3 questions to ask yourself as a highly sensitive person (HSP)

Life as a highly sensitive person (HSP) is not easy breezy most of the time, especially at times when it feels like the world is just crumbling down piece by piece and there’s so much chaos and suffering. During challenging times, it’s even more important than ever that we, as HSPs, take care of ourselves and our sensitive nervous systems.

One practice to support our wellbeing I like to call “3 questions”. It’s pretty simple: ask yourself these 3 questions every day. Make a habit out of it – you can do it in the morning when you drink your morning tea or coffee, when you brush or teeth or when in the shower. Or maybe when you first open your eyes in bed. You can journal these down in a notebook, or just think them through.

If your mornings are definitely NOT the time to be doing any kind of thinking, you can do this also in the evening - you’ll still get the benefits!

Here are the 3 questions I want to offer you:

1) What do I need today to feel connected?

Ask yourself what you need right now to feel connected – connected mainly to yourself, but also others.

What could you do to feel more connection to yourself – this could look very different for everyone, it could be taking 5 minutes to sit down in silence and closing your eyes, drinking your coffee outside so you can connect with nature, taking a walk in the forest, doing some gentle yin yoga to strengthen your body-mind connection, calling your mom, practising a round of breathing exercises, sending a message to your friend, volunteering or donating to a cause you care about. Anything that makes you feel more connected.

(If you are asking the questions in the evening, ask about the following day)

2) What energy belongs to me and what do I need to let go of?

Especially as HSPs, we take in other people’s stuff, feelings and emotions like sponges. Sometimes we feel drained and overwhelmed because we have taken on things from others that don’t actually belong to us.

Ask yourself what might have happened during your day or the previous day or week that is causing you unease and feels like a weight on your shoulder.

Maybe it is something that you read somewhere or something somebody said that you cannot let go of. Just gently ask yourself what it might be – when you notice it and can separate it, it might be easier to let go of.

You can also visualise clearing the energy and letting it go as a ball of light or a colour or something if that helps you in the process.

3) What do I feel right now?

Just take a moment to connect with yourself by asking what exactly is going on with you. Not thinking about what anyone else around you needs, but what you are feeling. Maybe it’s sadness, frustration, anger, joy, excitement… whatever comes up, just allow it to be. Sit with it. Don’t push it aside or judge it or analyse it in anyway.

Accept all feelings and emotions that come up and observe them and see what they might be there to show you or signal you. You can also observe where in your body you’re feeling them, if they have a colour, consistency or a shape.

As HSPs, we tend to be drowning in our emotions and just feeling everything at once, so sometimes it helps to label our emotions to be able to process them and allow them to flow through us more.

That’s it, 3 simple questions. Try to integrate asking these to your daily routines and habits - consistency is key for noticing the grounding and calming results of this practice.