learn coping strategies for Highly Sensitive People (HSP)

List all the beliefs that you suspect are untrue for you or that may be making your daily life more difficult. Which false beliefs have you internalized that you wish to discard? Make a list of new beliefs that you would like to internalize.
(from The Highly Sensitive Person’s Companion by Ted Zeff, Ph.D.)

Yesterday I was thinking about how much the neighbors making noises bothered me and why it bothered me so much…so I started searching for books on Amazon.com. I found “The Highly Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide, Essential Skills for Living Well in a Overstimulating World” by Ted Zeff, PH.D. I ran to the bookstore and bought it last night. Guess what the first paragraph of the Preface is?! “I wish those neighbors would turn down their music. It’s driving me crazy. I can’t stand it anymore.” This book is so me!

What is a HSP?
Approximately 15 to 20 percent of the population have trouble screening out stimuli and can be easily overwhelmed by noise, crowds, and time pressure. The HSPs tends to be very sensitive to pain, the effects of caffeine, and violent movies. HSP are also made extremely uncomfortable by bright lights, strong smells, and changes in their lives. HSPs are adversely affected by our fast-paced and aggressive modern industrialized society. You can easily become exhausted, perpetually overstimulated by everything from the proliferation of violence in the media to the cacophony of loud urban noises. Since HSPs are a minority of the population, you may internalize the mores of our non-HSP society. Unfortunately, when you try to fit into an overstimluating, out-of-balance world, your physical, emotional and spiritual health suffers.
~from The Highly Sensitive Person’s Survival Guide

That sure does explain alot for me. I think that’s why I have Myofascial Pain Syndrome and why I’m so sensitive to certain sounds/noises. It all has to do with my nervous system.

I must read this book and fast!!