Social Media for Sensitives
Most of the people I work with are sensitive Souls. Sensitives (also known as HSP’s-‘Highly Sensitive People’ or ‘Empaths’) are gifted with a highly developed emotional system that makes them powerfully intuitive, altruistic and deeply compassionate. For Sensitives the ability to “walk around in another’s shoes” is not a challenging task; it is their natural defaulted state. The challenge for Sensitives is to take off the metaphorical shoes of others so they can find their own shoes.
Sensitives are emotional chameleons. They have an incredible ability to ‘read’ people and the room, while “matching” the energetic and emotional scene around them. Their porous natures (which can be seen in the permeability of the aura) ‘sponge up’ the energy that surrounds them. This sensitivity is extremely helpful for many careers like sales, teaching, public relations or counseling, but also brings challenges. Sensitives often have trouble maintaining boundaries in relationships; they become disconnected from their own feelings and struggle with identity issues.
Sensitives have heightened nervous systems (which are more reactive to smell, sound, light, and stress) which often leads to being overwhelmed and burned-out. Adrenal fatigue, headaches, fibromyalgia, and hypothyroidism are all common medical ailments for sensitives, as well as the psychological challenges of social anxiety, panic attacks, codependency, and depression.
Self-awareness and self-care are crucial for Sensitives to live balanced lives and avoid burnout. One of the most common ways Sensitives “lose their reality” on a daily basis is through social media. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter in particular are a Russian roulette of energetic bombardment for those who consciously feel energy.
Just as Sensitives are susceptible to losing their reality in a room full of people, they can also be drained through engagement with people’s energies online. Everyone and everything is energy. We are always emitting a signal while engaging, interacting and navigating the other energies around us. A common issue I see with clients is when an ‘ex’ boyfriend or girlfriend gets back into their lives energetically through social media. Even if you haven’t been “speaking” to that ex-boyfriend in five years, you may be “speaking” to him right now on an energy level (through an energy cord or through spirit-to-spirit communication). If you “facebook stalk” an ex, you reinforce the energy cord attachment and the karma between the two of you. (The energy cords also explain why, maddeningly, that toxic ex knows to reach out and text, the exact moment you finally begin to move on past the relationship). If you are a Sensitive, it is crucial to begin to understand energetics and become less reactive and more energetically responsible.
Personally, I am extremely energetically sensitive. I have spent years researching, practicing and learning about Sensitives and energy. And although I have even written a whole book on energetic hygiene, I still need to practice what I preach or I become overwhelmed and get physically sick.
Five minutes after waking this morning, while scrolling down my Facebook feed, I had already seen a starving polar bear due to global warming, an announcement that a friend had cancer and several political disagreements. While social media is amazing for keeping us connected and informed, it can also be incredibly energetically overwhelming.
Just as we are discerning about what food we put into our bodies, it is important to be aware of what images and energies we expose ourselves to.
Often when my clients discover they are empaths and put together the toll it has taken on their lives, the impulse is to completely turn off their intuition. But being sensitive is an incredible gift and part of your nature. Your sensitivity allows you to tell who is safe and dangerous, what opportunities are calling to your Soul and how to be of real service to the other people around you.
So if you discover you have a sponge nature, the next step is learning how to wring out! Here are some guidelines.
Social Media for Sensitives
- PREVENT- Take preventative measures to feel good. Have touchstones at your workstation which help you ground and feel powerful. Plants, stones, sand (like a desk zen garden) and water (little fountains, or a bowl with floating candles) are wonderful ways to increase mindfulness and stay centered. (It also helps to set strong energetic intentions and anchor some of these physical objects.) Regular Sage or Palo Santo smudgings help energetically clean your work station. You can also energetically set the intention of what you will allow to “touch you” by using a mantra or intention (Today my computer connects me to uplifting energies and ways that I can be of Service.)
- INQUIRE- Get real. Ask yourself–Are there specific sites/people/places on the internet that you visit which make you feel bad/slimed? Journal about why you continue to visit these places. Maybe it’s time to make a change and create new social media ‘default’ habits.
- DISCERN- IF IT DOESN’T FEEL GOOD–It’s Not. Use your feelings as a guide to protect yourself. If your friend from kindergarten friend’s political rantings are bumming you out, block her so you won’t see her updates. Turn down the drama so you can turn up your own reality. If the self-help guru is making you feel stressed, maybe that is information from your Soul to look away.
- CHECK IN- You may want to directly ask yourself if you are ‘losing your reality’. Do you feel spacey, are you holding your breath or mindlessly clicking without any Presence? Are you comparing your life to other’s you see on your Facebook feed? If yes, you may be merging into their energy. (Some of my clients set timers on their computer so they can check in every few hours with their energy.)
- TURN IT OFF- Frequent breaks are necessary for sensitives to find themselves again. Taking several days or a week off social media is good to help find your center again. If you absolutely can’t avoid the internet, implement frequent mini-breaks. Stand up and stretch, go to the bathroom, breathe and come back to yourSelf. (For empaths the bathroom is often the only place at work with four walls around you, to take a private moment on your own to check in and reconnect.)
- CLEAR OUT- Another way to avoid overwhelm is to clean out the energy build-up. Energetic tools give your body a break; try my free meditations (like: ‘center’, ‘ground’ and ‘Safe Place’) to practice energetic separations and ‘dump’ excess energy. This energetic hygiene helps you become conscious of what energy stuff is ‘yours’ and what you may just be carrying around for someone else.
Remember energy is real; just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it ain’t there. You are potentially adding, feeding or cutting energy cords, engaging in spirit-to-spirit communication and establishing energetic tribal contracts through your social media use. You do not need to be fearful, but it is good to be aware. If you are energetically sensitive, ask yourself is this how I want to spend my life? You deserve to be happy, free and empowered.
