Often people–sadly, mostly boys and men–are shamed for their sensitivity; they are told to ‘toughen up’, told the world is a harsh place that needs guarding against. The world, however, is crying out for sensitive people.

It’s less important to find ways to be less sensitive and more important to find more tools to manage your sensitivity. Just like we can’t get rid of the people in the world that cause us harm and hurt so too can we not eliminate all the things in the world that make us ill. It’s critical therefore to accept these things will always be present whilst feeling into the current moment reality of how things are right now. It’s not what happens but what you do with what happens that counts.

Instead of protecting oneself in a world that requires toughness, it’s important to claim one’s sensitivity and allow others to claim their’s too because it’s only in living one’s truth that others have permission to live their truth too. And only then will the world become a place that requires gentleness.