This website is brought to you by the survival trait Sensory Processing Sensitivity (HSP).

Once upon a time, human beings depended on accepted as a member of a tribe for their own survival. 

Within any balanced tribe, the split in the gentic divide is 80-85% warrior king and 15-20% priest advisor, with a more blended crossover of both. Dr. Elaine Aron, PhD. coined the term HSP in her formally discovering the survival trait Sensory Processing Sensitivity (HSP) in 1991. 

When I first heard the term "Highly Sensitive Person" (HSP), I dismissed it as a term used to sell magazines, and not something as consequential as it is. 

Before trauma therapy I had never heard of Jung. After trauma therapy, I will never forget him, as his work helped me heal. I stopped casually watching and started intentionally investigating.

I watched Sensitive,The Untold Story, and when Dr. Aron mentioned the influence of Carl Jung in her work, I began paying close attention to what was going on. 

The D.O.E.S. Model

Dr. Elaine Aron uses the acronym D.O.E.S. to describe the core characteristics of SPS.

People with SPS tend to process information deeply.

When something captures our attention, we often immerse ourselves in understanding it. The subject usually needs to matter to us and be of our own choosing; we are rarely motivated simply because someone else says it is important.

Many people with SPS experience strong empathy and emotional attunement.

We often notice shifts in mood, emotion, tone, and body language before they become obvious to others.

Small details frequently stand out.

Changes in facial expression, social dynamics, environment, mood, energy, or risk may be noticed long before others recognize them.

If these characteristics sound familiar, you may be among the 15-20% of people with the trait of Sensory Processing Sensitivity.

Dr. Elaine Aron, PhD

The only reason Men with Sensory Processing Sensitivity is even a topic is because human beings have intelligent enough minds to personalize everything in order to make sense of it, including things that are not personal to begin with, like the survival wiring we were born with. 

It's ultimately the survival brain's fear of death by tribal rejection for being seen as different that scares men who were raised by the previous generation to deny emotions exist, so now that we feel them, our survival brain hits the alarm button, automatically releasing a set of emotions I call, "Threat to life by tribal rejection" for potentially being seen as weak or flawed for having emotions. 

Like noticing out of a flock of geese grazing a field there are a certain number who seem to  always remain on the look out for danger, never eat, yet somehow they are fine, and some infact look well fed. This display of nature is in over 100 species of animal as well as humans.

Humans have the capacity to personalize the fact of having a survival trait in the first place, even though there's nothing personal about survival to begin with. A couple of years ago I got to participate in a follow up documentary to Sensitive The Untold Story, which is about the survival trait Sensory Processing Sensitivity. The documentary I got to be in is about men with this survival trait is called Sensitive Men Rising.

I invite you to learn about this sensory processing sensitivity as a highly potent survival trait that can serve us all well when we all understand it, wether you have Sensory Processing Sensitivity or not, it behooves us all to understand what it is representing the 15-20% that balances out the other 80-85%. If you go to Episode #1 minute 45:00 - 53:00 you can watch / hear me speak for a bit. 

For those of us with the trait(s) a sense of peace and settlement knowing we are not fundamentally flawed at our core, because somewhere among a genetic minority of people who largely do not know we exist as a people, we are considered normal; so... right on. 

For those without the trait, when you learn to spot it and know the hidden super powers this trait is capable of producing, I'm guessing you will want to deliberately incorporate it into whatever team you are building. Know what it is and cultivate an environment to get themost out of it. 

Do not build the entire team out of people with this trait because it would be somewhat ineffective, or without this trait because it would be mediocre at best. Find the right balance, unlock and synergize the superpowers of both people with SPS and people without SPS. 

Know what it is you are able to know, know it well and use it well. 

All the best,

Andy

Dr. Tracy Cooper, PhD

William "Bill" Allen- 

William Allen is an author, hypnotist, and neurofeedback practitioner whose work focuses on helping highly sensitive people—particularly men—better understand their temperament, regulate their nervous systems, and live more authentically. Through his books, coaching, hypnosis, and brain-training programs, Allen promotes greater self-awareness, emotional understanding, and nervous system balance.

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