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Have you ever wanted to change or be different? Do you ever find yourself comparing yourself to others or longing to make a change but feel stuck? These are some of the things we’ll address today as we talk about navigating personal change. Here’s what we’ll dive deeper into:
- Why Creating Positive Change is Important for HSPs
- What is Neuroplasticity and How Does it Relate to Positive Change?
- Why Do Highly Sensitive People Resist Change, and What are Common Barriers?
- How Can Highly Sensitive People Harness the Power of Neuroplasticity?
- How Can Highly Sensitive People Navigate Setbacks on the Path to Growth?
- How Does Neuroplasticity Impact Mental Health for Highly Sensitive People?
- How Can Highly Sensitive People Take Proactive Steps Towards Positive Change?
Why Creating Positive Change is Important for HSPs:
Why is understanding the neurobiology of change important for highly sensitive people?
Ever heard the phrase, “Knowledge is power”? There’s a reason it’s true. As you may have learned last week in the HSP Guide to Building Awareness, we can’t change anything unless we are aware of it. When you learn how your brain works and is wired to keep you from getting what you want, you can start to recognize and rewire your brain away from fear and scarcity, to abundance and ease or resilience.
The traits, characteristics, and sensitivities that you view as negative things, don’t have to be. If you recognize how your brain works and why you compare yourself to others so much, you’ll see that it’s a survival mechanism and not an intentional way of thinking.
How can embracing positive change enhance the lives of highly sensitive individuals?
Change is 100% possible and our brains are built to continually change (ever heard of this thing called evolution? Yeah, you have some control in your evolutionary process). Understanding that we are completely capable of creating positive change takes this idea of hopes and dreams and turns them into reality.
There is a level of creation AND acceptance that happen when you learn about positive change and how to create it. You find that the things you thought you wanted didn’t have the purest intention but rather, social programming, or the idea that you should be or have something different.
When you embrace your power to create positive change, and you’re willing to separate what you’ve been taught to want vs what you actually crave and desire, your entire world shifts and you can finally start making progress – and FEELING that progress and success.
What is Neuroplasticity and How Does it Relate to Positive Change?
How does neuroplasticity affect the brains of highly sensitive people?
Neuroplasticity is the neuroscientific term that explains the brain’s ability to continue learning, changing, and evolving. It’s the brain’s ability to learn new things.
As HSPs, our gift of deep processing allows us to make connections that others may simply not make. This takes our neuroplasticity to new levels because it allows us to make more connections that can help us rewire our brains to get more of what we want.
What role does neuroplasticity play in shaping behaviors and habits for HSPs?
When we look at how our internal language (aka thoughts), emotions, and actions come together to create our results/outcomes, we can also start to see where patterns come into play. Our brain is like a giant computer working to create patterned programs to make things easier for it to process. If we want a different result or outcome, we just need to create or alter a program by creating a new pattern or habit – which starts with our thoughts and how we think or perceive ourselves or a situation. This ability to create a new pattern falls into neuroplasticity.
Why Do Highly Sensitive People Resist Change, and What are Common Barriers?
What are the common fears and uncertainties that hold back HSPs from embracing change?
Fear or judgment, the uncertainty of how things will play out or how others will perceive you or your actions, and the fear of not being capable or competent when in a social situation, are all fears we as sensitive humans deal with and need to learn to navigate in order to have a more fulfilling and content life.
When we listen to the fear and uncertainty, that’s when we tend to get ourselves into trouble because those stories don’t help us feel what we need to in order to take the kind of action to create the new habits we want. Without the new habits, we can’t create the positive change we seek. But it all comes back to our thinking and how we regulate our nervous system and emotions.
How can highly sensitive individuals overcome resistance to change?
Getting familiar with your nervous system and how it reacts is the first step because this is what takes over your conscious mind and throws you into survival mode. Building awareness and learning the tools to regulate your nervous system and emotions allows you to access your conscious mind and choose differently – thus the beginning of creating a new habit/pattern/program.
How Can Highly Sensitive People Harness the Power of Neuroplasticity?
What practical strategies can HSPs use to leverage neuroplasticity for positive change?
First, understand that you have a primal or primitive brain that runs a large portion of the show that is is your life. It’s wired for things like:
- Avoid Danger
- Seek Pleasure
- Conserve Energy (do what’s easiest)
- Maintain status in a tribe in order to survive and be looked out for
When you recognize any flavor of fear, ask yourself what it is your brain is avoiding/seeking – is it afraid you’ll be shunned and cast out? Is it afraid you’ll get lost in pleasure and never stop? Is it afraid of being lazy and never finding motivation again? Is it afraid that something bad will happen?
All of those relate back to how your brain is programmed to be on the lookout for danger to keep you from dying. It just doesn’t understand that danger and dying don’t look the same as they did for our past selves living in caves with the sole purpose of surviving. Survival today looks very different than it did back then.
How can HSPs incorporate new experiences and habits to support brain growth?
