine. I will continue to write here to share my journey to comfort and encourage all who resonate with this community of Hope and Healing. I’m so grateful to all of you who read my blog. Again I THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart and the depths of my soul.

Wishing you a wonderful Happy New Year Celebration!! ๐ŸŽ‰๐Ÿ™Œ Yay!! It’s 2020!!๐Ÿคฉ

A new Beginning for us all.

Party like 1999

Sending you comfort, caring, inner peace, love and light,

and Encouragement to Enjoy Life, and Permission to Party!!

Look how far you’ve come!! ๐Ÿ˜ƒ๐Ÿ’ƒ๐Ÿ•บโฃ๏ธ

Roxanne โœŒ๏ธ๐Ÿ˜‡๐ŸŽถ๐Ÿ’–โœจ

 

Hope and Healing Haven

My very first post, Dec. 30, 2009:ย 

I Was Lost But Now Iโ€™ve Found Me

Lyrics by Roxanne Smith

I am strong but they canโ€™t see me

I am wise but they canโ€™t hear me

I am kind but they canโ€™t feel me

I was lost but now Iโ€™ve found me

I can see the truth in me

I can feel the love in thee

I can have the strength I lost begin again

Your belief in me makes me free

CHORUS

I am sad and you are there to hold me

I am weak and you are there to guide me

I am scared and you are there to love me

I was lost but now Iโ€™ve found me

I can be all that I can be

Overcome the fear they gave me

When all I feel is lost and unaware

You are there to say you care

Whenโ€ฆ

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New Weekly Channeled Angel Messages: Comfort For Empaths and Lightworkers During Ascension

Channeled Angel Messagesย โœจ๐Ÿ˜‡๐Ÿ’–โœจWeekly!

Hello Everyone!ย  These messages are to be shared for all who resonate and are open to receiving spiritual guidance.ย  This includes Empaths, Highly Sensitive People (HSPs), Lightworkers, Spiritually Awakening Souls, Earth Angels, and to all Seekers and Open-hearted souls.

This blog post is taken from my Channeled Angel Messages Page on my blog that has 13 posts of angel messages that I am now posting there weekly.ย  There you will find all the other messages from my 6 archangel guides (most of the time it is 6 but it changes) that I have posted since November, 2018. Please comment if you like receiving the angel messages in my blog posts. I’d love to hear from you.

Peace and Love to you,

Roxanne Elaine Smith ๐Ÿ’—

July 15, 2019

Dear Gorgeous Sensitive Souls, we are greeting you this way because some of you are not feeling so beautiful right now and we want to reassure you that you are and so much more than you can imagine.ย ย Your brilliant light and healing abilities are vast and strong and your ability to tap into the beauty and bliss of existence is very real. Often you get bogged down from being around others and donโ€™t even realize the negativity is not yours.ย ย Other times you are triggered by the insensitivity of loved ones and your own unhealed wounds come up to the surface.ย ย Often this makes you feel shocked at the depth of your wounds about feeling safe.ย ย You know that you need to feel safe at a basic level.ย 

The good news is that this is happening so that you can now begin to create this safety for yourself from the inside out.ย ย Until you know about these unsafety feelings that have been long hidden inside, you canโ€™t heal them.ย ย So your higher self is guiding you to these situations where you have to face these needs for safety that were never properly formed in your childhood or you may have root chakra damage from past lives that has not been resolved that is playing out in this lifetime.ย 

This happens if you died tragically in a past life for being persecuted for many reasons and one example is for being accused of being a witch. Or you may have been an outspoken or rebellious woman or man who did not follow the rules of your time and were trying to help others in some way. The list of possibilities is long.ย ย Deep feelings of untrust and injustice and not being able to speak your truth may all be coming up to be healed and resolved in this life. You may be clearing throat chakras issues in this case.ย ย If it all feels like too much to decipher and bear please take a break from figuring it all out and be really kind to yourself right now. Often the weekends are when conflicts arise because we have the time and our higher self knows it.ย ย Try to trust that your higher self will not give you more than you can handle.ย 

If you can write in the mornings to get back in touch with your true loving nature and clear out your disappointment, then the rest of your day will go so much better.ย ย We see how strong you are, how amazing you are when you speak out about thingsโ€”when your words are twisted or not received well, you are hard on yourself and forget that what you were saying is/was very accurate. Your are right and you are right most of the timeโ€”people who manipulate and downplay your words are just showing their insecurities and fear.ย ย It is disguised as power but it is born out of fear of not being good enough.ย ย You also have roots of not being good enough that you are clearing out.

You are now knowing you are good enough so you expect loved ones to be a cheerleader for you and you may be shocked and disappointed when they are not.ย ย You would never not be a cheerleader so then you blame yourself for not choosing people in your life who are not cheerleaders. Please know that what gifts you bring to the planet, of creativity and high vibration, cause a healing crisis in other people sometimes and it is all unconscious to themโ€”they donโ€™t know why they react the way they do. Think of yourselves as magic healers walking around bringing up others unhealed wounds sometimes.ย ย Think of yourselves like Glenda the Good Witch floating around with a smile and beauty and a powerful wandโ€”we hope this brings a smile to your face.ย ย It may seem silly but if you are feeling victimized instead of seeing that you are healing, this image can really help you to heal.ย 

Of course Glenda has a magic bubble to get away and you canโ€™t float away in your human world but you absolutely have the power to put a protective bubble around yourself at any time with just your imagination and intention.ย ย Itโ€™s best to imagine this amazing bubble of yours to allow love and light and bliss to flow out to others but no negativity may enter. There are many ways you may imagine your bubbleโ€”you may like to create it to have a mirrored exterior shining outward so that when negativity approaches, it sees itself and runs away. We want this to be fun for you to experiment with.ย 

We are also wanting to lighten your heavy mood that stems from having absorbed negativity from elsewhere. Innately your energy is all love and light and so you can ask your guides and angels to lift off any energy that is not yours at any time. We want to help and we remind you that you must ask for our help in order for us to do things like this. We love you so much, dear ones, and we want you to be excited about who you are and your abilities to manifest your desires that are in the highest good for your soul. In order for your dreams to come true the lower vibrational repressed emotions from childhood must be cleared out.

Right now you may have anger to be cleared outโ€”it might be causing a blockage in the heart and solar plexus chakrasโ€”imagine the frustration of not having a voice to say no to abuse and injustice and since you are healing and getting stronger and some good things are happening in your life, it makes sense that repressed anger from the past would come up to the surface to be healed.ย ย You may find you have exploded at someone recently or wanted to and perhaps you are shocked at the rage that you feel. We want you to know you can release this anger in harmless ways by several techniques. One is by writing all the rage out at someone in a letter and do not hold back and tell the truth of the depth of your rageโ€”and then burn it of course (in a private releasing ceremony if youโ€™d like) or shred it because this would be damaging for anyone else to actually read.

Also hitting a mattress as hard as you can as often as you need to to release this anger out of your body.ย ย Thirdly, saying or yelling what you wish you could say to an abuser or unfair situation into a pillow to muffle the sound. We do not want you to hurt your vocal chords of course so alternate these different techniques as you feel guided.ย ย We want you to look at this as a healing exercise and notice the relief that you feel.ย ย We do not need to tell you that unleashing anger onto a person would be harmful as well as lower your vibration and only cause you to feel remorseโ€”but humans do have this big reaction at times so if by chance you do have an angry outburst on another it will do wonders to genuinely apologize for any words that diminished the other person in any way. If you were just loud out of frustration that is okay occasionally although you may find that yelling just triggers others and they may not be as mindful as you in their choice of words back to you which may trigger you in return.ย 

So you can see that staying calmโ€”speaking your truth in a calm tone such as saying: โ€œI know who I am, and what is being said about me here is incorrectโ€ or โ€œI do not want to be treated this wayโ€ and walk away is the beginning of finding your voice and strength to standing in your power and ending co-dependence on others approval.ย ย We see that many of you are getting your independent legs and we are so proud of you.ย ย Do not be discouraged if it has taken you a long time to get to where you can see with clarity that you are treated less than fairly in your love relationships too. Do not be too quick to throw this relationship away because all that may need to happen is for you to calmly say โ€œNo Iโ€™โ€™m not going to allow you to talk to me like thatโ€”Maybe you should go take a walk and calm downโ€ or something to that effect. We know this is easier said than done but we want you to see the progress you are making that we seeโ€”and be cheerleaders for yourselves to continue to grow in your strength as sensitive caring souls who only want to help.ย 

You will get more respect from the divine masculine partner when you stay calm and speak strongly and forcefully rather than cry and yell from a feeling of victimization. Forgive yourselves for occasional outbursts, you are human and itโ€™s okay and may even be eye opening for you to see the hidden inner wound in you that needs to be healed. To be blamed or criticized or mocked or betrayed are all things you mustnโ€™t stand for and you must speak up aboutโ€”you will find your words in time.ย ย Marriage counseling called Imago Relationship Therapy can be very helpful if you are having marital struggles with someone who is very much still in 3D and acting from their egoโ€”because the principle is that you each are attracted to the very person who will bring up your childhood wounds so that you can heal them.ย 

We have talked about marital struggles here because we want you to see that it is often through relationships that we grow the most because your partners show you where the pain lies.ย ย Optimally you can come to an agreement with your partner that you both need to provide a safe space for you each to heal your own wounds and honor and respect each others needs for time alone to process after an argument. This is difficult if you have abandonment wounds and a deep need to feel connected to another person in order to feel loved.ย ย This is very hard and you may have PTSD with these wounds as the basis.ย ย Asking your partner to just hold you at times can help tremendously in healing the early childhood wounds of not being held enough. Know that you are a gift to any partner you choose because you are pure loveโ€”knowing this deep in your soul will help you heal your own abandonment wounds.

If you are single with abandonment wounds you are healing it every day that you take care of yourself and are not looking for someone else to complete you.ย ย You are complete and whole and we are especially proud of you learning to love yourself and look deeply inward to see that the wounds can be healed with your own self-compassion and finding your voice by journaling or reaching out to a trusted sensitive, and experienced counselor. Trust your heart to know youโ€™ve found the right person to help.ย ย Always remember you can talk to us anytime and ask for guidance and be open to the answers coming to you in your mind as new insights and ideasโ€”of course writing to us in a journal is another way of receiving insights that very may well seem like your own ideas but we are helping in a way that may not be obvious.ย 

This is the beginning of trusting your intuition and this muscle will grow stronger with use.ย ย So we leave you today with much advice about healing your inner wounds and your relationship conflictsโ€”this is because we want you to know you are not being punished by these difficulties happening in your lives right nowโ€”much to the contrary, these conflicts are providing you with opportunities to see clearly where your wounds are and how you can heal them to feel strong no matter what happens in your life.ย ย This inner strength is what is already inside you, we can see it, but you are just beginning to see it.ย 

Having inner strength is all you need to manifest your dreams and even future treasures that your higher self has planned for you that you can not even imagine. Trust that the universe is in your favor always at all times. Easier times are ahead as you clear out and acknowledge and release the hardest wounds from your past.ย ย We send you comfort and hugs and butterfly kisses for your wounded inner child. Until next time, be gentle on yourselves, AA Muriel (Empaths), AA Chamuel (Comfort), AA Jophiel (Creativity and Beauty), AA Sandalphon (Grounding and Music), AA Uriel (Wisdom), and AA Azriel (Grief, Loss, and Transitions)

Part 3 (Final) of Heart To Heart Update

Hello everyone! If you’ve been feeling extra tired, or extra emotional, or stuck, or triggered, I believe the full moon todayfull harvest moonย is causing energies that are helping us to clear out some deep unhealed layers of childhood pain.ย  I personally have been very tired and journaling a lot to work through heavy, dark feelings of self-doubt and unworthiness — which hasn’t been easy.ย  Some of my best songs and poems arise at times like these and I’ll be sharing them here hopefully soon to help anyone who resonates and would like to feel hopeful about their emotional state.ย  The poem I wrote on Oct. 1 that I mentioned in my last post will be shared in my next post–I read it again today and it was helpful in moving out the stuck emotions I felt today so I plan to share that in the coming few days.

Now, on with Part 3!–Here’s the last part of my heart to heart series to update everyone on what I’ve been doing while I was on a break from writing regularly on this blog. This post is a long one–future posts will be much shorter for easier reading I promise!

Continuing with sharing the story of my journey to finally start performing, let me just say it took until fall of 2017 for me to feel ready to start looking for paid gigs–I had been practicingย a 2 hour set of my songs (including playing guitar) for many months while we got settled in our new house (Oct. 2016) before I felt ready to reach out to venues as a professional musician. Then on one courageous day, I took the leap and did it–made phone calls and sent emails with a demo video I had made.

1st gig photo

1st gig on Sept. 23, 2017

I found 2 local venues (a branch of Breweries, and a winery) that were encouraging local artists and paid, albeit meagerly, for 2 hours of a mix of original folk rock and cover songs by my favorite artists: James Taylor, Carole King, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Young, and more! My album and the demo I made with performance videos from my open mic nights helped convince them to give me a chance and soon I was performing once a month then twice a month and then eventually 4 times a month. By the end of the summer of 2018 I was doing 3 hour gigs as well with several hired guitarists that I had duos with. Phew!rock and roll wonder woman

I stopped in September to take a break and get organized with my coaching and this blog and also to celebrate!– because I feel over a hump and ready to branch out and collaborate with some new musicians and look for higher paying venues.ย  Breaking through a glass ceiling that I never thought I could achieve brings up surprising amounts of grief and emotional pain and is not all just happiness, ease, and fun.ย glass ceiling Yes, when you have childhood wounds that kept you in a state of hiding most of your life, you must keep up with the positive affirmations and self-care of course but also make time for grieving the loss of all the years you didn’t believe in yourself and your gifts. It’s important to leave time for emotional healing and not spread yourself too thin.ย  It took some time for me to find a balance that worked for me.keep calm and glass ceiling

Okay, so now on a new topic, not only have I been performing and working on my music career, but I have also developed some new life coaching skills and emotional healing tools. From 2014 to now and continuing, I have been working with various intuitive coaches, energy healers, and spiritual counselors.ย  Through my seeking and thirst for knowledge about the spiritual realms, I have developed my own intuitive abilities to the point where I am proud to say that I am now a channel for spiritual guidanceย ย as an Akashic Record Reader and you can read more about this on my new life coaching website. Yay! It’s very exciting! I realize now that I have always had this ability on some level but now I am able to ask for and receive spiritual inner guidance with greater clarity and greater confidence, knowing, and with greater tools to help others.AA Muriel

And this is because:ย  I have had to continually be doing intense emotional healing of my own.ย  Layers of pain coming up to the surface with each new success–the pain and doubt doesn’t just magically go away one day when you have many childhood wounds–having given up on myself at the age of 5 and banished my true self and my dreams away to develop a false self that was hiding and codependent, a people pleaser, and a rescuer–I’ve had to continue to work on healing all of these issues!ย  I’ve continually been working through the PTSD that results from having the abandonment wounds (from being hospitalized as a toddler) and also working through shame and feeling unsafe to be my true self as a child and throughout my early adulthood.ย  I had learned how to survive by hiding away my true desires and gifts and dreams so completely that I gave up on my music for 20 years while raising my children. Perhaps you can relate!ย hiding under a rock.jpeg

And so now here I am an empty nester, feeling like I’m in my 30’s (due to a healthy diet and new tools), pursuing a singing career, to share my songs that flow out of me– sometimes from my wounded heart but mostly from the bright light of hope inside of me that knows my purpose on the planet is to write and sing music and also give hope to others who cannot find their way up and out of the painful layers that often feel too heavy to break through.

