Why Your Emotional Intensity and Sensitivity is a Gift

Ever wonder why you're sensitive and why you cry so easily? It's because you have a gift, my friend.

Society likes to make us think that if we're sensitive or have intense emotions that maybe something's wrong with us. That we should tone it down.

But truly, just because they are unable to feel emotions as intensely as we do is actually proof that we are much more talented in this area than they are.

I can hear you asking me now: "Talented?"

I know, if you were to tell me my intense mood swings (I live with Bipolar 1) were a "talent" several years ago, before I got the hang of using them to my benefit, I would have rolled my eyes. But take it from me: The intense highs and lows of bipolar, especially during mania with rapid cycling, used to feel like something I had no control over. It was painful to never know how I'd wake up feeling from one day to the next.

But I think part of the reason it was so painful and difficult is merely due to the fact that I had picked up the belief that my intense emotions are "bad." That I was wrong for having them. That I needed to push them aside, act like I was fine and just move on.

Meanwhile, as you know, there is no moving on. Those intense emotions are there whether you face them or not. You can avoid them with work, relationships, substances, food, or anything else that makes you feel like you're better but really only masks how you're feeling as it all bottles up inside until it reaches a breaking point.

Ever been there? Pushed a feeling aside so long until it forced you to feel it? For me that's when a panic attack would strike, or complete despair and suicidal ideation would take over.

What if instead you were taught from an early age that your intense emotions are in fact a good thing? That they are a talent, a gift? How different do you think your life would be?

You likely wouldn't waste time avoiding emotions or pushing them down. You'd work with them like the super power they are.

Here's why they are a gift. They help you:

Love more deeply
Enjoy a movie more than anyone in the theater
Gain greater clarity on your passions
Have more compassion for others
Gain deeper understandings and insights most people miss
Care passionately about the world and others

While your intense emotions, especially the lower ones, may not always seems beneficial, here's a free tool I use to help me not only view them that way but also to work WITH them instead of feeling like I'm at the mercy of them.

Learn more in my bestselling book, Super Intense.

Liked this? Pin it and share with others, you wonderfully emotionally human you!

If you'd like to try a new style of meditation, check out my podcast, Incandescent, where I share a new affirmation meditation every Tuesday through Thursday to serve as an emotional pick-me-up!