7 Habits That Make Highly Sensitive People Happy!
Habits can make you happy. While we tend to associate routine with deadly boredom, the power of habits can actually make us happy. If you structure your day so that everything runs to your satisfaction, you’ll start out with fewer things to worry about.
Highly sensitive people are no exception – in fact, they need more time to themselves to recover from the flood of information that comes pouring in unbidden every day. In this article, we introduce you to seven habits that will contribute to your daily happiness as a highly sensitive person.
1. Checking your own personal environmental impact.
Don't worry, we're not talking about your carbon footprint or your ecological habits. What we’re talking about is your direct social environment, that is the people you interact with on a daily basis, your private and professional environment and all the situations you are exposed to.
We can't always choose these areas, so it is especially important to check them regularly. Highly sensitive people suffer from certain inconsistencies much more than other people. If, for example, the climate at work is toxic or at least demonstrates unhealthy tendencies, highly sensitive people notice immediately and have a hard time withstanding it.
Disputes among colleagues, neighbors or family members also cause them a lot of trouble. Suffering silently is not a permanent solution. So, if you find that your level of suffering is above average, even by your standards, then you should give your own personal environmental impact an audit.
Try to find ways to solve these additional challenges for yourself personally. You can't always burn all your bridges just because personal circumstances call for it. But neither should you hold out longer than absolutely necessary. After all, we only have one set of nerves and one opportunity to stay healthy.
2. Exercise as a daily secret weapon.
It doesn't always have to be the recommended 10,000 steps per day. A session of yoga or a leisurely stroll to the store on foot can go a long way toward improving our well-being. Once you have recognized how much strength and good energy a little excursion into nature can provide, you will gladly cultivate this ritual every day.
Sunlight and oxygen in combination with moderate, stress-free exercise are an unbeatable team when it comes to mental and physical balance. If you're lucky enough to live near a forest or body of water, you can add extra points to your daily wellness regimen. Walking along running water, for example, has an immediate relaxing effect. We can literally feel inner turmoil being washed away with the water.
3. Keep a diary or journal.
Writing as a form of therapy has a long tradition. However, there is still far too little known about the positive effects making daily notes can have on our well being. It doesn't matter whether one goes on an epic rampage or simply jots down little nuggets of thought, tweet-style.
The important thing is to write by hand. Typing on a PC or laptop doesn't have nearly the same effect on our brains and well-being as writing by hand. In fact, there is a kind of direct connection here between the written word and our psyche.
We remember hand-written information better, too. But the reverse also works remarkably well, surprisingly. Putting negative experiences, thoughts and feelings down on paper can feel like a purging, like a therapeutic conversation. These notes are already half processed at the moment they are written down.
If you simply want to keep your soul in balance and your life in contentment every day, keep a gratitude diary. This has been recommended by numerous highly paid coaches and success gurus as the instrument of choice for attaining one’s personal best. What’s more, spending money on it isn’t even necessary and that’s for priceless results.
Most effective are morning and evening entries that summarize the good experiences and the good things in life for which one is especially grateful. In this way, we start the day with good vibrations in the morning, and in the evening we go to bed satisfied and positively strengthened.
4. Midday nap, power napping and good sleep routine.
Speaking of bedtime, highly sensitive people use sleep as one of their most effective recovery tools. Sleep is the best medicine, relaxation therapy, and stress management strategy you can imagine. It costs absolutely nothing, except perhaps a little time.
If you have some spare time and the opportunity, you should definitely reintroduce the good old-fashioned nap. Half an hour is quite enough to fully recharge your energy reserves in the middle of the day. Modern power napping, on the other hand, promises the same effect after just 15 minutes of gentle dozing. We should also allow ourselves between seven and eight hours of sleep per night on a regular basis.
Sleep can neither be made up for nor prophylactically stockpiled. Sleep deprivation causes damage to body and mind that is irreparable. And, of course, as with any remedy, you can overdo it with nighttime rest. Too much is at least as harmful in the long run as too little.
The secret here lies not only in the amount per day, but above all in consistency. Training yourself to have a sleep rhythm that becomes your inner clockwork keeps your body, mind and soul in perfect harmony.
5. Water!
All people, not just highly sensitive people, benefit from water. Our bodies dehydrate overnight, which is why we should start with one or two glasses in the morning.
Over the course of the day, we should get close to the recommended two liters, although opinions are now divided on this guideline. But what is good for the inside is also good for the outside.
A relaxing bath or a wonderfully refreshing shower can also provide balance in no time. The timeless teachings of Sebastian Kneipp have much to teach us still. His cold water therapy is still sold as the holy grail in many luxurious wellness facilities.
A simple faucet and shower, however, are all you need to get your circulation going in the morning.
6. Quality time alone is a must.
Most highly sensitive people know it already, but it should be emphasized again here: time alone is essential to recover from the stress of dealing with other people. This doesn't sound very social, but highly sensitive people don't just have conversations. They operate simultaneously on many different frequencies and not only hear and see the obvious, but also clearly perceive feelings and moods.
Time alone, however, has more to offer than just a recreational effect. Those who can regularly fill up on a healthy amount of "me time" subsequently become more receptive to the concerns of their fellow human beings. A little solitude strengthens our empathy and understanding for others.
7. Regular boundary checks.
No less important than time alone is staking out personal boundaries for highly sensitive people. They are particularly sensitive to violations of their privacy and do not tolerate them. Any incursions prompt an immediate veto.
Today’s Conclusion
Happy is he who does not forget himself. Highly sensitive people are extremely sensitive to audiovisual stimuli and even perceive voices that other people miss. For them, it is therefore doubly important to find a strategy to get through their daily lives in the best possible way. Otherwise, if you don't conserve and protect your own resources, you'll soon run out.