Joni-Mitchell-Complete-So-Far-Guitar-Songbook-Edition-800

As I write this I realize I’ve learned and sharpened so many tools since 2012:guitar yogaย  I learned ways to replenish and to re-energize my adrenals; continued my healthy diet; exercise regularly for strength and endurance; made myself more disciplined to practice my music as a priority; tap into spirit often to sharpen those innate intuitive skills and gifts; continue to write poetry and songs as I work through the emotional challenges;ย  I have opened myself up to spiritual knowledge about ascension symptoms, upgrades to the planet, and even the effect of past lives on our current incarnations; practice extreme self-care as I continue to grow from life’s challenges and surprises, and remind myself that the rule #1 from this blog still applies and was really ground-breaking at that time.

And that is that Self-Compassion is rule #1!journal tea bed

I’m grateful to this blog for this all important bit of wisdom to come forth–because it was writing here to you all that caused this bit of wisdom to be born!

And so I say thank you to all of you that are part of this highly sensitive, compassionate, and spiritually awakened community of Hope and Healing from Childhood Wounds. I hope it continues to be a haven of safety for your wounded inner child to come and get strong–as a cocoon for you to grow your wings at your own pace and try out your new wings when you are feeling strong enough to go for your dreams.ย  As always my message is:ย  You Can Do It!! …And have compassion and kindness for yourself as the pain comes up to heal with each success! Because you are strong enough to feel it, comfort yourself through it, acknowledge that you absorbed negativity you didn’t deserve, release it, rest, and rise again!inner child

Rest here in this haven anytime you wish, and reach out to this community or just read the comments from the hundreds who have reached out with their stories of childhood wounds and emotional healing in the comment sections. I would love to hear from you!ย  Please leave a comment to let me know you are helped by what I am sharing or if you are new to this community so that I can welcome you.

Wishing all of you comfort, inner peace, and so much love as you continue to heal,

Roxanne ๐Ÿ˜‡โœŒ๏ธ๐ŸŽถ๐Ÿ’–โœจ

Roxanne Smith – Folk Rock Songs For the Soul

 

 

 

NOW Is A Good Time… For Emotional Healing

Hi everyone! ย Now that it’sย Spring, theย warmthย is finally here in the midwestern part of the USA! ย Yay!! ย I feel happier when the temperatures are warmer and I can get outside and enjoy nature and recharge. ย As a HSP healing from childhood wounds, I am still figuring out what makes me happiest and what I “like” most in life–right now I like thinking about some day moving to a warmer climate during the winter months! ย ๐Ÿ˜‰

As HSP children, your “job” may have been to often to take care of your own parents’ feelings so you didn’t dare even ask yourself “What do I want?, How do I feel?, and What are my dreams and desires? ย Perhaps it can be ย “fun” now to “create” a life for yourself that is purely satisfying to “you”. ย This is not being selfish for HSPs who have spent their lives putting others’ feelings and happiness first. ย This is realizingย yourย feelings and desires are meant to be your “compass” for finding direction and satisfaction in your life!

Even after all of your recovery and replacing a negative inner critic with a very consistent feeling of love and protection for yourself and you inner child, do you still sometimes wake up with a feeling of shame that surprises you? ย It may usually happen after a day when you really asserted your voice and followed your heart (I have written about this before). Try to see that as evidence of how your shining light as a child may have been a threat to a narcissistic or bullying ย caretakers and they had to bring you “down”. ย “Get off of your high horse!”, “Who do you think you are!?”, “How dare you be happy when I am not happy!?”, ย and “Straighten up and fly right!”–Were these phrases (spoken or implied silently with mean looks (angry eyes)) ones that come to mind that were a daily occurrence to shame and control you as a child?

Now that you may be working on changing the core beliefs about yourself, it is also helpful to reframe all those events with how youย would have voiced your opposition if you had felt safe and knew you were loved and supported by the Universe. ย Talking back to the inner critic is acknowledging it is there and then saying what you need to say to yourself to be an emotionally healthy soul–say, “I like being on my high horse!–it is good to feel proud of myself!”, “I think I am an amazing and gifted person!”, “Everyone is free to pursue their own happiness–it’s in the Constitution!”, and “Your right way and my right way are 2 different things!” ย If you had felt safe and strong as a child and had been able to say these things in your childhood without being shamed and punished, then your true self would have survived and you would not have had to push your feelings underground and develop a false self that was fearful and obedient. ย You can say it NOW and reclaim your strength that it didn’t feel safe for you to have. It is very healing to your wounded soul when you express the truth about yourself, either silently, out loud, or in a journal–express your true voice!

Just realizing you have an inner critic that stops you from enjoying your life and feeling good about yourself is the first step–writing out all the mixed messages swimming around your brain and getting them on paper in a journal will help you to realize that your inner critic has taken over. ย I no longer have to journal to realize when I am listening to my inner critic–I recognize the negative feeling right away, acknowledge it, and say to myself ย “that is ridiculous and that is not true about me!”

The real truth is I am a shining light of God’s love and I am perfect just the way I am! ย You are perfect just the way you are too! There is nothing wrong with you! ย You just have self-doubt– “doubt” just means questioning the truth–the truth is there but it takes courage to Believe It! ย Believe it because it is true–you are perfect exactly as you are NOW in this moment! ย And you deserve the LOVE, COMFORT, COMPASSION, and ENCOURAGEMENT that you never got during childhood. ย You can learn to give it to yourself!

For myself, any shame feeling I get in the morning goes away immediately as I shoo it away and replace it with love for myself and with my new core beliefs: “This shame is not mine and not true and I have nothing to be ashamed of!” ย Poof! ย Gone! I also say, “Wow, I must have done something amazing and authentically me yesterday, I am on the right path!” ย Then I can’t wait to get up and enjoy my day, my way! ย I love my life and I am grateful that I am free to enjoy it now.

I feel my true purpose is to help others who are struggling to love themselves because of these very complex, negative messages that were engrained in their brains since early childhood. ย It is not easy but growing new loving neural pathways in your brain is possible and I am living proof. ย I hope that by my example I can help those of you struggling, suffering, and occasionally falling into pits of despair to climb out and break free from the negative energy “soup” that can engulf the soul of an emotionally needy HSP. ย It takes time so please be patient with yourself if you fall backwards sometimes.

The key is to keep on feeling the feelings and comforting yourself through them–it is a grieving process. ย You will come out the other side–to truth, light, and a connection to the Universe that no one can ever take away from you–it is innate in you and as a HSP you are a loved and highly evolved soul with compassion and light for others as your greatest gift. ย You are going to be okay if you allow yourself to believe these things NOW–start today. ย I am here, I understand–I have been lost, and now I am found. ย NOW is the time to begin to love yourself without shame. You can do it! ย This blog post was written for YOU!

After a weekend visit with our grown son who lives in Chicago, I felt energized, so energized that I wrote a new poem–even though I am a pretty extreme introvert and we had a very extraversion-filled weekend. ย I was energized because of the quality of the relationship we have with our son and we all so enjoyed each others company and enjoyed being positive, building each other up, expressing our love and appreciation for each other, and having fun together. ย So when we returned I was standing in my kitchen and had to grab paper and a pen because I felt this poem just had to be expressed. ย I just let it flow out of me and when I was done I realized I was still “standing up” in my kitchen! (leaning against the counter ๐Ÿ™‚ ) ย I am so glad I listened to that still small voice in my head that said to write this down. ย Here is the poem that flowed out of me that cold, winter, sunday evening after our trip:

NOW Is A Good Time

By Roxanne Smith

Feb. 18, 2013

NOWโ€™s a good time to nurture yourself and your feelings

To release the past and all painful dealings.

The painโ€™s coming up NOW so youโ€™ll see the truth

of how you werenโ€™t seen and loved in your youth.

The child inside, he or she yearns to be free.

The pain is just blocking your feelings of glee.

Joy and great gladness are all waiting there.

Waiting until you feel the truth and despair.

What happened to you was awful and sick

The pain you repressed was unbearable and thick.

You were too small and dependent back then

but now you are safe so the wounds can open

and your soul wants to heal these wounds from within.

You cannot move higher until you tell the truth of your kin.

How they poked you and pulled you down each time you succeeded

’til you gave up and blamed yourselfโ€ฆ but they werenโ€™t what you needed.

You were a bright star with a higher energy.

They were jealous and threatened by your desire to be free.

So you hid your true self until a much safer time–

Itโ€™s safe NOW so your soul is crying out as a sign

to be kind to your inner child who is coming outโ€”please allow!

Donโ€™t beat yourself up for feeling bad NOW.

Because youโ€™re rising up from patterns ingrained in your head.

New ways of being are in your soul, time to shed

all the old pain, it must be felt to be released.

It is gone forever once you see the danger has ceased.

The danger was real then, donโ€™t ever forget it

but now you choose new friends who are not like your inner critic.

You are learning your true self is a compassionate soul

who is kind to others and that is your role.

So being kind to your self is the very first step.

All day everyday you must give yourself pep!

Donโ€™t listen to your inner criticโ€”it is wrong and so mean

like those who abused you and werenโ€™t nice as they seem.

You deserved better and NOW you must give it to your soul.

The more you are kind, the more youโ€™ll feel Whole!

Each layer of pain will dissolve as you express

all of your confusion and unhappiness.

How could this beโ€ฆ you thought: โ€œI was bad and wrongโ€

but really blaming โ€œYOUโ€ was unfair all along.

You were a bright light never harming a flea–

so easy to control because you trusted completely.

I hope you can see that you can reframe your past.

Replace those mean moments with self-love that will last.

Accepting Love from Above will change your beliefs about your core.

Who you are YOU must love so your dreams can then soar!

You are gifted and brilliant, a gift to us all.

You are treasured by those others who also feel this call.

The callโ€™s mixed with pain and feeling bad about your childhood.

When you change your beliefs you will see your soulโ€™s all Good!

Then you can reconnect with your self and find creativity and fun.

Youโ€™ll learn to relax and recharge from the sun.

Learn to listen to your body instead of working too hard.

Youโ€™ll get lots more done when you โ€œplayโ€ in your yard.

Allowing yourself to enjoy being you

will slow you down and allow the pain to come through.

After a good cry, each time youโ€™ll feel better–

lighter and lighter โ€˜til youโ€™re light as a feather.

And allowing yourself to have space that is yoursโ€”

new boundaries to protect yourself will help open doors.

You must learn to feel grounded and connected to the earth.

This will help you feel solid and put yourself first.

You deserve to be happy and that starts with self-care.

After you are grounded, then you will become aware

that lifting up others is your gift and your purpose

and thereโ€™s a billion others out there who are not just kind on the surface.

They are deep and compassionateโ€”you are not alone.

We are healing together as we feel grace and atone.

We did our best with all that we have known.

NOW we know itโ€™s okay to be angry, then let it go.

Donโ€™t hold onto blame, but blame needs to be spoken.

Release it and move onโ€”donโ€™t yell at the broken.

You are higher than they are (those who brought you down).

You donโ€™t need to punishโ€”you can just leave town

to start a new life and create all that your dreams can arrange.

Move forwardโ€ฆ not fixing those who donโ€™t want to change.

Trust these new feelings that spark in your heart.

Healing is painful but thatโ€™s only part.

This feelingโ€™s inside that youโ€™re finally alive!

Keep going with following your passions inside.

Donโ€™t compare yourself to othersโ€”you have a new gig!

Let desires be your guide and your success will be BIG.

If you do this and trust your intuition inside

your internal guidance will help you to thrive.

Sometimes youโ€™ll get stuck so youโ€™ll need to be kind

to yourself when you inner critic starts messing with you mind.

Drop down to your heart instead of your head.

If you need to cry about something that was said,

grieve for this loss, the wrong path where you were led.

It hurt you so much, childhood pain must be shed

so we can see, that NOW weโ€™re safe and free

And we would have parented differently!

And thatโ€™s good you are different and unique and thatโ€™s great!

I hope you can see that itโ€™s never too late.

We often must go backward to move forward to be free.

You can heal and find wholenessโ€”take it from me!

I found here a community of souls who relate–

I share how I healed and how sensitivity is great!

By journaling out the pain, I had new eyes to see.

My true voice was found, then my true self was free!

I know it sounds simple but it took a long time.

Try to trust in your feelings, then all will be fine.

As I followed my pain I got signs from above:

โ€œrelax and enjoyโ€ and best โ€œYou are loved!โ€

I know of your pain– I know just how you feel.

It happened to me and I learned how to heal

So NOW as you journey from wounded to whole

I hope that these words will comfort your soul.

=============================

Please share your feelings in a comment if this post resonates with you. ย Your comments also help others who are still struggling to find their voice. ย We can help uplift each other higher as a community of compassionate souls. ย Thank you for reading. ย Have a wonderful Spring–may the warmth of the Universe envelope you and comfort you NOW as you heal and grow to your true potential.

With love, light, and my deepest compassion,

Roxanne

HSP Tips for the Holidays and the Benefits of the 2 Kinds of Crying

Hello everyone! ย I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourselves. ย Today as I am writing this the first big snowflakes of the season are falling here in the midwestern United States. ย Yes, it is that time of year again. ย How did it go so fast yet again?! ย It is good to constantly remind ourselves that, as highly sensitive souls, we must strive for balance in our lives by adding inย some time alone to recharge and forย some creative self-expressionย as we set out to accomplish the many tasks that accompany this busy holiday season that is quickly approaching. ย Express your creativity in ways you used to love to do as a child but haven’t found time for lately–the activities we loved as children (like singing, writing, art, or dancing) are often our true desires–taking just a little time daily for this artistic self-expression will give you new found energy, rejuvenation, and a satisfying sense of accomplishment. ย Also, remind yourself to check your heart rate occasionally on busy days and breathe deeply and slowly to slow yourself down. ย Cortisol, the stress hormone, is harmful to our bodies when it is called upon too frequently so we need to learn relaxation techniques to take care of our adrenals. ย Laying down for 20 minutes with eyes closed (with just the intention of slowing your heart rate and following your breathing as you try to make it slower and slower) does wonders when you are feeling anxious and starting to spiral with negative thoughts. ย Positive self-talk and affirmations are important as well such as: “There is plenty of time for all the things I want to do”, and “I love and approve of myself”, and “I give myself permission to be the best that I can be”.

These are good reminders that Christmas is about Love. Love is the opposite of fear and can heal it. ย You can love yourself out of these fear-based anxieties that originated in a childhood that did not provide a safe place to be yourself. Also since you may have had to numb ourself out to survive as children, you may have learned not to pay attention to your bodies urges to tell you what it needs. ย For example, “thirst” can be something that you learned not to feel and so your bodies are very dehydrated without your realizing it. ย You”ll be amazed how much better you feel when you start making yourself drink more water on a daily basis. ย I drink 32 ounces in the first 4 hours I am awake in the morning–the rest of the day always goes so much better when we start our day really hydrated. ย Try it and see! ย And make sure to drink at least 64 ounces a day and even more on days you have extra stress. ย And if you are trying hard to “hold it together” in spite of the stressful feelings that the holidays can trigger, try a different approach–let it all out and have a good cry! ย Crying is good for you and studies show that emotional tears have higher levels of toxins that are released than in regular tear production.

