Sensitivity Can Go Either Way

We’ve all known the “sensitive” person whose personal space is paved with eggshells that are just begging to be walked on. Interacting with those people can be difficult, and sometimes downright impossible, because their world is pretty much limited to themselves and their likely-to-be-hurt feelings.

Instinct and previous encounters with them have taught us not to say certain things, and definitely not to give advice because it will land on ears that are trained to translate everything into personal injury and pain. Their reactions to all communication are designed to prove them the victims and, just like Humpty Dumpty, there is usually no remedy.

Then there is the other kind of “sensitive” person, who has the ability and the desire to sense what is going on with those around them. They reach out in compassion to anyone who is in pain, and they join in celebration with those who are joyful. They try to build people up rather than play a destructive and selfish shell game of “who-hurt-me-last.”

It seems to me that the end result, and the truth of these two approaches, is that the “sensitive” person whose feelings are always hurt, and whose energies are spent seeking only his or her own happiness, never really gets there.

Interestingly, the “sensitive” person who, instead, notices and looks after the well-being of others, sometimes even at his or her own expense, is generally pretty happy.