New experience can be scary and challenging for many HSPs because it’s something new which means your brain is hypervigilant about potential danger. This can make leaving the house a major chore – it’s so much easier to stay wrapped up in your cozy blanket binging your favorite tv show and snacks (which I wholeheartedly believe there is a time and place for).
However, the kind of life and relationships you crave cannot be discovered, nurtured, and enjoyed at home on the couch 100% of the time. It requires us to try new things and go to new places. Allow these experiences to become adventures and opportunities to show your brain that these things won’t physically hurt or kill you. The more you do this, and learn how to allow the uncomfortable emotions that may (or may not) accompany such experiences, the stronger you will become – in both creating new habits and also in your self-trust.
How Can Highly Sensitive People Navigate Setbacks on the Path to Growth?
What are common setbacks that highly sensitive individuals may encounter on their journey of change?
The most common setbacks I see are HSPs who go out and start to experience life in new or more joyful ways and it’s fantastic and wonderful until something doesn’t go quite according to plan. It’s like getting super excited to go swimming, then stepping into the first step of water and feeling how cold the water is. The response, almost unconsciously, is to retreat due to discomfort.
Sometimes we jump from our comfort zone right into our panic zone overstepping our growth zone that allows us to be stretched. Remember, fear is common and natural, it’s just not necessarily real. It’s like a fire alarm goes off because you smell something burning – when you investigate you recognize it’s burnt toast that set off the fire alarm and not an actual fire you need to panic over.
What coping strategies can HSPs use to deal with setbacks and maintain resilience?
First, assess whether you’re in any actual physical danger. Your brain cannot always tell the difference between physical and emotional danger is just senses danger and sends the signal to panic to prevent you from dying (aka survival mode).
Second, cultivate a growth mindset vs a limited mindset. You don’t have to like the circumstances you find yourself in, but can you find something useful about them? Maybe it’s just that it was an experience and now you know. Or perhaps there’s a silver lining that you can see how it will help you grow. Or maybe there’s a lesson in it that you couldn’t have learned otherwise. The key is not to confuse an emotion you deem as negative as failure or lack of progress. This is also where Embracing Your Emotional Landscape comes into play.
How Does Neuroplasticity Impact Mental Health for Highly Sensitive People?
What is the relationship between neuroplasticity and mental health for HSPs?
Neuroplasticity is for the brain and mental health as exercise is for the physical body and health. Learning how to use your sensitivities “for good instead of evil” (or rather FOR yourself vs AGAINST yourself) will shift your world in a way that makes your life and your contribution to the world so much more powerful! You get to experience and create the kind of life you want vs life just happening to you.
How can highly sensitive individuals rewire their brains to improve mental well-being?
To be honest, the unfortunate truth is it takes effort and practice. It’s not a magic pill. Just like losing weight, it takes some time and effort on your part; however, the myth I want to help dispel is that it’s all about doing hard work.
Not all the work is hard. Some of it is easy and even delightful! Part of practicing is learning how to sit in the good positive, yummy/delicious thoughts and feelings, and practicing those things on purpose.
How Can Highly Sensitive People Take Proactive Steps Towards Positive Change?
What is the My Sensitive Self program, and how can it support HSPs in their journey of growth?
Yes, this is the part where I “sell” you on joining my program. Ugh, I don’t like it. But the reason I don’t like it is because I don’t like the idea of being sold to so I definitely don’t like the idea of selling anyone else. I don’t want someone to join my program because they think it is the only answer for them (which is what we’re taught in the online business space).
However, I do strongly believe that my program can provide some helpful perspective and help guide you to create the kind of change you desire. I know this because I see it happen with every single person that comes through. The ones who take the time to watch the videos, do the workbooks and get coached on what comes up as they do that work, their lives become more controllable, more hopeful, and more delightful. My Sensitive Self is designed to guide you through learning about yourself on the deepest level and reframing how you see yourself and your sensitivities. Head on over coachwithcam.com to learn more and see if it’s the right move for you.
Why is it important for highly sensitive individuals to take action to improve their mental health?
Learning that we as highly sensitive people don’t need to change ourselves in order to fit into the world, but rather we show the world how to fit, we take back our power and learn to radiate magic – this is what draws the right people, activities, and opportunities to us.
Our mental health, just like our physical health, can’t be ignored without consequence. When our mental health is out of wack, everything else in our life suffers – our relationships, our work, our physical health, the connection to our favorite selves. This is why it’s important to invest in your mental health (regardless of whether that’s with me or anyone else).
Wrapping It Up:
What are the key takeaways for highly sensitive people regarding positive change and neuroplasticity?
- It’s 100% possible
- It’s our responsibility AND our pleasure
- Fear doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong, it’s just a flag to examine whether it’s worth listening to.
How can HSPs access support and guidance on their journey towards a happier, healthier life?
If you recognize that you could be happier or more fulfilled, I invite you to join the My Sensitive Self program and learn how to reframe your sensitivities, embrace your drama, conquer your fears, and build your confidence.