I want to talk more about the benefits of crying because society has such a stigma against it. ย How often have you heard on a media outlet about a public figure or celebrity seen crying and then heard it referred to negatively as a “breakdown” which is ridiculous. ย A break “through” is a better term. ย The urge to cry is just truth that is coming up to be healed (comforted and released). ย Think of it symbolically as light breaking through the clouds, and someone finally “seeing the light”. ย I like to think about the song “I Can See Clearly Now” as if the writer of that song just had a good cry and a period of healing and now feels better and has healed a wound from childhood that was blocking him from functioning at his best. ย He is now en”light”ened! ย I also like to think of the description by a pilot right before breaking the speed of sound–he describes that, “the cockpit shakes the most right before” and then it is smooth sailing once he breaks through. If we resist our bad feelings and suppress them we may never know what aha moment or lesson we could learn–we must trust that our feelings are trying to teach us something.

More of my views on the benefits of crying are demonstrated in my reply to a highly sensitive and gifted commenter names Elisabeth who was concerned about how emotional she feels and how often she cried. ย I hope it is helpful to all of you HSPs out there who can relate to how she felt. ย Here is the interaction that transpired in the comment section of one of my pages on this blog:

Elisabeth

Submitted onย 2012/06/02 at 2:04 pm

Hello Roxanne,
I can honestly tell you i feel God directed me to find this site! On behalf of every person who has benefited from your choice to help people, thank you so much! I honestly felt something was wrong with me all my life. I am highly sensitive, emotional, and very hard on myself. I was actually going thru one of my attempts to โ€œfigure outโ€ what it is that makes me the person i am, I have never been able to pin point exactly what was, all i knew is that normal people do not feel such intense emotions , I am highly empathetic, and can practically feel what others feel, even before they feel it themselves. All my life i have thought of it as a curse, I am great with people, and feel like God gave me the gift of encouragement, yet the one person i could never figure out or help was the person staring back at me in the mirror. upon reading your โ€œAbout Meโ€ section, it was as though everything you discribed was everything i have been dealing with all my life! I dont know why, but I could never pinpoint exactly what caused me to be like this, only within the past couple of months i came to the realization that it had to do with my mother and not being shown love as a child. Ive stopped trying to get others to understand, because to them it is ridiculous, unless you have truly been hurt in that way, you would never understand the extent of the damage it can have on a persons soul, especially a shy little girl. All my life I feel like I have in a way punished myself for not being good enough, and literally crippled my own personal growth and prevented myself from becoming better because in a weird way i felt i didnt derserve it. What hurts most is reaching out (to my husband, my mom, sisters, brothers etc.) and trying to explain how I feel, and being rejected, ridiculed or as my husband would say โ€œstop feeling sorry for yourself, and take control of yourselfโ€. to me, being put down and rejected by ppl who are supposed to love me unconditionally, especially when it took so much out of me to come out and say it, its like taking a knive and slowly puting it thru my heart.
Also, I am a Christian, but upon trying to learn more about who i am, I turned to horoscopes, because it was the best thing I could find to accurately discribe who i am. Im not sure if you know about them, but i am a pisces girl with a cancer moon. (in case you dont know, that s a double whammy. Pisces and cancer are both the most emotional signs. =(((((((((((
In conclusion, I guess my question to you is how can I get past what I went thru as a child and grow from it? It has put a huge strain on my marriage, and even my husband has tried to understand me, but it just feels like my words are not getting thru to him.
Thank you again so much for your time! May God bless you generously for what you do and all the lives you have impacted!!

p.s. Is it normal for a person like me to not be able to talk about anything emotional without crying? Just within this past year I can not say how i really feel without bursting into tears, and then starts the process of telling myself that its stupid to cry over it etc etc..ย :(

Much Love,
Elisabeth (from Sacramento, CA)


Roxanne

Submitted onย 2012/06/05 at 2:42 pmย | In reply toย Elisabeth

Hi Elisabeth,

Thank you for your wonderful, thoughtful and wise comment. I agree with everything you say here. I wish I had time to respond in depth to everyoneโ€™s commentsโ€“I am so happy to know this blog is helping so many. Thank you ALL for all the wonderful comments!

I just want to mention a few things: why the sad((( face for being the most emotional signsโ€“I donโ€™t know anything about horoscopes but sounds like you are emotionally โ€œgiftedโ€ย :Dย !!!. Our families of origin (and our society too) instill in us this shame about our emotionsโ€“it is not true!! It is wonderful to be emotionalโ€“our emotions are meant to be our โ€œcompassโ€ for finding happiness in our lives! You can learn how to have boundaries to keep out the negative emotions from others and tap into the positive emotions that are innate in you. Learning to love yourself is key and processing your pain from the past includes grieving about the love and acceptance you never got for having this emotional gift. Crying is necessary to tell your truth about how you have been treated.

It is normal to cry if you feel the needโ€“sounds like you have a good reason to cry. It spills out at inopportune times because we are holding it in so often. Having a good cry from time to time is so healthy and recharging! Also, often survivors like us cry when we are misunderstood and donโ€™t feel โ€œheardโ€ when we are actually โ€œangryโ€โ€“but we were punished for expressing our true assertive positive selves when we were tiny children and so we learned to repress itโ€“they were threatened by our positivity and truthfulness! So it is kind of a post traumatic stress response. It is not stupid in any way to cryโ€“crying is positive and healing when it is grieving about how you were mistreated in the past. Crying releases a truth that needs to be told!

There are 2 kinds of crying (โ€ฆor more):

1)โ€œGrievingโ€ is the healthy releasing of the truth of your injustices and it is cleansing to release your truthโ€“try to catch what you are learning as you cry and write it in a โ€œjournal for your eyes only.โ€ Crying has lead to the writing of my best songsโ€“there is always hope at the end and you feel a release and a new inner strength.

2)โ€œDespairingโ€ is a kind of crying that can be destructive if it is habitual because while doing it you are being very mean to yourself and beating yourself up (negative spiraling) the same way your abusers did. ย Survivors often need to release and admit these despairing feelings at first which are still repressed from childhoodโ€“upon realizing how bad you must have been treated to be a child in such horrible despair, your innate compassion kicks in and you begin to love yourself a little more each timeโ€“releasing layer by painful layer of truth is how we heal.

Learning that HSPs with childhood wounds must stop the habit of despairing and turn it into grieving (and be very very kind and gentle to themselves when they are sad and build themselves up instead of continue the abuse of themselves that started as tiny children) will change their lives. I hope you will continue to read more of my blog because I talk about the importance of grieving ย losses from childhood quite a bit. Elisabeth, by crying you have bravely started the process of emotional healingโ€“you are on your way to finding out how special and gifted you are and have always been! I hope this has been helpful to you.

With love and light to you and all, Roxanne

ABOUTย ME

For a link on more of the benefits of crying see the following article by Dr. Judy Orloff: ย The Health Benefit Of Tears.
To all of my wonderful readers, I appreciate you so much! ย This Holiday season may all of you open yourselves to receive God’s (The Universe’s) unconditional love and light that shines upon you at all times–and to know that God (The Universe) has bestowed upon you the gift of compassion for the feelings of others. ย Be kind to yourself, allow yourself to cry, and “shine your light” upon yourself and others and you will heal!
With love and my warmest holiday wishes to all of you,
Roxanne

How HSPs Can Heal From Inner Shame and Numb Emotions

Hi everyone! ย Summer is upon us and I hope you are enjoying the many opportunities that arise in this beautiful season. ย For those of us in the midwestern United States, we know the warm weather is short-lived so we try to get outside and enjoy it while we can. ย As highly sensitive people though this “pressure” to enjoy the outdoors can add to our “to do” list that is already too long as it is! ย Please look at the weather as a bonus to get outside in nature to recharge from the usual stress in our lives–just setting aside even 10 minutes alone in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening to walk, ride a bike, or even just sit outside and look and marvel at the sky or walk barefoot in the warm grass will help you enjoy the moments of summer more fully and not feel like the summer is passing you by yet again.

Today I woke up with a very strong feeling of shame and dread. ย Along with it though there was very strong clarity about the truth of these feelings and the shame and dread very soon faded away as I got on with my day. ย So I wanted to share with you the process that I go through and how I got to this emotionally healthy place!

Immediately when feeling this strong dread and shame this morning I went straight to comforting myself and saying to myself, “Wow, I must have done something really great for my true self yesterday–I must have really been expressing my truth and shining my light…. these feelings from childhood coming up to heal are the evidence and so I must be extra kind to myself today.” ย I KNOW this now because of many years of analyzing and paying attention to my own emotional patterns. ย I learned that when I wrote a great song, ย poem, ย or even when I just had great uninhibited fun or even exercise,ย this strong shameย feeling would always pop up for me the morning of the next day. ย This is because these feelings from childhood were my experience day in and day out until I had to give up as a child and repress my true self and all of the memories of this unbearable shame in order to survive.

Back then as a child, when I expressed my true wise self, or my joy in my own creativity, I felt shamed to the core. ย I KNOW this now. ย I no longer allow these dreadful feelings when they arise in me to negatively spiral in the following way: ย My inner critic used to say, “What is wrong with me that I feel this shame, it feels terrible, almost unbearable, I feel disgusting, I must have done something horrible and shameful, I thought I had a good day yesterday but it must not be true, what was I thinking, I am never going to feel better, why do I even try”…blah blah blah, down down down the spiral went, draining all hope and positive energy out of me, leading to a depressed feeling and sometimes just numbness (dissociation) as I trudged though the day. ย Wow, it’s hard to believe I used to spiral this way!! ย But I did! ย My inner critic has now completely been replaced with positive affirmations that I KNOW are true. ย I don’t let my inner critic take over and I over-ride it with love and compassion for myself. ย It took a lot of inner work but the whole process was well worth it.

My thought and feeling cycles are so different now as I know that how I treat myself with my inner thoughts create the kind of day and experience I am going to have. ย This is more than just positive thinking or law of attraction techniques. ย I had to go through a grieving process that actually changed my core beliefs about myself to the point that I learned that I had a lot to be sad about, angry about, and plenty to comfort myself through. ย I had to delve into the past to see where the negative beliefs came from and get justiceย (inwardly) for the little girl inside who felt so much like an inferior being. ย It was not the truth and I had to figure out what the truth was for ME.

As a mother I knew, and my college education in child development told me, that NO child is inferior and deserves to be shamed–so the inner grief work was a challenge for me to put together this puzzle to find out the truth about what happened to me to make me feel so bad about myself. ย Memories started coming back to me and feelings that had been dormant and frozen in time became “available” to me again and I learned compassion for that little girl inside. ย This took a while and everyone’s journey to healing will be different and take as long as it takes to work through your layers of illusions that keep you from seeing the truth of your brilliant shining light and true self.

So please be patient with yourself if you are in the middle of feeling all the pain and not yet seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. ย Or if you are feeling comfortably numb but joyless and lacking motivation. ย The light is there. ย It is because you had this bright light and higher spiritual level that bullies in your life had to put you down and put out your light. ย You may have been a threat to their distorted view of the world where “their” feelings were the center of the universe. ย But your light never went out–it was just dimmed or covered up with illusions and blocks that are not true about you. ย You have the power within you to turn your light back up high yourself! ย No one can do it for you. It takes time to learn how to process through the layers of dormant feelings.

Writing out your pain in a journal for your eyes only is so important to the healing process because it gets you out of your left brain’s spiraling or scattered thoughts and connects you to your right brain’s compassion for yourself and creativity. ย Document your progress in the journal and then go back and make yourself read the hopeful stuff you write, you will begin to see how amazing and wise you are that you survived it all and that there is so much to look forward to as you grow and grow in your own compassion for your wounded inner child. ย As you grow to protect your inner child and stand up for the rights to all of your feelings, the negative thoughts about yourself begin to change.

Another thing I had to realize was that no one was going to rescue me but ME and I had to make a decision to never ever beat myself up again. ย I remember saying to myself once, “That is it!!, that is the last time! ย I am never going to waste my time in such misery again!” ย And it stuck. ย I still had bad days when shameful feelings came up to heal but I comforted myself instead. ย Maybe I stayed on the couch that day BUT I was kind to myself instead. ย I put away my to-do list, watched a favorite movie, made myself my favorite warm soup or hot tea, wrapped myself in a soft blanket, “loved” myself through the bad feelings and had compassion for my inner child who deserved love ย and comfort. ย And I allowed myself to grieve the happy carefree childhood that I never had. ย This is so important to learn to do for ourselves–we hsp survivors may feel like we got skipped as we nurture our children and everyone around us–I realized this was important for me to take the time to mother my self for a while. ย Then I would feel SOย much betterย after I took a day for myself like this–I would feel renewed and recharged and it started a habit of a positive cycle of healing and change.

These were the new patterns and beliefs that were laying groundwork for new neurons in my brain for a new future and over-riding the shame from childhood. ย This is the process of recovery from emotional abuse. ย It is not easy. ย It is not fun. ย It is painful. But with delving into the pain at first I noticed that I at least felt more “alive” and this was a “spark” of light that kept me going towards the painful truth and not escaping into a comfortably numb existence of denial and dissociation that had for years kept me from moving forward towards my dreams and desires. ย Instead I started continually delving into and through the pain to find my truth and alivenessIย acknowledge the painful feeling andย released it layer by layer in my journal or to a trusted, safe witness and gradually I emerged on the other side of it all. ย The shame and dread that I wake up to is now just a weak residue, a glimmer of the truth of the past and all I worked through to get here–to where the joy in my heart can’t wait to get started on another day of being me in a Universe that I feel connected to and know that it supports me!

And so I say to all of you out there who are on what feels like an endless healing path, there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is awesome! When you can tap into the light and love from inside of you and believe and know that you deserve it, then you will be able shine your light and recharge and renew yourself anytime you want to!

P.S. More posts are coming soon! ย I am working on putting together a post with all of the comments and replies from a frequent commenter who calls herself Belinda. ย Her story is an inspiring example of a highly sensitive soul with bullying parents whose painful drama unfolded here on this blog–she bravely reached out and expressed what was in her heart and she came out the other side and into the light–and now she isย shining her own light to help others. ย Other commenters and my replies will be highlighted in upcoming posts as well. ย (I ask all commenters for their permission first before highlighting it in a post.) ย Be kind to yourself, HSPs, and I’ll be back in touch soon!

With love,

Roxanne ๐Ÿ˜€

Welcome To The Blog For Highly Sensitive People, Intuitives, Empaths, and INFJs In Search Of Emotional Support and Guidance

(May 23, 2012–No you are not seeing double–except for parts of the first paragraph I copied this post and turned it into my new static Home page. So if you have already read this post, check out the comments here and then just scroll down to find the other posts. Welcome to my blog and it’s new format. ย New posts coming soon! ย ๐Ÿ™‚ )

Hi Everyone. ย I am back and feeling great. ย Thank you to all for your prayers and well wishes. ย I hope you are doing well also. ย I learned much while I was away and I have much new knowledge and wisdom to share. ย My Coaching is thriving and I feel very blessed. ย I love my work–there is no better feeling than helping other highly sensitive souls to feel good about themselves and their lives and to help them to heal their emotional wounds. ย In my opinion, my clients are among the kindest, most compassionate, gifted people on the planet!

