Mis-quote

“Sensitive people are the most genuine and honest people you will ever meet. There is nothing they won’t tell you about themselves if they trust your kindness. However, the moment you betray them, reject them or devalue them, they will end the friendship. They live with guilt and constant pain over unresolved situations and misunderstandings. They are tortured souls that are not able to live with hatred or being hated. This type of person needs the most love anyone can give them because their soul has been constantly bruised by others. However, despite the tragedy of what they have to go through in life, they remain the most compassionate people worth knowing and the ones that often become activists for the broken-hearted, forgotten and the misunderstood. They are angels with broken wings that only fly when loved.
~ Shannon L. Alder

I read the above quote recently just after having my heart broken by the person I loved and trusted the most. This would've been the perfect 'I resonate with this' quote - except it's not. Yes, it is hard being super sensitive. Yes, we pick up on pain way more than most. Yes, we will stand up for the broken-hearted, forgotten and misunderstood because we can empathize at a very deep level with what they're going through.  And yes, we need a lot of love due to feeling pain so deeply. But, if you really look at what this quote is saying, it describes us as victims and having the necessity to look outside of ourselves for our needs - and that leads to a very unhappy and painful life.

I agree that the sensitives I know, myself most definitely included, are genuine and will share our feelings if we feel there's a level of trust. Speaking for myself - if you betray that trust, it's hard to nearly impossible to regain my trust again. This is one of my lessons - learn how to forgive people and be compassionate to them and myself throughout the process. Let go of "their hold" on me - so to speak as it's not really them persecuting me, it's my own thoughts, beliefs and feelings on the matter. But, I guess it doesn't hurt to keep in mind: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. 

A few years ago, I would've completely agreed with the tortured souls part and constantly being bruised by others. In fact, it's how I saw myself. But, I get it now that life happens. Our emotions are our reactions to our perspective of the situation at hand. There is nothing wrong with feeling how we feel - dwelling in it and letting it consume us is another story. I'm still learning how to acknowledge, accept and integrate how I'm feeling - especially with an ego that seems addicted to drama and keeping me in despair.  I have been hurt and deeply and I often wonder why things keep happening to me. I would wager that I'm not alone in that. But, I believe our Soul is never bruised. Our heart, yes - not our Soul.

The part about us needing the most love anyone can give us - sets us up to crash and burn as it leaves us relying on others for our love. Yes, we do thrive on love and we prefer to feel good feelings off other people - doesn't everyone at some level? What we need to understand is that love must come from inside us. We must connect to that part of ourselves where unconditional love resides. As humans we're so busy looking for love - but it's always the conditional kind and that can and does end. Agape Love - or God Love - never ends, is always present and just is LOVE no matter what you do or who you are. That is TRUE LOVE. That is the kind of love I've set my sights on.

I have no doubt what Shannon wrote is true for her in the moment. I can identify with a lot of what she said. If you know someone who is highly sensitive - be compassionate with them. Telling them they're just being oversensitive doesn't help. They know they're oversensitive - there's nothing wrong with that as that's how God sent them into the world. Sensitive people are wonderful mirrors for how we show up in this world. If anything, learn from them. As a super sensitive - I choose to be the Angel who flies no matter what. I will not let my wounds keep me down nor rely on others to lift me up. This is my motivation for healing and moving through one of the biggest and most painful sucker punches life has dealt me.

Love, Adrienne :)