|
Highly Sensitive Personality
and Creativity
by Lisa A. Riley,
LMFT
 Throughout
my practice, I have encountered a connection between highly sensitive
people and their own creative impulses. This characteristic does
not discriminate between painter, actor, or musician—they
all appear to have one thing in common: they experience the world
differently than the average individual. Creatives often feel and
perceive more intensely, dramatically, and with a wildly vivid color
palate to draw from, which can only be described as looking at the
world through a much larger lens. Without a substantial filtration
system firmly in place to screen out most of the busy noise, these
people tend to receive a far greater amount of stimuli directly
into their psyches. As a result, they frequently become more attuned
to subtle details in their environment, to the people they deal
with, and especially to their own internal process.
Creatives might find themselves more easily overwhelmed, and often
live chaotic lives, affecting not only personal relationships, but
also their own productivity. Over-stimulation can sometimes manifest
further into anxiety or depression, bogging down their ability to
cope with every day stressors or life’s challenges.
Pearl Buck, an American novelist living in China, and who received
a Noble and a Pulitzer, best describes the highly sensitive person
by saying, “The truly creative mind in any field is no more
than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive.
To them...a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is
a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is
a god, and failure is death.”
According to psychologist Dr.
Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive
When the World Overwhelms You, 20% of the population has this innate
quality. I would even take that figure one step further and suggest
that a large percentage of highly sensitive people would fall into
the category of creative minds.
Although this is something many artists report struggling with,
I don’t believe a high sensitivity to the world should necessarily
be viewed in a negative light, but rather as a divine gift. For
without this quality, their art, script, music or performance might
lack a necessary element capable of touching an audience deeply.
This might then bring up an important question: Do people create
in an attempt to process, and survive, a condition that overwhelms
them?
Pearl Buck also mentions, “Add to this cruelly delicate organism
the overpowering necessity to create, create, create—so that
without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or
something of meaning, their very breath is cut off...They must create,
must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency
they are not really alive unless they are creating.”
Along with the process of creating, there is perhaps the opportunity
to exorcise out the thing that has accumulated and taken hold internally.
Once externalized, a highly sensitive person can finally make sense
of the chaos, opening space toward escaping the overwhelming world
they battle every day.
The work I do with clients is primarily focused on mapping out,
and gaining, a deeper understanding of how an individual process
the world. Together we develop a plan towards building coping mechanisms
required to better maintain a healthy equilibrium. The key is to
embrace this sensitivity with compassion and free from judgment
of any kind. By then reframing it as a gift, rather than as an obstacle,
people immediately grant themselves permission to be who they are
freely and without encumbrances.
Putting together a “survival list,” so to speak, consisting
of ways to channel overwhelming sensitivity can often serve as a
means to cope. Serving as something like a first-aid kit for the
highly sensitive person, the survival list can consist of your choice
of art. That might include long walks, yoga, spending time quietly
alone or with a friend, journal writing, or maybe even meditation.
When the creative person has something to fall back on, this can
empower him/ or her in better managing high sensitivity as oppose
to feeling debilitated by it. Rather, they productively move forward
and continue to focus their efforts into achieving the healthiest
and most balanced life possible.
Resources:
HighlySensitive.org
The
Highly Sensitive Person
About
the Highly Sensitive Person - YouTube Video
Highly
Sensitive Souls - Jenna Avery
Also published on ezinearticles.com
|