It is interesting for me to take an objective look at this blog now that I have had a break from it for several months–there is so much content here. ย The first post I wrote back in January 2010. ย In my last post, ย I talked about how I feel I healed my final trauma-wound—an abandonment wound from the time when I was only 1 and 1/2. ย I couldn’t remember it of course but the emotional pain had been dormant within me and in my body in the form of an energy blockage. ย Both ailments that I suffered from in the last year were in my root chakra–I never knew about the chakras before and I had been kind of resistant to learning about that kind of stuff. ย But it kept coming up in my search for answers to how to heal from this last ailment. ย It helped me to put it all together when I read that health issues in the root chakra area may have to do with issues of abandonment. ย Then it all came clear in the AHA moment I talked about in my last post (see Oct. 2011) and I was able then to process and heal this inner trauma.

Since then I feel different–healthier, physically stronger, and wiser and with so much more clarity and calmness. For the last month, when thinking about what I was going to write for this post I was trying to think of a word to describe this feeling. ย Then I saw Jane Fonda speak on Oprah and on Dr. Oz and some other shows and I resonated so much with what she was saying about “wholeness” and I realized that is it! ย I feel “Whole”.

I feel I have come full circle into living my life with the vitality of my whole true self. ย I feel more centered and grounded with an exhilaration about the wonderful things to come and for all that I have learned from where I have been. ย I am so grateful for what feels like a second chance at life without chronic pain. ย I have learned how to relax and enjoy my life.ย  It has been such a rollercoaster of a spiritual journey to come to this place and time where I can say that with confidence and amazement. ย In 2004, when I started writing my songs and process through the layers of grief and pain that kept coming up and were holding me back, I never would have dreamed it was possible–the pain seemed endless as I worked through my childhood truth that had previously been long hidden away from me. ย There was something inside of me that KNEW that going through the pain was the only way to get to the other side–that finding my true self was only possible by changing the “faulty BELIEFS” about myself that had formed in early childhood.

And now here I sit feeling very much healed with a new-found ability to recharge and comfort myself and find inner peace no matter what life throws at me and know with complete confidence and trust that everything is going to be okay. ย I am telling you this because I want all of you to know it is possible for you too. ย I feel so strong in spirit now with so much to give to assist other highly sensitive souls to heal from their abuse from a narcissistic, emotionally abusive parent or to heal from childhood wounds from an event or trauma from childhood.

I look at the content on this blog and there is so much self-help information here–I am amazed at how I did it! ย I remember it just flowed out of me easily for almost 2 years, ideas coming to me all the time. ย I really was just going with the flow in my life at the time–it takes a lot, getting informative posts ready for public view. ย I look over this blog and it feels like it is “complete’–I have had people tell me that it is an entire self-help book in itself. ย Some people tell me they read 2 posts a week and it helps them so much. ย Others tell me they start at the first post and read it like a book.

If you are looking for some emotional support and guidance, there is much content that I have written in the comment sections of each post where I have in the past answered each and every person’s comment. ย I am no longer able to do that now that I am Coaching a lot more. ย Frequent commenters have been jumping in occasionally to give support to other commenters when I am not able–it is wonderful to see this happening. Thank you to those of you who have reached out to help others in this way.

I will be answering comments just sporadically and occasionally from now on because of my busy Coaching schedule. ย But please know, I am here–I am available for Ask the Coach services and for Coaching. ย I am reading your comments and I know you are out there–I understand and KNOW first-hand the emotional pain you are experiencing as you try to make sense of the confusion and destruction of the spirit that is left behind by a narcissistic parent or narcissistic family members. ย I send my love and message of hope to you all. ย I hope this blog will be a safe place that you can come to for comfort, encouragement, compassion, and most of all healing.

UNDERSTANDING THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON:

In my early forties, I felt empowered when I discovered that I am a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). ย I now understand that being an HSP is a gift and for this I am truly grateful.ย  It means I am highly โ€œintuitiveโ€–not highly โ€œinsecureโ€ or “weak” as many people have been wrongly led to believe by our American culture and media. ย It also means that I am “Sensory”-sensitive which is not about emotionality–it means I am sensitive to sensory input that causes me to feel overstimulated at times–HSPs take in 5 to 10 times more stimuli in our environments than non-HSPs. ย HSPS ย are highly creative and often visionaries. ย Here are some other things I learned about being an HSP that I would like to share:

1) ย  ย  ย MANY HSPS ARE HIGHLY EMPATHIC.ย  Until you understand the benefits of being an HSP, it can be very difficult to understand why you are so different from those around you and why you yearn to โ€œfit inโ€.ย  HSPs feel things more deeply and we can empathize with the feelings of others so completely that we often unwittingly โ€œtake onโ€ the negative feelings of those around us.ย  We can end up feeling โ€œbadโ€ and have no idea why and blame ourselves for it when actually the feelings belong to the person we were just talking to (or sometimes even someone we have just been near).ย  When we feel bad for no reason, the common reaction for HSPs is to blame ourselves and mentally beat ourselves up.ย  For example, we say to ourselves, โ€œwhat is wrong with me;ย  I should be happy; ย everyone else seems happy and carefree so there is something wrong with me that I feel this way; ย I must have emotional problems;ย  I am flawed compared to everyone elseโ€ ย etc. ย When we can recognize that the emotions we are feeling are from others, we can learn to stop this negative self-talk and let go of and release this negative energy that we have absorbed.

2)ย ย ย ย ย  HSPS ARE OFTEN TOO HARD ON THEMSELVES.ย  Becoming aware of how you are treating yourself in your head is becoming aware of your โ€œinner criticโ€.ย  Your inner critic is always negative and always wrong about you.ย  Becoming aware of your inner critic is powerful.ย  Once you become aware that you are listening to your inner critic you must stop and say to your self, โ€œNo, that is not true about me!โ€ย  Then replace these thoughts with positive affirmations such as โ€œI love and approve of myself; ย I am safe; ย I am supported and cared for by the Universe (God); ย and I am a highly intuitive soul and I am sensitive for a reasonโ€. ย Being able to change the way you treat yourself and talk to yourself will change your life!

3)ย ย ย ย ย  HSPS ARE LOVING, COMPASSIONATE SOULS.ย  ย When you love and approve of yourself as you deserve to be, you begin to shine the light that is inside your soul.ย  This light is the gift of the highly sensitive soul:ย  you innately see the good and the potential in other people; ย you look to yourself to improve rather than blaming others or expecting them to change; ย you are able to empathize with other peopleโ€™s feelings with compassion; ย you are a trusting and loyal friend; ย and a very good listener. ย These are wonderful gifts for a person to have for they are rareโ€”and it is usually only the rare and highly sensitive friend that would point this out to you.

4)ย ย ย ย ย  HSPS OFTEN NEED TO LEARN HEALTHY BOUNDARIES.ย  Being the kind and caring soul that you are, if you are not seeing the value of that, your worthiness, you will often attract relationships with the kind of negative energy that your inner critic is reflecting. ย Also, people who are less sensitive and not intuitive at all are often drawn to HSPs because we absorb their negative feelings and they feel better around us. ย Some of these relationships can really confuse us because these non-HSPs can “act” very kind and generous when they want something from us. ย These are actually people we need to avoid because they drain us and are unable to reciprocate the giving nature that we need and deserve in a friendship. ย Ending relationships with people who are really takers and manipulators rather than givers is a giant leap towards becoming the person you dream to be. ย When you are able to take this final step for yourself and start listening to your inner guidance that is your gift, you are well on your way to a life of emotional vitality and wholeness.

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Here are lists of links to important posts within this blog:

HSPs and Allergies, Food Intolerances, and Stress-Related Illness

Helpful Tips About Healing Childhood Pain

Learned Helplessness in HSPs

High Achieving and Intuitive HSPs Can Overcome Self-Defeating Behaviors

More Helpful Tips For HSPs with N. Parents

Part 2–More Helpful Tips of HSPs with N. Parents

The Misjudgement of Introverts and the True Meaning of Introversion

HSPs and Perfectionism–How to Heal Through Grieving Childhood Pain ย 

Forgiveness is For Your “Self”

Through Pain You Grow Stronger–Processing Childhood Pain

Mother’s Day Survival Guide

The Process of Inner Child Healing

How My Best Counselor Helped Me

Journaling for HSPs–Over-riding Your Inner Critic

Childhood Pain Comes Up To Heal When Things Are Going Well

Overcoming Self-doubt and Unblocking Creativity

Holiday Survival Tips–For HSPs With N. Parentsย and My Musical Gift Recovery

Honor Thy Parents Only If They Are Honorable

Stress Relief For HSPs

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As a final note of support, I want to say that as a highly sensitive and intuitive person, you are part of a group of 15 to 20% of the population that is deep, caring, and compassionate with much love to give. Our giving nature is an inspiration to others who are also part of this 15 to 20%. ย You do not have to be around anyone who makes you feel bad. ย One fifth of the population is over 1 BILLION PEOPLEโ€“and empathetic compassionate people are out there. When you begin to love yourself as you are, stop comparing yourself to others, and protect yourself and your energy from the negative people who diminish you by staying away from them while you are healing, you will start attracting and finding more compassionate people like yourself in your life. Do not settle for superficial relationshipsโ€“take the road less traveled. ย It is the path to love and enlightenment and inner peace.

With love and warmest wishes,

Roxanne

Emotionally Healthy Parenting Info. For Highly Sensitive People–It’s Time To Stand Your Ground!

Hi everyone. ย It is now August and I hope all of you have been enjoying the summer. ย Yeah it’s too hot!–but I hope you are finding creative ways to beat the heat. ย I am having the best summer ever! ย I have found that my ability to slow down and enjoy the moment is really sticking this time. ย The lessons I learned from my now healed injury are sticking with me–I appreciate the small things so much still… and when I get too busy I catch myself and pull back the reins and say “Whoa, slow down and listen to your body”. ย Then I have more energy to do the things that are important to me… like writing to you all! ย ๐Ÿ™‚

My creative way of beating the heat is to wait to ride my bike for exercise around my neighborhood until evening and sometimes even after dark. (Please only do this if it is a safe area and there is no traffic.) ย There is something special about summer evenings when the temperature is perfect, the moonlight is just enough to see what you need to see, and it’s so quiet and peaceful out. ย It is really recharging for highly sensitive people and it feels like such a treat for myself–I feel a spiritual connection to Mother Earth and the Universe and God.

I have a special event coming up. ย I am turning 50 years old next month! ย  I really don’t feel 50 and people say I don’t look 50 so I am really going to celebrate big! ย Yay! ย I have a lot to celebrate! ย I feel more like 32 and have more energy and better health than I have ever had in my life! ย The second half of my life is going to be even better than the first half and the first half turned out to be really awesome!

I believe HSPs are very often late bloomers–we have hardships early in life that we struggle with but then we start coming out the other side. ย We soon realize the journey we are on is exactly the one we needed to be on to find our voice and true purpose in life. ย That is definitely what happened to me. ย The first half of my life I acquired a college degree, married, and then chose, for my first career, being a ย Mom raising two amazing children to feel good about themselves as my first priority. ย I support and encourage them to express their unique creativity and they have nothing holding them back from pursuing their dreams. ย I cheer them on and say “You can do it!

Both of my children are both highly sensitive and intuitive people with kind and compassionate spirits. ย  They call us often to share good news and also when they encounter negativity and negative people in their lives and we listen and empathize. ย They feel better with support and continue to learn to build themselves up. ย That is what aย healthy family system is supposed to be like. ย I am adding 2 new links here on my blog that I want to share with all of you and they are: ย Attachment Parenting International Dot Org and The Attached Family Dot Com.

If you have childhood wounds, it is so supportive to go to these sites and see what a healthy nurturing family looks and feels like! ย It helps you remember, if you are trying to recover from childhood wounds from parents who were malignant narcissists, it is their choice not to embrace their roles as parents with compassion and giving and to choose blaming, negativity, and guilt-inducing instead. ย It may help to tell yourself, “it is not my responsibility to give up the essence of my self and my energy so that someone else will feel better and not even appreciate it or see how that harms me.”

It is my intention toย never induce guilt in my children–to never make them feel guilty so they will visit me more often. ย They visit us because they want to because they feel better being around us. ย We build them up and give them encouragement. ย We tell them, “We are sure you will figure it all out–you are doing a great job so far!”. ย We help them to trust their inner guidance and to go towards positive people and positive feelings in their lives. ย We teach them to have healthy boundaries. Healthy boundaries are when you are able to be separate and whole and feel good about your place on the planet–you can shine your light and help others without giving up your self.

As highly sensitive children, you as survivors may have taken care of your parent’s feelings because your compassion is innate in you. ย But you have to learn to stop doing this at the expense of your true feelings now that you are adults. ย When you give up your truth to get a parent’s approval to avoid conflict then you have gone too far and have lost your healthy sense of self and have given up your own energy and truth.

HSPs need support to know that it is important toย protect your precious energy that is so easily drained away by people who tell us we OWE them. ย You don’t owe narcissistic parents anything–parents who use fear to manipulate and control instead of giving any love and acceptance are deal breakers (not honorable). ย You don’t have to “honor thy parent” if they induce fear in their children. ย Fear is the opposite of love.

It is always best to try to talk to parents in a civil way to point out these things. ย I’m sure you have tried saying things like, “I care about you and I also disagree and I am going to do it this way instead”. ย If with your best efforts at fairness you are still constantly punished for your disobedient ways, ย (even if it is passive–aggressive silent treatments),ย even though you are an adult, these are toxic situations for HSPs. ย If you have tried it all and you are miserable and fed up, don’t feel guilty! ย Or if “no contact” is working for you now or helping you heal so you can get stronger, don’t feel guilty! ย You are not responsible for anyone else’s happiness, ย just yours.

What would they say if you confronted them with the pain they caused you. ย They would deny and blame, right? ย You would never do that to them, you would say…I’m sorry”… maybe even if it wasn’t your fault. ย Your compassionate soul is rare and has a special purpose on this planet. ย Your specialness is important to the planet. ย Focus on giving your gifts to those who really will appreciate it as a mission and even possibly a career for yourself. ย The planet needs more HSPs! ย Be glad you are one.

I heard the song, I Won’t Back Down by Tom Petty on the radio the other day. It filled me with a sense ofย fun and positive energy and helped me feel even stronger. ย Since then I have been singing it a lot in my head and I love how it gives me strength when I say those words. “I am gonna stand my ground”. ย Listen to it when you get a chance. ย Here are some of the lyrics:

No I’ll stand my ground, won’t be turned around
And I’ll keep this world from draggin me down
gonna stand my ground
… and I won’t back down

Chorus:
(I won’t back down…)
Hey baby, there ain’t no easy way out
(and I won’t back down…)
hey I will stand my ground
and I won’t back down

Well I know what’s right, I got just one life
in a world that keeps on pushin me around
but I’ll stand my ground
…and I won’t back down

The point is that feeling “grounded” is so important to an HSPs health in all ways: ย  Body, Mind, and Spirit. ย Standing your ground can symbolize feeling rooted in the earth. ย You are here on the planet for a reason. ย Yourย “space” here on the planet is your own and you deserve to feel confident and strong and separate and whole… standing tall and deserving of your spot on the planet. ย We get positive strength and energy from Mother Earth and she recharges us again when we get depleted. ย Mother Earth loves us–imagine being rooted in love! ย Walking on the warm grass in bare feet (on warm summer August evenings ๐Ÿ™‚ ) is especially recharging–imagine the positive energy of the planet beneath you recharging you up your legs and into your heart and head. Relax your tense muscles throughout your body while you do this. ย These kinds of visualizations really work to help me feel strong and inner peace about my independence and freedom and standing “my ground”. ย I hope they are helpful to you too!

