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People with the personality trait of high sensitivity have qualities that can help make them more creative, including a greater awareness of subtleties in emotional and sensory detail.

Creativity coach Lisa A. Riley comments, “I have encountered a connection between highly sensitive people and their own creative impulses.” Psychologist Elaine Aron declares, “I know ALL HSPs are creative, by definition.”

From my post Being Highly Sensitive and Creative.

Even if you are not working in an obviously “creative” job or career, if you are highly sensitive [see Dr. Aron’s self-test] you can benefit emotionally and spiritually from engaging with and making use of your creative abilities. That is, of course, also true for the other 80 percent of people who are not highly sensitive, but especially for those of us who are.

In her post How The Creative Process Helps Highly Sensitive People, Maria Hill writes about some of the reasons why.

“Highly sensitive people often have difficulty maintaining control over their own lives, because they have different priorities from non-HSPs which means that they often have little say over work and social agendas because highly sensitive people are usually outnumbered. Therefore in work and social situations we often get preempted which is very uncomfortable.”

She adds, “However, HSPs are often creative. In embracing the creative process we can start to regain control over our agenda. The creative process is about setting your own agenda and following it through to completion. When you take back your life using the creative process you start to create freedom for yourself not only by choosing what you want but by becoming so in tune with what is needed to make your goals happen that you start to use that skill in all areas of your life.”

In his post Highly Sensitive People: Why don’t you satisfy your creative urges? Cliff Harwin writes, “Highly sensitive people are naturally very creative. Why is it that many of us don’t take the time to utilize and enjoy this natural resource? Perhaps irrational inhibitions stifle our creativity. Maybe we don’t have confidence with our numerous creative attributes. How will you know what you’re capable of unless you try?”

He notes one reason many people may stop themselves from expressing themselves creatively: “Being afraid of being judged is a major concern for all of us. I understand that I open myself to criticism when I put my writing out there with my books, blog posts, articles, newsletter, and Facebook and Twitter posts.

“I’ve made peace with myself that I’m not perfect and that everyone isn’t going to love what I write about. I do the best I can and whatever happens, happens.”

Cliff Harwin is an author, life coach, and founder of The Highly Sensitive Person Publishing Company.

In his book, Making Sense of Your High Sensitivity he writes about many aspects of his life related to being highly sensitive.

He comments about the importance of work and career, and honoring your need to be creative.

“The right time to make a career change is when your current situation is not serving you and when the need arises. My fear of change stopped me from pursuing my writing aspirations. This was a mistake. I put off something that made me very happy.

“You are going to be forced to make different changes in your lifetime. face them directly and don’t postpone joy in your life.”

In the Foreword to his book, Elaine Aron writes, “Cliff shares his experiences, insights, and suggestions to fellow HSPs in a gentle and thoughtful way…It was very helpful how he shared his personal experiences, then highlighting what HSPs could learn from it.”

Another writer who has shared her life experiences as a highly sensitive person is Jenna Forrest, in her memoir Help Is On Its Way: A True Story.

Also read quotes by her in my Highly Sensitive site post Jenna Forrest on having a sensitive childhood.

[Photo: Splash – By AlicePopkorn – her caption: “Let your own creative urges make a great splash in this world…” Ganga Fondan. Also used on my Facebook/Highly Sensitive site.]

Have you benefited from expressing yourself creatively?

~~~

Related articles

• Living as a Highly Sensitive Person
• Jessica Chastain and High Sensitivity
• Highly Sensitive Men More Creative?

 

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Douglas Eby, MA/Psychology, is a writer and researcher on the psychology of creativity and personal development, creator of the Talent Development Resources series of sites, and author of the books “Developing Multiple Talents: The personal side of creative expression”; “Being Highly Sensitive and Creative”; and “The Creative Mind: Identity and Confidence” – see Résumé for more info.

Material from The Creative Mind is included in my weekly newsletter Developing Creativity.

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    Last reviewed: 13 Jun 2013