HSP, Heal Thyself: Energy Medicine Tools for Coping with the World’s Pain
Highly Sensitive People feel the pain of the world. There is so much that is painful and traumatic going on in our world today, so it is a critical time for us to find strategies which support us in our ongoing process of maintaining a compassionate, empathic stance about world events while also taking care of ourselves. In my work with HSP’s who are parents, teens and children, I often focus on teaching tools from energy medicine as a way to cope with painful events and dynamics outside of ourselves. Adding energy medicine tools into the mix of other self-care strategies supports HSP’s in feeling grounded and centered in the midst of the world’s chaos. This is because energy follows our thoughts and intentions. That statement may seem simplistic on the surface, but it is a very deep, and at times challenging practice to really attune to our energy and cultivate our own wholeness and integrity. When we are able to consciously, consistently direct our energy with integrity, it naturally promotes healing in the world around us. It may seem counter-intuitive, but focusing on our own healing is often the most powerful way we may respond to the pain in the world.
When we practice a step-by-step process to filter overwhelming information and direct our personal energy, we often feel more empowered to act according to our values. Below is a summary of the steps I typically suggest to my clients when they are feeling a sense of overwhelm or emotional reactivity to world events. If you are a parent you may also teach these techniques to your sensitive children.
1. Ground your energy. You may use visualization to support this process, imagining some connection between your tailbone and the center of the earth. Some people use nature imagery such as a waterfall or a tree root. Others use images such as a beam of light, a metal cable, or an anchor on a chain. If visualization isn’t comfortable for you, it is also grounding to spend time outside in nature, to order your personal space (i.e. tidying up a room), or to turn on music that is rhythmic and soothing. Grounding your energy allows other energies that do not belong to you to release into the earth, and anchors more of your life force energy in your personal space.
2. Fill your body up with your energy. Intention and visualization are the quickest ways to do this. For example, you might state the intention: “I am filling up my body and the space around my body with my life force healing energy.” Then you may visualize your body filling up with light that radiates out from your body and forms a protective bubble around you. When your space is filled with your energy, there is less room for other energies to enter into your body. This supports you in knowing how you feel and what you need. When you are not protected by your own energy, you may be reactive to a multitude of energies without fully realizing what they are, or even being aware that they are taking up so much space in your body and mind.
3. Intend to hold compassion for world events while affirming them as energetic entities outside of your personal space. Some spiritual practices encourage us to hold people/situations in our hearts, for example, there is a Buddhist exercise which encourages breathing in the suffering of the world and breathing out compassion for the world. In my experience, drawing the suffering of others into our personal space is detrimental to the health of an HSP. Many of us do this without even consciously intending to, because we care so much for others to the point where we automatically absorb their suffering. It therefore takes regular practice to cultivate the stance of being a compassionate witness vs. the stance of being a dumping ground for the world’s pain. The goal here is to stay energetically present with ourselves and avoid merging our energy with the pain of others. One way to do this is to visualize the upsetting issue as though it were on a hillside across a river from you. You are still watching, paying attention, but doing so from a distance. In doing this, you are more empowered to stay fully present. It is actually much more helpful to others when you are able to do this: think of it as the difference between throwing a float to a drowning person so they can grab it and be pulled into the boat, and diving into the water where the drowning person might be so panicked they push you under, potentially drowning you both. In the former example, you are staying safe and still offering help, but in the latter, you may need rescuing yourself after jumping in.
4. Cultivate awareness of how your personal history may interact with your emotional response to outside events. This is probably the hardest yet most rewarding step, and it requires regular practice and a lot of self-compassion. This is a gradual process of learning to pay attention to our emotions and become curious about what triggers us in certain ways. For example, as a trauma survivor, I tend to become emotionally triggered by any situation that involves violence or chaos. Additionally, as a mother I tend to become triggered if I see a child in an unsafe situation. It is therefore important for me to pay attention to how I may be triggered by scenes in the news and practice immediate coping strategies. If I slip out of the present moment into a trauma response or other emotional trigger, this magnifies my emotional response to the current event that is already upsetting in and of itself. If I don’t take time to notice that and just focus on how upsetting the outside event is, I am adding more pain energy to the outside event. If I turn inward and focus on how I may nurture and heal myself in response to my triggers, then I am better able to respond to the outside event without the extra emotional load of my past. I am able to see the outside event more clearly and make a more grounded decision about how I may want to respond.
When I was going through my initial training in Intuition Medicine® over 20 years ago, I often heard my teacher recommend that as healers we should focus on ourselves first, i.e. “Healer, heal thyself.” For so many of us HSP’s, our initial instinct when we hear of someone’s pain is to jump out of ourselves and into trying to heal the person and/or their situation. We don’t often take the time to notice our needs before rushing to aid other people, volunteer our time to an urgent cause, or send resources towards the problem at hand. Of course, there are times of crisis when it is important and necessary to act quickly. When you are able however, I encourage you to consider these steps as a regular self-care practice. When the world is such a triggering place, and you as an HSP have so much to offer towards the world’s healing, we need you to be wholly yourself, fully present, shining your light for us all to see and feel.
For additional information, check out the other resources on this page; there are numerous videos and blogs whicgh offer tools for each of these steps, including videos on grounding, energy boundaries and various coping strategies. If you feel coaching may be needed to support your child and family, I would be happy to talk with you.
Carolina is an active and proud member of the Sensitive Empowerment Community! Learn more about this wonderful group through Julie Bjelland’s website at https://www.fatfreecartpro.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=342244&c=ib&aff=383793