My birthday is on September 9! ย I hope you will stop by my site on that day and say hello and help me Celebrate! ย My husband, children and I will be partying all day and evening! ย I will have a ย message for all of you in my Update Corner on that day. ๐Ÿ™‚

I will be on vacation August 22-28–So, except for that week, I am here and always available to you, my readers, commenters, and clients. ย My next post won’t be until later in September. ย Have a wonderful August and rest of the summer, HSPs!ย ย And remember to Stand Your Ground!

With Love,

Roxanne

Honor Thy Parents Only If They Are Honorable–Support for Highly Sensitive Survivors at Easter

Hi everyone.ย  April is almost here and as highly sensitive survivors you may be experiencing what can only be described as Easter Guilt.ย  Easter is a family time, when families get together and celebrate God and Jesus and hsps often contemplate very reason for being on the planet.ย  Even for the non-religious, Easter causes many to deeply evaluate our true purpose and our humanity.ย  It is similar to the Christmas holiday when we look at our lives and say to ourselvesย “Today I SHOULD be happy!ย  Where is my happy extended family that loves and supports me!”

Depending on where you are in your recovery from narcissistic abuse or childhood wounds, you may have started your own new Easter traditions with yourselves or with your own children which are more loving and focused onย celebrating Spring, the miracle of nature and new life, and appreciating the ability to renew yourselves by being more loving–you remind yourselves, your children, or new-found friendsย that God loves you as you are, unconditionally.

Still, the Easters of your childhood may hold onto your hearts this time of year.ย  You may still unconsciously hold down the pain of Easter family get-togethers filled with religious abuse and guilt-inducement, or the pain of no celebrations at all at a time when other families and children seemed to be so happy and loved and celebrating.ย  Holidays such as this can surface feelings of deep loneliness as you realize you are separated from your true selves and true potential because you may have had to manufacture a self that was pleasing to your narcissistic parent, a false self that was superficial and not at all the rich, deep, complex personality that you still feel ashamed to completely step into. ย You may want so badly to be good,ย kind,ย fair, and right with God so you may feel guilt not honoring the commandment that tells you to Honor Thy Father and Mother.

As part of your recovery from childhood wounds, you may want to include reading Alice Miller’s book, The Body Never Lies. ย I want to share with you aย  review of this book that I found on her website in order to support those of you who still struggle with guilt if you happen to be needing to enforce No Contact in order to heal from your childhood wounds:

“Norm Lee, May 2, 2005

Of Moms and Moses A Review of Alice Miller’s book, THE BODY NEVER LIES: The Lingering Effects of Cruel Parenting

….ย  We have to break free of our (internalized) parents’ grip on us, that of the biblical injunction, “Honor (obey, worship,) thy father and thy mother.” Until then we, in a sense, feel and behave and think like the little children we once were; we cannot grow up. Worse, because as children we weren’t accepted and loved for who we were, parents repeatedly punished us in attempts to force us into the imaginary mold they had prepared for us, i.e., what a child should be. Dr. Miller’s message is that our bodies bear a detailed record of every childhood hurt and humiliation inflicted, every spank and slap, insult and indignity. And until or if those internal, psychic wounds remain unhealed, we can expect to continue to pay the terrible price in physical illnesses. Powerless to do otherwise, we suppressed our true and good authentic selves to win the love our emotional survival depended on.

Dr. Miller writes with astonishing and penetrating truth about the connections between childhood suffering at the hands of parents, and the physical consequences of obedience to the Fourth Commandment. The Biblical law, “Honor thy father and thy mother” is here challenged as the source of widespread – even universal – life-long suffering. As children we attempted to free ourselves from our feelings of fear, insecurity and confusion thru repression and dissociation/self-alienation. Whatever the cost (abandonment of our true selves), we persisted in loving and trusting our parents (we hardly had a choice) and strived to earn their approval, (and (thus) to please the Greater Parent in the Sky.)

Today, what stands between our bodies and the healing of those injuries is the hold the Fourth Commandment has on our minds. As we live and breathe, the fear of parental rejection/punishment lurks within that fear. It has to be brought to consciousness and examined before healing can take place. We walk carrying a sack full of personal history, the burden of wounds inflicted by all the punishment and indignities that have ever happened to us. Until we heal those internal wounds, we daily pay a terrible price in suffering, much of it physical illness, and make others pay as well. Those others are most often our own children. The claim so often heard, “I got spanked and I turned out OK,” cannot be upheld when it is understood how the denial of physical and emotional injuries are connected to present illnesses.

“….ย  Dr. Miller repeatedly emphasizes the tragic effects, in the form of physical ailments, of the body’s life-long yearning for parental love and affection. She touches on the way this suppression is expressed in religion: the command to love God, on pain of punishment when we fail to do so; the absurdity of inventing a parent-like creator, perfect and omnipotent, who craves our love. It is an odd god, an immensely dependent god, a Big Daddy who, if given the love demanded, will reward with an eternity in blissful heaven. (And the teenage suicide bombers of the Middle East are promised the bonus of 72 virgins to sweeten the deal.) Inasmuch as the Great Father is not loved, even worshipped, the alternative is agonizing punishment from now to the “end” of eternity.

We have to liberate ourselves from the propaganda imposed on us – and enforced on us on pain of punishment – by conventional morality. This book calls for a higher morality, as it applies to parenthood. We cannot truly love our parents, she asserts, until we are liberated from the infantile attachment, the idolatry, that trapped us in childhood.

Dr. Miller wants the reader to understand and accept that parents who abused us do not deserve our love and honor, regardless of a Moses-imposed commandment to do so. As we all must know, love is one thing that cannot be enforced. Like Sgt. Joe Friday, the body, in its wisdom, rejects illusions. It accepts only the facts, as higher morality is inherent not in the mind, but in our bodies. She takes to task all those friends and relatives and preachers and therapists who say, “Forgive your mother, forgive your father; they did the best they knew how. She changed your diapers, he sacrificed for you, and above all they loved you.” Miller will not hear it: forgiveness is a crock and a trap, laid to continue the dependency, and preserve the hope, that somehow, sometime, we will finally bask in the love that was so long ago denied us. Reading Alice is like hearing someone whisper, “I know the secret you are hiding in your past, the feelings of hurt and fright and shame and humiliation at the abusive treatment you suffered at the hands of your parents. And I’m asking you – urging you, challenging you – to come out of that dark closet and face up to it.”

In the valley where I live, the #1 fear at whatever age is parental punishment. And among adults, it’s primary defense is Denial. Behind the denial of childhood mistreatment lies the fear of punishment, therefore acknowledgement or recognition of it in adulthood can approach terror. But the price for denial is paid in physical as well as mental illness. When aware of it we see it everywhere: the suffering in the bodies and minds of strangers and of those dear to us. But we must begin with ourselves, confronting the punishing parent within.”

As supportive as this information is, I know how difficult it is to step away from your abusive family ties and go it alone and start a new emotionally healthier life so that you can heal and get stronger.ย  You need support for such drastic actions and I offer you that support through my posts,ย articles, poems, songs and lyrics, my coaching, and a community here with many comments on my website that I hope lovingly states, “you are not alone, you are in the company of a community of survivors that is growing in number as they dare to come out of their darkness and speak the truth of what happened to them as children!”ย 

As highly sensitive people (HSPs) you have many gifts to offer that are lacking in many of the people around you.ย  Celebrate your differentness, celebrate YOU this Easter and open up to the love that exists from God and from other HSPs like yourself.ย  I believe we HSPs are gifted with compassion and an ability to love deeper so that we can help each other through theย negativity and darkย energies that do exist around us.

Love to you this Easter season, may you realize your shining light inside of you and shine it on your children, spouse, friends, and especially your self!ย  You deserve a wonderful Easter!ย ย 

With Love,

Roxanne

 

ย 

How Highly Sensitive People Who Are High Achieving and Intuitive Can Overcome Self-Defeating Behaviors

Hi everyone.ย ย Today I want to talk about the special complexity of being both a high achiever and Intuitive,ย and a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) and how this combination of academic giftedness, and a deep thinking facility can lead to avoidance and a numbness in regard to emotions.

What I have come to learn about healing is that it is often so difficult to begin when, as highly intuitive (highly sensitive) children, we have spent most of our lives trying not to be so “sensitive”, and to fit into the rest of society, that, at least in the American Culture that exists today, being sensitive is not the โ€œidealโ€.ย  There exists a pressure to be extraverted,ย social, superficial, constantly busy, productive and able to produce and work hard no matter what is going on in our lives. ย Also the word sensitive is often used synonomously with the word “insecure” and that is not at all what is meant here.ย  Sensitivity (Intuition)ย is a gift and it causes you toย experience everything in life at a deeper, richer level.ย  Less sensitive others may outnumber us and put it down but they are just plain wrong!

Because of ridicule ofย our budding sensitive selves early in life, we have hidden away the part of us that โ€œfeelsโ€ and have become very good at being successful and โ€œthinkingโ€ our way out of problems and โ€œthinkingโ€ our way to finding a cure for the emptiness and loneliness we sometimes feel.ย  So we keep seeking out superficial relationships and experiences, looking for some โ€œoneโ€ orย  fun experiences that will be the answer to our discontent.

Also we try to fill our time with busy tasks that satisfy our immediate need for validation and often this is through technology, being constantly plugged in to our computers or phones, being news junkies, texting, video games, watching television etc.ย  All of these tasks seem to keep us going through another empty day of being out of touch with who we really are and help to keep us in a state of numbness that was a state of survival for us as highly sensitive children.

The problems that crop up in our lives are clues to the fact that this superficial state of existence is not really working for us and we need to make a change.ย  For example, it is often a shock to us when we have relationship problems with others because we, for the most part see nothing wrong with how we are functioning and relating to others. When you have spent your life avoiding painful feelings you begin to believe that you have no real problems at all and everything would just be fine if people would do things your wayโ€”the logical way.ย  It isnโ€™t until others in our lives complain about our emotional unavailability that we even see that there is a problem at all.

Other problems that may crop up from not being in touch with our emotional side are that you may be out of touch or blocked from fully utilizing your creativity and this can lead to a feeling of dissatisfaction with the work that you are doing.ย  Also,ย when you are dissatisfied with your work because it is unfulfilling on a deeper emotional level, gradually it saps your energy.

You may also “over-work” to continue numbing out your feelings because you are out of touch with your feelings that tell you a natural time to stop and you are not listening to your body. When you over-work at an unfulfilling job you run on adrenaline a lot from stress.ย  This causes your body to produce too much cortisol which can mess up the balance of hormones and cause you to have less energy. motivation, and even feel semi-depressed (possible symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue or “burnout”).ย This can cause you to become overwhelmed with even simple tasks in your life that you just donโ€™t have the motivation or energy to do anymore.

This is worsened when you are highly intuitive (sensitive) in that you are constantly taking in more stimuli than other people who are not intuitive.ย  You may be comparing yourself constantly to less intuitive (less sensitive) othersย and you get overwhelmed trying to do what everyone else seems to be able to do.ย  Intuitives are only 15 to 20% of the population and it will help you so much if you embrace that it is a gift that sets you apart and you are different for a reason. You must make allowances for your need for breaks and time alone to recharge–even extraverts who are highly intuitive (sensitive) need to cut back on their “list of shoulds” because they are taking in more stimuli than extraverted others.ย  Just realizing you “require”ย more rest and more time to recharge and regroup when you are in a stressful job can be quite a relief–especially for this group that tends to be harder on themselves anyway and want badly to succeed and be the best at their jobs which are often technology based.

Getting access to your emotional side and out of the left-brained thinking side which you exist in most of the time will help you to feel more satisfaction and joy in your life and at work and have more fulfilling connections with others.

This is not easy but it is so worth the effort because the end result is the connection to the real youโ€”the emotional side of yourself that is the connection to the source of all love and compassion which is a higher power/universal consciousness/or โ€œGodโ€!ย  Now I know I may have lost some of you just now because your scientific mind refuses to believe in something so intangible and illogical.ย  However, if you do some research you will find that some of the greatest minds including Albert Einstein believed in a spiritual creative universal consciousness that could be tapped into. This can be achieved by believing in your self and your dreams and requires a certain amount of “emotional self-discovery” and healing of those blocks which keep us from feeling things on a deep level.

When you work through the blocks that keep you from enjoying your life on a deep level you can overcome compulsive behaviors such as perfectionism, over-working, and procrastination as well.ย  These behaviors often result because you are trying to do too many things and have unrealistic expectations of your highly sensitiveย self–you may try to “overcome” your sensitivity if you look at it as a weakness or you may try to ignore it–but it is innate in you and it will always be there!

As I said before,ย it is better to embrace it and surrender to it and see it as the gift that it really is–a higher level of creativity and vision will be available to you at your work if you finally start taking care of your extra needs for sleep, time alone, and down time from the left side of your brain.ย You will be able to tap into your creative genius as a visionary at work if you do some things that help you tap into the right side of your brain–the creative, emotional, and spiritual side.ย Operating with access to both sides of your brain is so important for balance in your life and in your health and vitality.ย  Makes logical sense, right?

My recommendation is Journaling–writing out your feelings, whatever they are, negative or positive, daily in a journal for your eyes only–because it is a scientific fact that writing in order to express your โ€œfeelingsโ€ opens up neural pathways to the right side of your brain.ย  It is a channel to the creative side of your life which is the key to a fulfilling connection to your true self and to a source of love we are all capable of experiencing as humans on this planet.

You can do this yourself by following the journaling guidelines in the book, โ€œThe Artistโ€™s Wayโ€ by Julia Cameron.ย  It is a course in discovering and recovering your creative self and I highly recommend it–I did these โ€œmorning pagesโ€ myself as part of my own recovery. ย I have written some other posts on how journaling has helped me and I have referred to it as my own inner grief work and the process of โ€œgrowing a backboneโ€.ย  My husband (an INTJ) journals for healing and was amazed at itโ€™s effect and referred to the process as โ€œgrowing a new heartโ€.ย  The outcome of this kind of journaling is as unique for the person as the uniqueness of the person doing the writing.

The truth is you need to be able to love your self in order to give love to others and that is necessary in order to be happy and fulfilled in your life and in your work.ย  You may be saying, โ€œI love myself alreadyโ€, but it may be more of a sense of entitlement for things and success and a superficial love for self.ย  What I am talking about is loving all of you including the parts of yourself that you are cut off from and avoid–the feelings that make you uncomfortable–shame, sadness, despair, loneliness, and anger etc..ย  These are feelings that we all feel for a reason and the reason needs to be acknowledged along with the feelings so that you can express them and ultimately release them and heal them.ย  When you allow painful feelings to be expressed at the core of when they occurred and for the reason that they occurred then you are connecting to the truth that you blocked from your memory.ย  A block such as this is always going to keep you from being able to experience full joy and happiness in your life until you work through it.

