THE ONE THING MOST HSPS DON'T KNOW ABOUT BUT DESPERATELY NEED

By Brooke Nielsen, LMFT

Can you guess THE most common challenge of being an HSP?
 
Here are some clues (quotes from our HSP community)...

• "I can take over the feelings of other people just by sitting next to them."
• "It can be painful to care so much about all living things."
• "The thing I find hardest is absorbing the emotions of people around me."
• "The hardest part is having to process SO much throughout the day - not only my many emotions, but sometimes the emotions/energy of the people around me."

 
All of these struggles come from energetic boundary issues.

Have you heard of energetic boundaries?
 
I hadn't until a few years ago, but understanding this concept has changed my life!
 
Let me paint you a picture of my life before I healed my energetic boundaries:

• I constantly tuned into the emotional states of those around me so I could adjust how I showed up
• I soaked up others' energy like a sponge
• I was often confused about whether my feelings were mine or someone else’s
• I was exhausted from carrying and feeling so much emotion

 
I felt all of this pain because my energetic boundaries were compromised.
 
So what are energetic boundaries?
 
Cyndi Dale, author of the book Energetic Boundaries says, “Our energetic boundaries border our spiritual selves and promote our true nature...When created and managed correctly, they make sure that our real selves- not the ideas, thoughts, and beliefs that aren’t us- are in charge of our lives.
 
And they share information with the world, telling everyone exactly who we are, what we want, and how they can treat you...Quite simply, without boundaries, we can’t share who we are with the world.”
 
In other words, energetic boundaries are like energetic/spiritual skin.
 
Just like our physical skin protects us from absorbing every pollutant in our environment, healthy energetic boundaries keep us from absorbing all the energetic "stuff" in our environment.
 
Energetic boundaries protect us by keeping in the energy that supports us and letting out what doesn’t.
 
They also draw to us things that we need like guidance, relationships, life lessons, and healing. 

Many of us either didn’t develop healthy energetic boundaries or had ours damaged due to things like dysfunctional family dynamics or traumatic life experiences.
 
If you're wondering whether you have compromised energetic boundaries, here are some common symptoms:

• Feeling overwhelmed by others’ feelings, moods, and needs
• People pleasing, even when it’s harmful to you
• Out-of-the-blue, intense attacks of negativity
• Anger, frustration and exhaustion from carrying everyone else’s “stuff”
• Recurring struggles with work, relationships, and/or money
• Heaviness and physical ailments from absorbing outside energies
• Generalized anxiety and a sense of needing to be vigilant all the time

 
If you experience these symptoms, there’s nothing wrong with you! It just means you’re an HSP and have been through some hard stuff, like me.
 
In the next couple months, I’ll teach you more about this topic: what happens to your energetic boundaries when they’re damaged, why healing them means more energy and freedom for you, and tips for strengthening your energetic boundaries.