Highly sensitive people are empathic, open, spiritually attuned and uniquely equipped to serve their communities with higher vision. But we often keep ourselves small, struggle with craving approval, people-pleasing and setting healthy boundaries.
Of course, seeking approval is not limited to highly sensitive people. Approval-seeking can come as a result of social conditioning, especially being brought up a certain way (you have to be a good girl!), or low self-esteem as a result of trauma.
As highly sensitive people and advanced souls we are not immune to adverse childhood experiences and trauma. In fact, our life paths often are extremely challenging. From my perspective, this is part of the journey of an advanced and sensitive soul. Adversity is our way to alchemize our gifts and embody the meaning of true power.
True, it often doesn't seem this way at all!
In this episode of All About Soul, I welcome Todd Smith, creator of the popular podcast Stress Management for Highly Sensitive People.
One of the things that came through in our conversation with Todd, is how people-pleasing and approval seeking behaviors actually keep us away from our power. We dim our light when we try to conform to the expectations of others.
We are often put into frameworks and templates that others have created for us.
Be nice, be a good girl, do everything right, and good things will happen for you. Paint a picture of your ideal client — and then try to cater to their pain points and expectations. Paint a picture of your perfect soulmate and turn yourself into someone they want to be with.
All of this may serve a purpose at certain times, but it places the center of gravity outside of ourselves. We, our magic, our purpose, our mission — become just a meteor in someone else's orbit. This is not magnetic, in fact, it pulls our magnetism away from us. As a result, we don't attract anything.
In our conversation with Todd, we touch on another aspect of this, restoring our power through self-inquiry. By shifting the focus inward, we can begin to shine the light. To let go of the need to cater for expectations of others. To seek approval and then get frustrated over and over again.
We explore what it means to be a highly sensitive person (HSP), how to manage overwhelm, and use the parts of us that are seeking approval as a tool for self-discovery and spiritual growth.
🔑 We discuss:
- What defines a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) and
- The D.O.E.S. framework
- The hidden gifts and evolutionary role of HSP
- The connection between heightened empathy and approval-seeking—and how to say NO with power and compassion
- Inquiry-based stress management techniques, inspired by Byron Katie's work
- soul-level causes and gifts of high sensitivity
Tune in to the podcast and the beautiful energies that came through!