Often these blocks were formed in childhood.ย  If you were a highly sensitive child in an environment where your parents were already overwhelmed with dealing with their own feelings, then you may have shut off your feelings and repressed them in order to โ€œbe goodโ€ and helpful to your parents.ย  Sometimes we were so gifted and so intuitive that we were able to shut down our feeling sides without the memory of any real trauma from childhood but just because we constantly told ourselves that our feelings didnโ€™t matter.ย  We then have a “belief” that we are no more than this false self that we created to surviveโ€”when in actuality there is a whole other rich and emotional side to us that is begging for our attention!

Problems that come up in our lives are clues to this other side of our life that needs healing.ย  Gary Zukav, author of theย Seat of the Soul, is a physicist who embraces the spiritual side of his life and believes that the way to feeling wholeness is by excavating our feelings as if we are an archeologist looking for clues and answers to โ€œwhyโ€.ย  The answers are inside of us and often are because of events that occurred in our childhood that keep us stuck at the emotional level that we were at the time the event occurred.

Often, things that happened in childhood were unbearably painful and we had to repress them in order to survive them.ย  To โ€œrepressโ€ is to completely deny them and remove them from our consciousness!ย  Journaling helps to bring them forth and allow us to discover things about us that are important clues to how to be happy in life!

Remember, the opposite of depression is not happiness but โ€œvitalityโ€ which is the ability to express and let flow the full spectrum of emotionsโ€”the negative uncomfortable ones as well as positive and easy ones. (Alice Miller–The Drama of the Gifted Child). ย I hope this information has been helpful to you.

With love,

Roxanne

 

 

 

 

 

 

Journaling for Joy and Finding My True Voice In A Poem

Hello to all of you sensitive souls.ย  I hope you are enjoying this beautiful week of Indian Summer we are having. The news says that most of the U.S. is experiencing gorgeous mild temperatures and colorful changing leaves right now.ย  It is definitely my favorite time of the year and it feels like such a gift from above now that I can relax and take it in and be in the moment and fully appreciate it.ย  As many of you who follow my blog already know, it wasn’t always this way for me.ย  I used to be numb to my feelings, keeping too busy to feel, compelled to be a people-pleaser and a perfectionist, and full of self-doubt and anxiety.

There are many facets to my journey to finding my voice as a person, many of which I describe on my blog so that I might inspire other highlyย sensitive people (HSPs) to believe in their dreams.ย  Writing out my feelings in a journal has been one of these many facets that contributed to my awakening to my true spirit which was hiding inside.ย I have been writing poetry in a journal since the age of 14, but it wasn’t until about 2002 that I set out to to try to do Julia Cameron’s morning pages (3 pages of free writing every day) which turned out toย be extremely therapeutic “inner grief work” that took placeย over a period of 5 years.ย  It was during this period that I wrote about the feeling that I was “growing a backbone” and this felt very miraculous indeed.ย  I knew I was finding my voice finally and it had been hidden away in fear for so long.ย  I was writing songs and poetry and it never really occurred to me to seriously share them with others until one day when an extra special one poured out of me.ย  When I wrote this poem, it dawned on me that I had been transformed and now, finally, I could reach outย and help others–something I had always wanted to do but I always felt I had to figure myself out first.ย  I had a new found sense of self and there was no going back.ย  I am very happy to be sharingย it with you today.

After I wrote this poem, Iย got the idea to write a book sharing many of my poems and my growth along the way to finding my voice and that this poem would be the final one in the book–a finale of sorts.ย  However, since then I have written even more special poems and songs so I have decided to go ahead and share a shortened version of it here in my blog.ย (I haven’t written my book yet but I plan to start it in the near future.)ย  This very special poem is entitled, “Joy, Our Birthright, Waiting There”.ย  I want to explain that I wrote this with my children in mind– when I say “and I was never there for you the way I thought I was, it’s true”.ย ย What this means is when I went through growth andย gradually hadย more access to my true self, then I couldn’t help but feel regret about the past when I had been doing my best but I was not able to be my strong confidentย true self yet.ย  When I expressed this regret to my children expecting themย to agree and feel reliefย and tell me it had been hard for them, they both instead said they always felt I was always emotionally available to them and it meant a lot to them that I always apologized to them whenever I made emotional mistakes and they felt fully validated at each step along the way in their upbringing.ย For this I feel extremely grateful because nothing hasย ever been more important to me than my children feeling good about themselves and their unique gifts and breaking the cycle of dysfunction that my husband and I experienced as children.ย  Still…I can’t help but wish I knew then what I know now….

So here it is:

Joy, Our Birthright, Waiting There

By Roxanne Smith

Feb 21, 2007

Telling someone helped me heal

All the pain inside was real

No wonder I had been so tired

My whole heart had been so mired

So much grief to lead the way

Let it out, so much to say

I was never there for you

The way I thought I was, itโ€™s true

Because I was empty โ€“ none to give

Alive but I just now learned to live

Soulful is the proper word

I have โ€œmeโ€ โ€“ it sounds absurd

Let your painful feelings out

You canโ€™t be whole and live without

Expression of unfairness do

Your soul will help you live anew

And learn compassion for your self

Donโ€™t put feelings on a shelf

Any doubt is harmful thought

The truth is–look how far you got!

Negativity and blocks

To true self and joyful shocks

Being blamed can stunt our growth

Fear of feelings: anger, both

Also fearing joy and bliss

Pain comes up and we all miss

The connection to our rightful heir

Joy, our birthright, waiting there!

Love is what we all deserve

Joy it feels when then observed

Share it then and it comes back

Filling up the past we lacked

Helping others heal their wounds

Nothing like it โ€“ glowing moons

Stars are twinkling, warming sun

Nature loves us one by one

Let the love come down on you

It is there donโ€™t block the view

Doubts of self will keep it blocked

You must trust your soulโ€™l be rocked!

With this truth Iโ€™m trying to tell

Creative soul fear-blocked is hell

Heaven is a word away

Love is here please let it stay

You deserve its welcome home

Inside you it does belong

Love yourself Iโ€™m trying to say

God is trying โ€“ just light the way

Ask him to comfort your soul

Believe!ย  And he will rock and roll!

Iโ€™m not kidding this I know

I let out grief and felt a glow

A light inside I did believe

Iโ€™m OK. I feel. I grieve.

Compulsions all have fear beneath

God has no “shoulds” or “work hard” teeth

Be yourself and kindness do

Serve to help others heal anew

Help them see that love transcends

We can all relax and mend

โ€œRelax and enjoy your life

and everything will be alright!โ€

This phrase came in a dream so real

I hope this poem will help you heal

*ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *ย  *

With Love,

Roxanne

Perfectionism, The Highly Sensitive Person, and How Grieving Our Childhood Pain Is Essential To Healing

ย 

Hi everyone.ย  I hope you are enjoying the summer.ย  I hope you are not heaping lists of ย “shoulds”ย on yourself (home improvements etc.) to accomplish–only toย realize, “What was I thinking?! ย I can’t do all this stuff!–the KIDS are home!”ย  ha ha.ย  Yes I remember, and I still do it somewhat but this summer is SO much better. ย Back then it was a priority for me to make happy,ย fun summer memories for my children and connecting with them emotionally.ย I always ended up throwing out my long list of shoulds.ย  If you don’t, you end up saying to yourself,ย “I didn’t get this done and I didn’t get that done.ย  Instead make a list of all the things you DO accomplish after they happen–write down each special conversation, each walk in nature, each memorable meal together etc.ย  By the end of the summer you will have aย wonderfulย memoir of how special your summer actually was instead of a list of what you didn’t get done.

Evenย with my best efforts when my children were growing up, Iย was too busy satisfying their needs for a fun summerย and way too manyย “shoulds” for myself thatย I often felt like I missedย it–summer would just zip by me and I was left feeling regret.

I think often times we are busy like that to avoid our painful feelings that we may have experienced in childhood. We found ways to cope and survive the lack of love, encouragement, acknowledgement, and acceptance we all desperatelyย wanted and needed.ย We are perfectionists, compulsive over-workers, compulsive shoppers, compulsive list-makers, and then call ourselves procrastinators because we put things off–but it’s really because we have unrealistic expectations of what we need to accomplish.

As highly sensitive children, it seemed to us that nothing we ever did was praised or applauded as we deserved unless it was something others wanted us to be doing.ย  This was so confusing to us so we rationalized that we must not be doing enough or doing it well enough.ย  Now when we overwork because of perfectionism it is because we are still trying to fill an unmet need from childhood–one that will never be met but can be resolved if we allow our sadness about the truth of it all to come to the surface.ย  Grief is a positive, healthyย emotion that is necessary to heal your childhood wounds.ย  You deserved so much more–you deserved…”love”.ย  You did not get what you felt you needed and you may feel you are still not getting it.ย  The problem is not with you…you are so loveable!ย  Aren’t you!ย  You know it.ย  You are smiling right now aren’t youย because you know it on some deep level. ๐Ÿ™‚ย  That is the truth that you must listen to.ย  The love you need and deserve exists–we know what we deserved.ย  ย 

For some reason, we may feel we were born into situations where we couldn’t get love the way our souls needed to be loved.ย  I had a hard time resolving this–it didn’t make sense.ย  I was drawn to reading a lot of new age books on spirituality to figure this out.ย ย Reading all these books really helped me get a new perspective.ย  I now believe that I may have more innate inner strength than certain family members.ย  I am able to grow and give to others even more because of my childhood wounds. We (HSPs) see the truth, we KNOW we deserve love and better treatment and we know we don’t deserve feeling bad about ourselves any longer.ย  When someone sees you as LESS THAN and you know youย deserve more–you don’t have to be around that person. ย You may need to try a few times to get them to see you and understand you, but if you keep on coming up short in their eyes, and this is causing you a great deal of stress, then it’s time to distance yourself from them and get some healing support. Some of us can’t even tryย to be ourselves with them–it’s too excruciating to re-experience the rejection, so we must just leave for as long as it takes so that we can begin to heal.

We all NEED acceptance.ย  It’s very important to look elsewhere for people who accept you and understand your self-expression for support.ย  We (HSPs)ย eventually grow from the pain of it all, and we learn to rely on our selves if we can get away from the negativity that unhealthy family members, bullies, and/or societyย use to control us and keep us DOWN.ย  They know we are different and special and yet maybe they are not as evolved as we areย and so it seems they do not have the inner strength to say,ย  “Wow you have these great gifts of sensitivity and awareness and depth–you are different from us, you should go out into the world and share your knowledge, vision, gifts, and message of love and peace to the world–we understand and we are in awe of you.ย  So GO, fly away and be theย best that you can be!” ha ha Wouldn’t that be the greatest to hear anyone say that!?!

In order for them to say that to us, they would have to be very secure and love themselves a lot (or be an HSP like you). ย It could be they don’t love themselves at all. They may want to control us because they have so much pain and if we leave themย it makes them feel their pain so they blame us.ย  They may not have the “insight” to see what we see or want what we want and to see that their pain has nothing to do with us.ย  We are holding ourselves back, waiting for their permission to leave.

Reading the books on spirituality helped me to believe that my spirit (everyone’s spirit) ย is going to live for all eternity and the lessons I learn in this lifetime will never be forgotten.ย I believe we all evolve at different levels and different speeds and some of us souls are more advanced than others.ย We (HSPs)ย are continuously healing our post traumatic stress from our very real childhood wounds, andย it is necessary for us to separate from those who caused these wounds and move forward toward new healthier people. ย We must not feel guilty for healing–I believe GOD wanted us to be all that we can be and he is with us in all our healing.ย  We each have different limits to what negativity we can be around–we need to honor these limits and take care of ourselves whateverย it takes! ย Alice Miller often talksย about the “never-ending work of mourning” in her books and how importantย the grieving process is for our recovery–we must accept it as essential to our healingย and to our eventualย freedom fromย our inner-prison of self-doubt.

ย Perhaps our highly sensitive souls are more evolved and we chose (with the gift of God’s free will)ย to have these experiences in this lifetime to learn about the pain of rejection and about our own strength in overcoming it.ย  Maybe we chose them so we could learn what not to do to our own children and develop empathic skills to help others by surviving such treatment as children. I know that I am finally glad to be me, and I am proud of myself for all that I have figured out and how this knowledge has helped a lot of other people toย heal.ย 

The grieving process has opened my life up to the most wonderful feelings of joy, love, and trust in my creativity, and this is what keeps me going in this direction.ย  When I love and value myself and my feelings, all of them, I have more to give others to help them to heal as well.ย  I believe we are all highly sensitive for a very special reason and may need to heal separately from our families until we are strong enough to not be triggered and to give back to others…others who are ready to heal and ready to feel.

With support we can grieve for not getting the love we feel we needed and we can have a happy, healthy, guilt-free, andย independentย life.ย  The joy and relief you will feel when you allow yourself to grieve will feel wonderful and so you will know you are going in the right direction.ย  If you need help grieving and someone to listen, this is what this blog community is here for. ย Thank you sensitive souls out there for being here on the planet.ย ย 

Thank you to all my commenters for sharing your pain and experiences and encouragement–your words are so helpful to others who have not yet found their voice.

Please also check out my new pages calledย “Portrait of an INFJ, …INFP, and …INTJ”. ย  Very many of my clients have turned out to be these three temperament types (but not all) and I believe it would benefit those who are to read the description of your true potential as was written in Keirsey and Bates book on temperament types. (See Recommended Books).ย  It certainly gave me hope when I read it and I hope it does the same for you. ย 

With love,

Roxanne

The Misjudgment of Introverts and the True Meaning of Introversion

Hi everyone.ย  The Fourth of July is coming soon!ย  I hope you are able to enjoy Independence Day with the knowledge that you are a special highly sensitive person (HSP)ย and you deserve independence and freedom to be you. ๐Ÿ˜€ ย Because this is typically a family holiday, it can bring up and trigger memories and childhood wounds of loneliness and pain–large get-togethersย with people and possibly not one of them really understanding you because you were an HSP.ย  And in most cases you were probably an “introvert”–70% of HSPs are!ย  The word introvert is highly misunderstood and it is important to me that I set the record straight on the true meaning of the word and how it’s perception and judgement can be damaging to those of us who are born-introverts.

When you hear the word introvert or introverted you probably have heard the wrong meaning with such comments as:ย  ย “He became introverted because of his fear of his abusive father”;ย or “I used to be an introvert but then I got some confidence and came out of my shell”.ย  These examples of the word are used veryย often in the mediaย but these usages are incorrect!ย  The correct word in these examplesย should be the word “insecure” instead.ย  The real meaning of introvert is not insecure or turned inward out of fear as most people have been taught to believe.

The book Please Understand Me by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates explains about each of the temperament types in a wonderfulย and positive way and explains the true meaning of being an introvert.ย When I was 23, I was told about this book by my counselor at the time who had her PhD ย in Clinical Counseling Psychologyย and, whenย I read it, it changed my life in a major way due to its wonderful explanation.ย  Since then I have known I am an introvert like her and am very proud to proclaim it!

The book explains it so well:ย  Inย 1920 Jung invented the psychological types and believed that people are different in fundamentalย ways.ย  In 1950ย the idea of temperament types was revived when Isabelย Myers and her mother Kathryn Briggs devised the Myers-Briggs type indicator–a tool for indicating 16 different patterns of action.ย Keirseyย and Bates later came up with a book with a similar temperament sorter and aย self-test to take.ย ย Here is Keirsey and Bates’ definition ofย an introvert, word for word, from their book:

“…the introvert is territorial.ย  That is, he desires space.ย  Introverts seem to draw their energies from a different source than do extroverts.ย  Pursuing solitary activities, working quietly alone, reading, meditating, participating in activities which involve few or no other people–these seem to charge the batteries of the introvert.ย  Thus, if an extreme introvert goes to a party, after a “reasonable” period of time–say half an hour–he is ready to go home.ย  For him, the party is over.ย  He is not aย party pooper; rather, he was pooped by the party.”

