“Highly Sensitive” is the Superpower of Attunement

If you’re a Highly Sensitive Person who sometimes bristles at the label, this reframe will help you see your sensitivity as a superpower.

What’s a Highly Sensitive Person?

The term “Highly Sensitive Person” (HSP) is used to describe someone who has a heightened sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli.

HSPs are often overwhelmed by strong odors, bright lights, coarse fabrics, and other sensory stimuli.

They are sensitive to the energy of their environment and to other peoples’ moods — often able to read a room and discern someone’s mood within moments of contact.

HSPs can also feel physical pain more acutely.

They might be extraverted, but they will likely need downtime to recharge after social interactions or a busy day.

They might often come across in a way others would describe as “emotional.”

HSPs are often empathic, perceptive, and masters of discerning the implicit. They are able to hear what isn’t said, see what isn’t overtly visible, and read the subtext beneath the text.

None of this is “bad” or “wrong.” In fact, I would argue that these are gifts.

The Negative Connotation of “Sensitive”

Our culture conditions us to infer a negative connotation to the word “sensitive.” We’ve come to associate the word with someone crying in the corner or taking offense too easily.

When someone calls us “sensitive” it’s usually in a tone that implies its a flaw in our being.

What It Really Means to Be “Sensitive”

It’s worth noting that the word “sensitive” comes from the word “sense” — as in the organs that facilitate our senses.

To be sensitive is merely to be skilled in using your senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touch.

If this is a flaw, what’s the fix?

Would it be better to be ignorant of what others are feeling?
Would we prefer not to see past filters and masks?
Would we be better off if we couldn’t read between the lines or hear what isn’t being said?

When we understand what it really means to be “sensitive” we can see that it is more than a gift — it’s a superpower.

Reframing Sensitive: The Superpower of Attunement

Perhaps understanding the meaning of “sensitive” is enough for your to claim it as a superpower.

If it still feels icky, I get it. That’s why I like to think of it as the superpower of attunement.

To be attuned is to be tuned-in to your environment, the people in the space, and their emotions. If you are attuned, you are connected; you’re paying attention. Your powers of perception, of seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and feeling are locked in.

Think of an instrument that must be tuned for its notes to play on pitch.

Before an orchestra plays, the musicians tune their instruments together. This helps the instruments resonate together.

To be highly attuned is to be able to hear what isn’t spoken aloud, to see what is not explicitly visible, to perceive emotions that others mask. To be attuned is to have access to information that others miss.

This is a not a flaw in your being — it’s a superpower.