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What Does it Mean to be Sensitive?
People often use the word 'Sensitivity' in totally different ways. Some use it to mean 'neurotic', as in 'You are so sensitive!', meaning, you get upset too easily, or simply because you don't like what they are doing.
In the Cambridge online dictionary there are the following definitions for the word:
1) an ability to understand what other people need, and be helpful and kind to them: The police showed commendable sensitivity in their handling of the case.
2) the quality of being easily upset by the things people say or do, or causing people to be upset, embarrassed, or angry: I should have warned you about her sensitivity to criticism.
3) the fact of a situation, subject, etc. needing to be dealt with carefully in order to avoid upsetting people: Such is the sensitivity of the information that only two people are allowed to know it.
I want to bring our attention to the positive aspects of sensitivity, what is contained in the first defintion and more. More, because while the dictionary relates sensitivity to people, we can use the exact same definitions in relation to objects too. We can be easily upset or disturbed by loud noises, smells, horriblle environments, or simply be able to perceive these.
So my point is, that for the first the kind of sensitivity, the ability to understand what other people need, comes from our ability to perceive what is going on for them. So this means that sensitivity is in fact an ability to perceive things that are perhaps not normally perceived, or are ignored. It means that we are allowing the information from our surroundings, (both from other people and objects) to enter our system. We are not blocking it out. We let it in. This is the first step.
So what's the difference between the neurotic, negative kind of sensitivity, or the first or positive kind? Both need to be able to perceive something in their environment, so they are both open to this information. The main difference as I see it is that the second type finds the stimulus too much, they react to it emotionally, or are overwhelmed by it, while the first type is able to withstand the perceptions. So to be really sensitive we in fact need to increase ones ability to stay still, to withstand things. Which will make us appear less neurotic, yet we will be able to perceive much more.
