An increased sensitivity of the central nervous system and a deeper cognitive processing of physical, social and emotional stimuli. Only 15 to 20 percent of the population are born with this gift.
Highly Sensitive People are born with the gift to experience life at a much deeper level. They need more time to process information because they pick up on every tiny signal around them, which causes them to be overstimulated easily. They have more mirror neurons in their brain, which causes them to be more empathetic to others. They also are more sensitive to subtleties and have the ability to sense subtle energy (prana).
Highly sensitive people are more susceptible both to the detrimental effects of harsh environments, and the benefits of positive and nurturing ones. They are extremely sensitive to external energy and get easily drained in crowds and highly charged environments. It is important that they withdraw from stimulation and have alone time to reflect and ground.
Found in over 100 other species, including primates, SPS is thought to be a survival strategy that may facilitate behaviours to garner resources, provide responsive care to others, and avoid threats through careful observation of each situation and then comparing it to past observations. However, high sensitivity is not adapted by all organisms within a given species because it has cognitive and physiological costs. Furthermore, if all organisms were equally sensitive, there would be no advantage to it. Hence, high sensitivity is thought to be ‘negative frequency dependent’, found only in a minority of individuals within a given species.