Highly Sensitive People are Highly Responsive People.

This month, I am part of Sensitive Evolution’s wonderful series that features articles by 15 experts in the highly sensitive space. Dr. Tracy Cooper, Jacquelyn Strickland, Ane Axford, and Esther Bergsma are some of the featured experts.

My article is about something I have been thinking about a lot lately — how the way we set boundaries as sensitive people is influenced by the fact that highly sensitive people are also “highly responsive people.”

As highly sensitive people, we are not the kind of people who can remain detached and unaffected by other people’s feelings, and the way we set boundaries also has to take that into consideration.

Sometimes (depending on the situation and the person), we can also “respond more” than other people normally would. We can give more and go out of the way to help someone.

So, as highly sensitive people, the way we approach other people is two-fold.

With some people, we have to set really strong boundaries. We have to be very discerning about who we let into our inner circle. But in some other situations, we need to do something entirely different. We have to learn to channel our deep feelings (such as anger at injustices) into more caring, not less.

Attachment, not detachment, is needed in some cases if we are to really use the depth of our feelings to create something bigger than us. On the other hand, with some people, detachment, not attachment is needed, and we have to closely monitor our tendency to be empathetic and draw highly protective boundaries.

Check out my article on boundaries for sensitive people here!

Ritu Kaushal is the author of the memoir The Empath’s Journey. Set during the first few years after she emigrated from India to the United States, it connects personal stories with practical tools to help highly sensitive people channel their gifts.

Ritu is the recipient of the Silver Medal at the prestigious Rex Awards, presented by the International Confederation of NGOs in partnership with the United Nations in India and given to people creating social impact through their work.