permission to attune
Have you ever felt ashamed, embarrassed, or guilty for being “too sensitive”? The very sequence of words conveys that sensitivity and emotional expression are to be managed and constrained to someone else’s definition of tolerable or comfortable rather than encouraged, embraced or celebrated.
More often than not, when people attempt to thwart your emotional experiences, they are really just projecting onto you the ways in which they stifle and don’t allow for their own emotional connection.
Be responsible for your behaviors and reactions to emotions, but never deny, diminish or disconnect from your emotions for any reason—least of all as a result of shame from someone else.
Sensitivity is a powerful gift and capacity. It is how we understand ourselves and each other; how we engage in empathy, share and experience with one another; and how we connect meaningfully with ourselves, with those we love, and with life at large.
When we shift our cultural assumptions about the value and validity of our human emotions, we begin to regard emotional intelligence with the same respect we have for other aptitudes. You rarely hear people pejoratively place “too” in front of qualities such as: too intelligent, too creative, too competent, too diligent, too respectful, too sincere… It’s time we recognize emotional attunement with the same reverence.
Dearest You,
Being sensitive is never a type of pathology.
Love,
Me