“Introverts, too, are likely to experience a sense of loneliness–when they are in a crowd!ย  They are most “alone” when surrounded by people, especially strangers.ย  When waiting in a crowded airport or trying to enjoy themselves at noisy cocktail parties, some introverts report experiencing a deep sense of isolation and disconnectedness.ย  This is not to say that introverts do not like to be around people.ย  Introverts enjoy interacting with others, but it drains their energy in a way not experienced by extroverts.ย  Introverts need to find quiet places and solitary activities to recharge, while these activities exhaust the extrovert.ย  If the latter goes to a library to do research, for example, he may have to exercise strong will power to prevent himself, after fifteen minutes or so, from taking a “short brain break” and striking up a conversation with the librarian.”

“It is quite the opposite with an introvert, who can remain only so long in interaction with people before he depletes his reserves.”

“The question always arises, “Does not an extrovert also have an introverted side and does not an introvert also have an extraverted side?ย  Yes, of course,ย  but the preferred attitude, whether it be extraversion or introversion, will have the most potency and the other will by the “suppressed minority”.ย  The preferred attitude will be expressed in the conscious personality.ย  The suppressed minority is only partly in consciousness and reflects “what happens to one.”ย  This less-favored side of a person’s temperament is less differentiated and is less energized, and is apt to be more primitive and undeveloped.ย  Jung even claims that if, through pressure on the part of the mother, the child is coerced into living out of his inferior side, this falsification of type results in the individual’s becoming disturbed in later life.”

“If a person prefers extraversion, his choice coincides with about 75 percent of the general population (Bradway, 1964).ย  Only 25 percent reported introversion as their preference, according to Myers (Bradway, 1964).ย  Indeed, Western culture seems to sanction the outgoing, sociable, and gregarious temperament.ย  Theย notion of anyone wanting or needing much solitude is viewed rather often as reflecting an unfriendly attitude.ย  Solitary activities frequently are seen as ways to structure time until something better comes along, and this something better by definition involves interacting with people.ย  As a consequence, introverts are often the ugly duckling in a society where the majority enjoy sociability.ย  There is the story about a mother heard to protest loudly and defensively, “My daughter is notย  an introvert.ย  She is a lovely girl!””

“Introverts have reported that they have gone through much of their lives believing that they ought to want more sociability, and because they do not, are indeed ugly ducklings who can never be swans.ย  As a result, the introvert seldom provides adequately for his very legitimate desire for territoriality, for breathing room, without experiencing a vague feeling of guilt.”

“Cue Words:ย  The main word which differentiates an extrovert from an introvert is sociability as opposed to territoriality, but the extrovert also finds breadth appealing where the introvert finds the notion of depth more attractive.ย  Other notions which give a cue to this preference are the idea of external as opposed in internal; the extensive as opposed to the intensive; interaction as opposed to concentration; multiplicity of relationships as opposed to limited relationships; expenditure of energy as opposed to conservation of energy; interest in external happenings as opposed to interest in internal reactions.”

Reading this for the first time really validated who I was on a deep level andย changed me for the better!ย  I was so excited!ย  Finally I had an explanation for who I was and Iย felt relieved of the shame and the sense of being flawed and not good enough!ย  I hope this information does the same for you.ย You may want to go out and buy the book and read the whole thing as I did–I highly recommend it as a handbook for your life and helpful in understanding yourself and in understanding all the other temperament types as well.

Fellow introverts, it is my own belief that introversion is innate in us and that we cannot change it.ย  I believe that it is helpful to explain it to others by using the word introspective or inner-directed.ย  It is an innate gift of introspection and inner-directednessย that connects you to experience everything on a deeper level.ย  Extrovertsย who do not understand this might have you believe that you are LESS THAN because you are different and thoughtful before you speak.ย  Shyness, however, is more prone to the insecure extrovert and NOT to the introvert who can be happy alone and without fear because the confidence comes from within and not needing validation from others but only from the self.ย  This inner-connectedness can feel spiritualย and healing to us when we learn to recharge by allowing ourselves to feel connected to God and nature and the magic of the universe.

If you are an introvert, I hope that this informationย has been helpful to you.ย  Introverts can experience painful rejection and judgement from 75% of the population who through no fault of their own have been incorrectly taught about the meaning of the word or taught to judge others who act more introspectively.ย  I don’t know very many extrovertsย who really understandย introverts.ย Years ago, ย I showed the above quotes to an extraverted friend with her Masters in Social Work, after I explained and showed her the book, kept saying to me, “are you sure you are an introvert?ย  You don’t seem like an introvert?”ย And aย sensitive yet extravertedย professor of psychology in college made me feel just awful about myself repeatedly for not being more outgoing and more like “him”.ย  ‘But there areย extroverts who doย get it and appreciate introverts and all others for all their differentnessย and uniqueness so please don’t judge extroverts now that I’ve explained how wonderful introverts are!ย  Nevertheless we are outnumbered by 75%!ย  We introverts must learn to love and appreciate ourselves exactly the way we are and start standing up for ourselves and educating the world on the true meaning of introversion.ย I love being an introvert!ย  It is a very big part of who I am and I am very proud of it and wouldn’t have it any other way!

Elaine Aron reports on the home page of her website that 30% of all HSPsย are extrovertsย so to you extroverted HSPs who get comfort and encouragement from my site, I apologize for leaving you out of this weeks post. Please know that my intention is to educate everyone that not one type is better than any other and the whole point is for us all to see the specialness in each other as unique souls with unique talents and gifts that we bring to share with the world.ย  Thanks to all for reading!

With Love,

Roxanne

The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) and Allergies, Food Intolerances, and Stress-related Illness

Hi everyone.ย  I hope you are enjoying the summer!ย  I am.ย  I am thoroughly enjoying the warmth that is finally here.ย  I am not going to complain about the heat and humidity here in the midwestern United States.ย That’s right, I am located in the midwest and as I get older I had been longing to move south… but no longer!ย  I realize that although it is colder than I like for 5 months out of the year (November through March) it is pretty wonderful the rest of the time. It isn’t until mid January that the weather gets kind of unbearable for me.ย  Last year a trip for 1 week to the Florida Keys in mid February did the trick! ย One week out of the year made the entire rest of the year look so much better. Going somewhere warm in February every year is now officially a must!

Now that I am a happier person and able to be in the moment and appreciate being alive on the planet, I am able to see the beauty in myย life as it is. ย Have you ever had a person visit you and point out all the negatives in your life? The way you decorate, the paint colors you chose, saying “why did I do it that way”? It can be eye opening if you were used to this point of view and then suddenly realize you had been seeing things through their eyes. ย It occurred to me and I suddenly realized that all of those things weren’t true. Another example is I have a beautiful backyard with a pond and trees and privacy. ย I used to have allergies so I couldn’t enjoy being outdoors so I didn’t appreciate it (remembering now it was the reason we bought this lot in the first place.) ย This person, when they visited, ย ignored my backyard so I didn’t feel like it was special.ย  But it is actually very special and it recharges me on a daily basis!ย  I am so happy that I am able to see things with a whole new perspective now and I can let go of the negative judgements of others.

How did I get rid of my allergies you might be wondering?ย  I was treated by a holistic doctor who specializes in energy medicine and in a technique called Nambrudipad’sย Allergy Elimination Treatment (NAET).ย  It is very New Agey and it isย hard toย describe it to you, but it WORKSย and my husband and daughter were also treated.ย  (Google it for more info.–it works similarly to accupressureย and has to do with energy blockages in the body). ย We all used to take claritinย and sudafedย year round and now we don’t take anything at all and can enjoy the outdoors.ย  My husband used to be lactose intolerant and now can eat dairy with no problems.ย It is really amazing.ย ย I heard about this doctor from the wonderful folks at my local health food store.ย  I highly recommend a trip to your local health food store for a wealth of valuable and helpful information if you are having health problems–my life is completely changed because of support from these people (I have found it is often fellow HSPs who work there).ย  I didn’t even realize how much my health had improved until I was talking to my NEW chiropractor, who uses a gentler and massage-type method ofย  alignment rather than “jerking” my spine back into shape. ย Anyway, when I was talking to her I realized that I “used” to have so many health problems and they have almost all gradually been or are beingย resolved.

Here is a list of the health problems: ย Spinal misalignment due to stressย (my neck was locked up for 15 years which seriously affected my immune system and my ability to sing–all of which I was completely unaware of becauseย ย there was no pain just poor posture), Chronic Fatigue, Ovarian Cysts, Chronic systemicย Candidiasis, Symptoms of low thyroid (I felt cold all the time),ย Severe PMS with low back pain and severe fatigue for 2 days at every Ovulation, Fibrocystic Breast Disease, ย Multiple Food Allergies with intestinal symptoms, occasional Migraine headaches, andย Seasonal Allergies to early tree pollen that left me so fatigued in early spring that I wasย taking 3 hour naps daily!ย  All of these things were like a vicious cycle because you just can’t get done what you need to get done and so you are constantly beating yourself up mentally saying to yourself, ย “What’s WRONG with me?”

What was wrong with me?ย  Nothing!ย  I am a highly sensitive person andย so I must treat myself more gently!…Not change myself to be more tough but to change my expectations of myself to meet the special circumstances of my being.ย  I am sensitive for a reason!ย Don’t compare yourself to everyone around you!

A “specific carbohydrate” diet was the first step to wellness for me and this is how I found it:ย ย Back before I was the least bit spiritual, I can rememberย throwing a coin in a wishing well at the mall and asking sincerely for the answers to my health problems that had crept up on me slowly and were now dragging me down–I felt like I was constantly swimming upstream and getting nowhere.ย  Within a week my wish (or prayer) was answered and I was drawn to buy a local magazineย  that I never ever read.ย  Inside was an article on the exact symptoms I was having:ย  fatigue, intestinal problems, and bloating.ย  Theย diagnosis was Gluten Intolerance and the cure was to remove gluten fromย my diet–grain in the form of wheat, oats, barley, and rye!ย  I was very excited to figure this out!ย  Where most people would have been devastated to give up pizza, bread, and at that point what seemed like everything good, I was ecstatic to have found what I hoped was the answer to why Iย ย was sick all the time!ย  I was so sick of being sick!ย  I also felt my prayers had been answered and so was feeling very loved and blessed by…could this be that Godย really existed and cared about me after all?ย  Yes, I believe it was so…because I’ll never forget that first day of removing gluten from my diet on September 25, 1995–I did not need to take a long nap as usual and felt like a new person with a new-foundย energy and a relief from the fatigue!ย  Hallelujah!

I had known since 1992 that I had multiple food allergiesย (eggs, rice, milk and dairy, sugar, and yeast)ย  but with guidance from my friendly folks at the health food store, I found out that the gluten causesย the initial damage that causes all the other food sensitivities.ย  The book Breaking The Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall was a godsend as well because it provided a “specific carbohydrate”ย diet that heals and repairs your digestive tract so that after a period of time you heal your other food sensitivities so the only thing you need to eliminate from your diet is gluten.ย (ย I can provide more information on how this diet works at your request.ย  Please just ask.)

Gluten Intolerance is now much more widely diagnosed and talked about than it was in 1995 with many more prepared food choices available and whole Gluten Free sections available at grocery stores now.ย (Elisabeth Hasselbeckย on The View has it, talks about it and even wrote a book about it). ย Gluten Intolerance has completely different effectsย on different people and has a rangeย  ofย  severity.ย  Most severe is the geneticย Celiac Diseaseย  (or sometimes called Celiac Sprue ) where even a spec of gluten can cause an immune system reaction of extreme fatigue, diarrhea and blood in the stools,ย  and a stomach ache until the digestive tract heals again.ย This happens because of genetic inability to digest the protein called gluten and the body reacts to the offending grain as if is a poison.ย ย Occasional cheating is forbidden because you may be producing scar tissue that will make the digestive tract unable to heal even the other food allergies and you may be left irreparablyย  unable to digest many foods at all and with a condition called malabsorption which can lead to extreme weight loss and even death.ย  So this condition should not be taken lightly.

But most people probably have a milder form of gluten intolerance that develops as we age and encounter stress in life like parenting small children and balancing work and home.ย  Studies show that 40% of women over 40 may be sensitive to gluten and not know it. ย I believe that, if you are a highly sensitive personย and over 40, you should definitely try avoiding gluten if you are having intestinal irregularities such as alternating constipation and diarrheaย and/or unexplained fatigue and bloating.ย  The improvement to the quality of your life could be phenomenal.ย  And if you are like me,ย  feeling good again is worth the sacrifice… after all it is just food! ย Food is supposed to be fuel for the body–why put something in your engine thatย makes it run so poorly! ย It takes 2 weeks on the Elaine Gotschall “specific carbohydrate” diet (meats,ย ย ย fruits,ย vegetables, nuts, and some cheeses–no limit on quantity) to get the carb cravings out of your system and then you are home free and no longer even want any carbs or sugar.ย  You feel so healthy and fruits and vegetables taste so much better like your taste buds come alive.ย Finally you can concentrate and get things done!ย  ย And I lost 25 pounds being on the diet for 4 months.

For 11 years my daughter and I ate completely gluten-freeย (but not carb-free)ย andย I never knew if I was Celiac or not but had toย avoid every spec of gluten because I would get symptoms if I accidentally ate some–I did think that both of us were Celiac.ย  One and 1/2 years ago though when I was firstย treated by my new holistic doctorย with the NAETย Technique, he treated us both for gluten “allergy”.ย  I was skeptical from what I had read online and my doctor admittedly said he knew very little about Celiac Disease.ย  Online I had read that NAETย cannot treat Celiac Disease and is for people who have a gluten allergy only.ย  I was very nervous about my daughter eating gluten again since she had stopped eating all gluten in 1997 at age 7 with a complete recovery from ill-healthย and fatigue and intestinal symptoms (although different from my symptoms).ย  I insisted on a blood test be doneย for herย to rule out Celiac Disease, and sure enough she tested negative for it and since then has been eating gluten with no trouble ever since.ย  I have heard that there can be a remission of sorts for Celiac in the teenage years and that she can temporarily be without symptoms only for them to return later in life when stress enters her life.ย  She is 20 and is also a highly sensitive person and is on the lookout for symptoms recurring but so far she is fine.ย  I on the other hand waited a year after NAET to even try gluten again and the few times I tried, each time, I felt a stress on my immune system and ended up getting an upper respiratoryย virus.ย  However, I was in the throws of Adrenal Fatigue at the time so once I completely heal from my Adrenal Fatigue, which I am determined to do, after a blood testย I am going to try eating gluten occasionally now and then.ย  But for now I avoid it except in small hidden quantities and I feel great.

