I believe that being sensitive equips us to lead. Sensitivity, by definition, involves a greater than normal ability to feel or notice or think about what others do not. Do you see that whether you’re highly sensitive – embodying a range and depth of sensitivities, or sensitive in a single area, you sway at the top of a mast, seeing what others miss? Do you see the powerful gift in that?
We don’t have time to wait for Western society to embrace sensitivity as a gift and thus make our lives easier. Instead, let’s stage a quiet revolution, a revolution that begins with self-acceptance and curiosity. Our unleashed curiosity contains the power to challenge the status quo.
Lead by asking questions. Lead from your sensitivity. Ask yourself. Ask others. Ask to unfetter and expand. Ask with love. Inspire. Be a beacon, not a spear.
What is the gift at the centre of your sensitivity? Ask yourself until you know. Polish what you find. Be weird. Be valuable. Step into a spotlight. Share.
“Curious people count. Not because there are a lot of them, but because they’re the ones who talk to people who are in a stupor. They’re the ones who lead the masses in the middle who are stuck. The masses in the middle have brainwashed themselves into thinking it’s safe to do nothing, which the curious can’t abide.”
~ Seth Godin, in Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
Flickr photo: Duel Beam, by mandj98.
Related reading: The High Demand for Sensitivity, The Power of Curiosity.
3 Comments
Exactly. Exactly!
Look people in the eye. Ask them a leading question. Listen. Then smile and listen some more.
Amazing results!
It’s so refreshing and inspiring to read a boldly positive article about sensitivity!
Thanks!
Thank you both. I spend a lot of time thinking about all the sensitive and highly sensitive people alone in the dim light of their homes, without enough powerful role models and encouragement to transform what makes them hurt into what is special and valuable. I want all of them – all of you, if you’re reading – to be your own source of price, your own role model, even while taking sustenance from others who are where you want to be.
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