Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher. – William Wordsworth

I once had a mild argument with my mother when trying to invite her to see the benefits of eating Organic Food. She was disgruntled and declared that her father, my grandfather, had lived to the ripe old age of eighty-six without having eaten organic food. And that’s where our argument dissolved. When I explained that as her father was born in 1910 that Organic food would have been all he was eating. That for most of his life he had eaten fresh, unadulterated, seasonally grown or organically preserved natural food. 

It was an ‘Aha’ moment for both of us. We realised that to differentiate between natural healthy food that was not genetically modified, grown with pesticides and herbicides and artificial fertilizers, the food industry had to label it … so they came up with Organic. I get it. It works for sales differentiation and marketing. But what I don’t like is that all the rest of the food isn’t labelled correctly and sold in separate aisles. Organic and Health foods promote what they are not: Non-GMO, Spray Free, Organic, Gluten-Free etc. But where are the compulsory labels in large print that name unsafe colourings, toxic pesticides, MSG, harmful fertilisers, hybrid-grain, soy modifications etc? It feels unfair to have the food that has evolved in nature, alongside the evolution of human beings, be singled out as the anomaly when in fact it should be the natural norm. 

So, What Has This Got To Do with Natural Human Beings?   

I am what’s called a HSP; a Highly Sensitive Person. I am labelled and differentiated; almost a sub-group of humanity. I have been this way my whole life. All the compensatory strategies that I have learned, so that I can get through my life, have always given me the sense that I am living a lie, a hologram of sorts, an inauthentic expression of my true and natural self. 

That which is often singled out as the anomaly is, in fact, the natural norm. Image: George Gvasalia

Who I truly am, is Organic. I have evolved over millennia with my human family. I don’t want to be labelled as a Highly Sensitive Person. If I am to have any label, I would rather be a NSP – Naturally Sensitive Person, which I believe we all innately are.  I believe sensitivity is one of our greatest assets and gifts as humans. We come into this world sensitive and vulnerable. We need contact and connection to survive. We flourish with care and love and compassion. Our sensitivities to the world around us help convey to our carers what we need. We see this as perfectly natural when it comes to new-borns and toddlers. We will defend their sensitivities passionately and vehemently. Our sensitivities and how we read the world, and express ourselves in the world, are essential to our survival when we are so dependent. 

It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Grow a Thicker Skin?

I don’t want to toughen up or grow a thicker skin or man-up so that I can fit into an ever-increasing hostile and disconnected world. I want to choose love first and foremost. I’ll take my optimistically and statistically correct view that the world is a more kind than unkind place. It is more filled with hope than despair; we as a species are more naturally altruistic than we are led and fed to believe by social media and entertainment media.

I am the norm. I am natural. I don’t need to artificially adapt or take medication to cope with the disproportionate amount of stress and stimuli: I just have to unplug and steep in nature. I have to tune in to the animal of my natural rhythm: heartbeat, breath, instinct, senses, the autonomic nervous system and the synaptic frequencies in my brain. 

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be. – Anne Franke 

I admit we are evolving swiftly and progress has infiltrated all our daily lives. I actually love technology. But I want it to serve me and not the other way around. I want the inorganic to complement the organic without overriding it and altering its DNA. I am all for progress and I am also all for learning from our historically natural ways … we can learn from the past and merge it into the Now to create a more harmonious, regenerative future. 

I want the inorganic to complement the organic. Image: Mario Caruso

I want to participate in the cultivation of a world where sensitivity is praised, where intuition is revered, where sympathy and empathy govern communities and write collaborative policy. Where the pursuit of Unity, Peace, and Love are on every political agenda. 

I now laugh at the taunt that naturally sensitive people like me often hear, “Get Real.” That’s what I want … to get real. To strip away my armour and masks. To let my sensitivity be a light of natural goodness to illuminate the darkness and make shadows dance until they dissolve. I want to lose the fear in my learned behaviour and acquired conditioning. I want to choose natural intelligence.  

Two Kinds of Intelligence by Rumi

There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,

As a child in school memorizes facts and concepts

With such intelligence you rise in the world.

There is another kind of tablet, one

Already completed and preserved inside you.

This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate.

It’s fluid, and it doesn’t move from outside to inside

Through the conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead

From within you, moving out.

~

How has your sensitivity served you? How might it be if we embraced a new (or perhaps an ancient way) of viewing sensitivity? How would it be for all the Highly Sensitive People to change their label to Naturally Sensitive People and claim the beauty and worth in sensitivity? We’d love to hear your views … please write in the comments below.

Much sensitive love to you all.

Team UPLIFT