My Adrenal Fatigue condition has greatly improvedย  by taking many vitamin and adrenal supplements and hormonal replacements that were depleted by stress over the years.ย  This holistic doctor who did the NAETย treatments also ordered saliva testing for my hormones and the results showed that I was low in DHEA, Testosterone, andย Progesteroneย  for which I administer cream supplements daily from a pharmacy that specializes in bio-identicalย hormones (all arranged through my holistic doctor).ย I also take a special iodine supplement for low thyroid symptoms (feeling cold all the time and especially hands and feet and fibrocysticย breast soreness and swelling monthly–all so much improved I actually forgot I used to have these symptoms!).ย  I also take an adrenal rebuilder, and something called Cortico-B5ย and B6 ย because the saliva testing showed I had high levels of cortisol (stress hormone) in the evenings.

I have been on this Adrenal Fatigue Treatment plan since January 2009 and all along I did not feel much different because the healing is so gradual.ย  But compared to January 2009 when I had so much exhaustion I could not exercise at all without extreme fatigueย the following few days, Iย now realize I am 10 times better health-wise!ย I still do struggle with some things like:ย  ย my sugar and yeast allergies keep coming back when I am under stress and I go back for more NAET treatments on these 2 allergies only.ย  I still pick up viruses easilyย because my immune system still is not as strong as it should be yet, and I still have some mild PMS symptoms.ย  I still cannot exercise to the extent that I would like to and must continue to take it easy.ย  To keep my weight under control I eat only specific carbs Monday through Friday but then I can eat whatever I want except gluten on the weekends which is awesome and gives me a fun weekend to look forward to. (At 5’10” I stay around 140 lbs.)ย  With these adjustments, I am feeling great and on the road to complete recovery!

I feel better nowย at 48 than I did in my 20’s!ย  Part of it of course is also the following:ย  ย believing in and learning to love my self, avoiding stress andย negative or toxic people, ignoring the “should” requirements of others and listening to my own heart and desires instead, expressing my truth in journaling and then discovering my gifts of writing, songwriting, and empathic coaching skills for helping others,ย  being able to be in the moment and learning to relax, unblocking my creativity,ย believing in and being grateful forย God and the magic of the Universe and the Law of Attraction, believing that being highly sensitive is an asset and a gift and that it is only a liability in the eyes of others who are judgmental,ย  and narcissisticย (and although they are entitled to their opinion and way of life, are people I choose not to be around for the sake of my health).

Who knows?ย  When I get even stronger and even healthier, I may be strong enough to be around even the most negative people because I know how to release the negativity and recharge by getting time alone and through the elements of nature, and to ask for guidance from above.ย  I feel I am living proof that God really does answer prayers.

For more information on the health issues mentioned above,ย please see Christiane Northrup’s book entitled Women’s Bodies Women’s Wisdom.ย  It was this book that I first heard about the NAETย Technique and Adrenalย  Fatigue and actually many of my health problems.ย  In a future post I will write about how I made my Ovarian Cysts disappear to the amazement of my Ob.Gyn. (and myself!) with the knowledge I gained from this book and Louise Hay’s book You Can Heal Your Life.

Writing all this has made me realize how amazing it is that I have recovered so much in so many ways.ย  I also have overcome many compulsions (shopping and overspending, hoarding certainย items, organizing and cleaning,)ย perfectionism, procrastination,ย and basically the inability to enjoy my life.ย  I no longer feel “compelled” to do any of these things.ย  Yay!ย  Until I wrote these things down to share with you, I really did not realize how my life has unfolded for the better in so many ways.ย  Thanks for reading.ย I will be writing more about how I overcameย  these issues mentioned above if there is interest so please let me know.ย  I hopeย I have inspired you that there is always hope and you can heal your life too–one step at a time.ย  Just keep believing and knowing that as a highly sensitive person you are sensitive for a reason and that even the most difficult obstacles can be overcome!ย  You can do it!

With love,

Roxanne

 

Forgiveness Is For Your “Self”

Hi everyone. ย I have been wanting to share my song “Help Me to Forgive” for a while, but I wanted to explain what I mean by forgiveness because it can be such a confusing and guilt-inducing concept.ย  For myself, forgiving was something I kept trying to do because I thought it was the right thing to do.

As highly sensitive people (HSPs), we want so badly to be compassionate, fair, and kind.ย  I kept forgiving and forgetting the past. I pretended like everything was going to be okayย if I just forgave and moved on but I continued to let myself be walked on.ย I ignored my feelings and kept telling myself I was forgiving and that was the right thing to do.ย  For me, it was the wrong thing to do and the pattern continued untilย I felt so hurt one dayย by ย blatant disrespect for my feelings–when I made a simple assertion that was not to this person’s liking and then they said they were going to do it anyway whether I liked it or not.

I could not deny my feelings any longer.ย  My rage shocked me–I knew it was from childhood and way out of proportion to the event at hand.ย  But I listened to my feelings and it felt good to feel this truth–it wasย how I had always been treated me and I kept giving out the benefit of the doubt.ย  The anger awakened something in me that needed to come alive–my assertiveness about my needs and feelings and about theย boundary that kept being crossing and I kept letting it happen all because I felt it important to forgive and forget.

Now this anger fueled me in a healthy way for a while. It felt good to feel instead of being numb and self-doubting for so long.ย  I wrote a lotย about it and found myself in my journaling to have a lot of wise insights and a lot of reasons to be completely fed up with the insidious and mean things that were said to me with a smile.

But I was still so angry, it scared me how angry I was because it was so intense I felt hatred.ย  And this makes sense really when, as highly sensitive children, our trust in ourselves and our spirits feel consistently stomped on until we give up and repress and hide our true selves and feelings away soย completely–this is a trauma!– not feeling safe to express our intense anger we hide our true selves away.ย  Now for the first time, I was so angry but I felt alive, I knew it was the truth I was feeling. ย I was somehow grateful for everything that had happened to me to give me the self-awareness to finally know the truth!ย Writing my feelings outย helped me make sense of it all. ย I was able to see actions from my childhood which were the cause of much pain and self-doubt. It was very clear!ย  I will never forget this moment in my whole life when I realized there was absolutely nothing wrong with me and that I had just been the victim of a person that I wrongly trusted with my heart and soul.ย  So I made myself a promise not to trust this person with my private feelings (a healthy detachment) and set some boundaries for time and space to heal and it has been a very important decision in my life.

All these emotions coming up helped me connect to this wonderful aliveness–a connection to myย true spirit and a connection to God and that he was there with me all along.ย  I know it sounds strange–how could all that pain be so awakening in a positive way but it was.ย  In the midst of the pain, I felt bliss and freedom and truth and so I knew it was right to stop trusting this person.ย  And after a long period of intense anger, pain, grief, and then acceptance,ย  I finally understood what all the talk and importance of forgiveness was all about–I needed to forgive God/The Universe and stopped blaming Him/It for “givingย me” such a painful childhood. ย And I needed to forgive myself because I knew I did the best I could at figuring out a very confusing situation and for blaming myself as a child out of survival.ย  I needed to forgive the whole situation and all the pain it caused me because I had ME again.ย  I do not have to forgive a person who is not sorry to their face and never will be–but I do forgive what they did. ย  I had been holding onto a lot of resentment which I didn’t realize was hurting me and taking a lot of energy.

And that is when I sat down and wrote the song “Help Me To Forgive”.ย  I’ll never forget writing it.ย  It was a very spiritual and pivotal moment in my life.ย  It helped me to start the process of trying to forgive God, The Universe, and me, and the whole situation, and my pain.ย  That is what forgiveness really means for me.ย ย Then, a few weeks later, I wrote the song “This Too Shall Pass” with a newfound ability to comfort myself through the worst feelings of rejection and betrayal.

Yes that was quite a month–September 2007.ย  And I am glad I have these two songs to commemorate that special time when I reclaimed my true self andย found inner peace and acceptance.ย And I alsoย discovered a way to let God’s love in my life and really feel it and believe it.ย As the saying goes, ”ย The truth will set you free,” ย but you must feel your feelings to get there.

But in all myย writing just now about forgiveness, I don’t want to forget my reasons for writing this post.ย  It is to support you, the highly sensitive child with childhood wounds, from not feeling guilty that you cannot forgive yet. And that trying to forgive even God and yourself before you have gotten through all of the anger and all the repressed emotions from your childhood can leave you feeling guilty and beating yourself up.ย  Please do not feel guilty if you are not ready to forgive anything yet.ย  Please be kind to yourself and love and comfort the wounded child inside for all the feelings you were denied being allowed to express. That is the first step and it takes a longย  timeย to tell your whole story–to let out the entire truth.ย The song “Help Me To Forgive” is meant to comfort you on those times you are filled with anger and resentment about the past–and you are realizing how strong you are because of the pain you’ve been through and you are ready to stop holding on to blame. ย I share the lyrics with you with the utmost compassion and love in my heart.

With love,

Roxanne

On Overcoming Self-doubt: The Story Behind My Songs of Hope and Healing

Hi everyone. I believe there are many, many highly sensitive people (HSPs) out there that are gifted in so many areas but are suffering from self-doubt from their wounds from childhood and by being misunderstood in our society in general.ย  I want to tell you about how I came to be able to write songsย and share them with youย in the hopes that this will be helpful or inspire you in some way. ย My being able to write songs is a story about overcoming self-doubt and finding and expressing my true self.ย  It was my songs that helped me uncover the truth of who I really am and what happened to me in my childhood.ย  The ability to write and sing these songs gave me a connection toย something spiritual so that I learned to love myself and stop doubting the gifts and feelings that were within me.ย ย  Writing these songs turned me into a believer–and I now know I am loved and supported by the universe and I became more spiritual and drawn to reading more about what that means.ย 

I feel there is something in the words and melodies of most of my songs that came from something bigger than myself–I was just the channel. ย I want to inspire, encourage and empower others who are in emotional pain and afraid to show who they really are.ย  I believe those highly sensitive souls are voices that are needed in our society and they are sensitive for a reason.ย  They have a connection to something bigger than themselves that they do not realize and don’t dare show to others because they don’t want to be hurt anymore–so they are hiding.ย  I understand this hiding.

The songs were an instrument in me telling my truth–and gaining the strength to stand up and assert my self and my true voice.ย These songs were instrumental in my gaining strength and energyย and learning finally that there are people who we must avoid while we are healing and people of light and loveย that are safe to go towards. Being highly sensitive is a gift!ย ย And I am grateful and honored to be one of those people.ย  Iย  feel blessed in this gift I have beenย givenย andย I now have the positive energy to give to and love others only by loving my self first.ย  That is what these songs have done for me.ย  Here is my story:

In 2004 I started writing songs.ย  I had been writingย  poems in a journal since I was 14. ย At that time, I was told that things I wrote were crazy but I kept writing anyway because it made me feel better. ย At that timeย I trusted others more than I trusted myself and so when I was criticized, ignored, and shamed forย my singing too it broke my heart and I gave up on my dream to sing. ย Butย I was compelled to sing and writeย anyway–in secret and in private. I dreamed of being a singer like Linda Rondstadt and sang in my bedroom to all of her albums. ย I started learning the guitar at 17.ย (A boyfriend bought it for me–not my parents.)ย  I slowly started learning to play chords to my favorite songs. These were songs by Carole King, James Taylor, Carly Simon,ย and Linda Ronstadt. (Later on it was songs by Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow).ย ย I sang in theย choir in high school and college and got great praise but I didn’t believe it. My college voice teacher told me I had the best voice in the whole school of music. ย But my fear felt too big to overcome so I refused to do any solos–I had stagefright and by graduation I gave up on my dream.

But about once a month something in me would make me sing and play the guitar.ย  I would sing and play my favorite songs for hours for only my self or sometimes for my husband and kidsย and then put it away for another month.ย  They liked my singing–but I was sure that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was in my heart. ย I did that for many, many years.ย ย  Meanwhile,ย  I heard about a book called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.ย  Iย  began writing 3 pages a dayย of free writing called Morning Pages to unblock creativity.ย (Ellen Degeneres has mentionedย on her show that she also does this).ย Something started happening to me–I was finding out who I was and how I really felt about things.ย  More good writing and poetry started coming out of me–I was feeling more confident in myself and happier.

My children were having big successes in singing at school.ย  I had been careful not to push them in any direction but the ones of their own choosing.ย  To my surprise they both were drawn to singing in their own way.ย  My eldest became a soloist in high schoolย and eventually a lead singer in a cover band in college.ย  My 2nd child was successful in acting and sang beautifully in solos in musical theatre productions at school.ย ย They had no stagefright at all!ย  I was so proud of them and proud of myself for raising children with no stagefright!ย ย  I would often joke,” I can die now”,ย  but it made me realize how important singing was to me but I was still paralyzed in fear that my voice was not good enough for others to hear.ย  I knew this was irrational and started singingย more often but there was still so muchย doubt in my mind.ย  It was exhausting to try and easier to just not try to sing for others.ย  I sang more often but still just kept it to myself.

When my eldest child went off to college and my husband started traveling more throughout the week I had more time to myself to recharge and suddenly one day I was inspired to put music to the poem I was writing in my journal.ย  I remember a melody came to me and it seemed as a gift from above to go with these words I was writing.ย  Not until after I was done writing it (long hand), with this melody in myย head, did I pick up the guitar toย try to play it and miraculously it fit perfectly with the few chords I knew well.ย  I recorded it on a tape recorder and, during a rare and brave moment, I dared toย show it to my other child’s voice teacher who really liked it and said “you are a folk singer/songwriter” and also that he was jealous because he had a masters in music and couldn’t write any songs.ย This first song was entitled I’ll Believe and it felt like this song may have been a gift from above and that I had just been open to receive it and put it all together.ย  After that, songs just started pouring out of me and I always put the date on every song I write becauseย it is important to me to acknowledge when it was givenย to me.ย 

Not only that, each song was prompted by an emotional state and a painful learning experience.ย  Sometimes I would feel a lot of shame after the song was complete because I dared to pour out my truth. ย I soon realized that my best songs were the ones I felt the most shame about initially. ย I knew this shame was not the truth. Then I wouldย make myself listen to a tape of my recorded songs when I wasn’t feeling good about them or myself.ย  Every time I listened, I was surprised that I had written these songs and they changed my mood from feeling lost and numb to findingย myself and finding my joy in life again for that day.ย It was a very healing experience as I saw myself getting more and more confident in expressing my “voice” in more ways than one.ย  I realized that because of the internalized shame from my childhood, I was beating myself up all the time and it was up to me to start believing in myself and to stop believingย the inner criticย inside my head.ย  It wasn’t true. ย I was actually good.ย ย How many other things I believed about myself also were not really true?ย  ย I was finding my voice as a person as well and speaking up for myself and standing up for myself in all areas of my life.

So it is the lyrics and the music that I feel helped me to find myself and I hope that they will be a source of hope and healing to you as well. Right now, I have written about 40 songs.ย  20 of them that I am releasing the lyrics to you I call my “Songs of Hope and Healing”.ย  And that is the inspiration for the name of this website. ย  ย Please let me know either by comment or by email if there are lyricsย that speak to you.

15 to 20 % of us are Highly Sensitive People (HSPs).ย  We are a valuable and essential resource to our planet!ย  Overcoming self-doubt and finding our voice IS our true purpose in life.ย  Find the courage to trust that those gifts you were given are meant to be expressed and will be helpful to others by inspiring them to find their gifts as well.ย The desires deep in your heart are the path to finding your true purpose in life.ย ย You canย overcome your self-doubt!ย You are sensitive for a reason!

Thank you to my readers.ย  Iย have been getting emailsย and it’s great to knowย that I am reaching you and that what I am doing is helping.

With love, Roxanne