Survival techniques for oversensitive people

Can philosophers help resolve the real problems that people have in their lives?

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TSBU
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Post by TSBU »

henry quirk wrote:The Edge, with Hopkins as the capable and Alec Baldwin as the pussy. It was a bad movie.

#

Self-care courses...

For the sensory sensitive: aside from possible medical remedies to blunt overload, I have no idea how such folks can train themselves.

For the psychologically sensitive: aside from just growing the fuck up, I have no idea how such folks can train themselves.

So, I amend myself: 'Best take a crash course in self-care' should read 'have a peaceful death'.
With Hopkins as the one in love with a beautifull woman even when she is a whore, and trying to be friend of a killer, saving him one time after another, he, and other people who were not only out of value, but put him in danger.
And the other one looking for meat and money, trying to use the oldman.

In that film Hopkins is the pussie, he is just more intelligent too.

Yes, it was a bad movie, but the pictures were great XD.
Last edited by TSBU on Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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henry quirk
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Post by henry quirk »

No, the character was just a damned fool (or, perhaps, too compassionate).
Walker
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Re: Survival techniques for oversensitive people

Post by Walker »

duszek wrote:If a hypersensitive person lived centuries ago he or she would die an early age for sure.

In certain countries nowadays (Europe mainly but also US perhaps) hypersensitive people can survive due to social security and human rights.

They are less interested in risky activities and travelling, both being too much stress for them.

What would a course in self-care be about ?
This is a good place to offer some ideas for experimentation.
It would be about understanding the nature of hypersensitivity and directing the mind toward peace of mind.

Why is hypersensitivity over-thinking, you may wonder?

When not managed properly, the mind wanders into over-thinking, and hypersensitivity.

Hypersensitivity is found between the idea and the action.
Often there is an unavoidable distance of time between the idea and action.
If the mind is not managed and properly directed based on knowledge of conditions, then in that interval the mind can wander into over-thinking, or hypersensitivity.
Hypersensitivity is over-thinking of a self-cherishing nature that runs amuck of reality-based thinking, finding anchors in delusion.

There are various antidotes for this condition, and various approaches, understood within the lineages of various traditions throughout the history of man. The approaches vary in effectiveness according to the capacity of the practitioner. For example, in one tradition a simple way to occupy the mind in the interval between idea and action is in the repetitive and attention-absorbing devotion of prayers and rosary. Within that same tradition, the focus of undistracted attention which relates all incoming sensory stimuli over an extended period of time to the object of attention, may be a biblical verse. Within another tradition the focus of attention may be the repetition of a Sanskrit mantra, or the contemplation of a teaching.

In other traditions people go fishing on Sunday and contemplate the silence.

However, the key ingredient in any of these processes is undistracted attention which effortlessly slips past the limitations of time or intellectual endurance. In the process the mind is absorbed with no room left for over-thinking, or hypersensitivity.

This is a key element of Self-Enquiry.

After the intellect gives way to its known limitations of undistracted attention, the mind is still and hypersensitivity is better understood. Awareness of this is effortless, and sufficient to naturally regulate sensitivity between hyper and dull.

I read an interesting theory. The reason folks are still in freak-out mode over the U.S. election results is possibly because of Ritalin dependency. I’ve never known anyone who’s taken the drug, that I know of, but it would be a tidy explanation for the otherwise baseless hysteria and irrationality being displayed. Over an election. I’ve heard use of the mind-altering chemical is rampant and if so, folks are feeding the wrong wolf.
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Greta
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Re: Survival techniques for oversensitive people

Post by Greta »

Walker wrote:
duszek wrote:If a hypersensitive person lived centuries ago he or she would die an early age for sure.

In certain countries nowadays (Europe mainly but also US perhaps) hypersensitive people can survive due to social security and human rights.

They are less interested in risky activities and travelling, both being too much stress for them.

What would a course in self-care be about ?
This is a good place to offer some ideas for experimentation.
It would be about understanding the nature of hypersensitivity and directing the mind toward peace of mind.

Why is hypersensitivity over-thinking, you may wonder?

When not managed properly, the mind wanders into over-thinking, and hypersensitivity.
What if "hypersensitivity" is just "more sensitivity than usual"? What if the distribution of sensitivity in human populations plots to a Bell Curve like most other attributes? Logically, being exceptionally sensitive or insensitive and living in an unsuitable environment could make such people vulnerable to mental problems.

Each society will necessarily produce a variety of people who differ in all sorts of ways and many will gravitate to a place that roughly accommodates their strengths and weaknesses. Some people "miss their calling" in life, are never able to gainfully utilise their individual characteristics. Maybe there was no local demand. Maybe no one needed that mix of characteristics at the time?

Stuff happens, eh?
marjoram_blues
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Re: Survival techniques for oversensitive people

Post by marjoram_blues »

duszek wrote:If a hypersensitive person lived centuries ago he or she would die an early age for sure.

In certain countries nowadays (Europe mainly but also US perhaps) hypersensitive people can survive due to social security and human rights.

They are less interested in risky activities and travelling, both being too much stress for them.

What would a course in self-care be about ?
This is a good place to offer some ideas for experimentation.
A Course: could be a set of classes or study of a particular subject. You can sign up for any number - subscribe to a particularly attractive philosophy. Online choices are endless but how worthwhile are they?
You could go round in circles; tie yourself in knots...expend energy to no great avail...
Perhaps that is a necessary process - to eliminate stuff not to your taste.

Some would say that how to self-care is obvious, common sense. No need for the self-help industry. In other places and times there was no such thing as 'stress'...no time to stop and stare...

When I think of a system for self-care, Maslow's pyramid comes to mind.

Basic physical needs first - right food, etc.
Boiling down to self-discipline and rising up to self-improvement.
Easier said than done. Motivation is key. As is own personality; self-knowledge gained through the Course of Life.
What is good for you, is not always right for me.

So, daily reminders or practice...can help. The 365 daily notebooks on sale. The Daily Stoic.
Or just keep head down, don't think too much and get on with life, just as it is.
marjoram_blues
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Re: Survival techniques for oversensitive people

Post by marjoram_blues »

To sensitize or desensitize, that is the question...

If we are made sensitive: to notice certain words and attitudes - how do we react ? Do we bristle and speak out...or turn away.
If we are desensitized - made insensitive: through over exposure, to not notice the pain of war - do we not care...and turn away...
Collective numbness -or dumbness - to self-protect ?
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TSBU
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Post by TSBU »

Every person here has a completely different idea about what exactly is a sensitive or insensitive person.
As I said, absurd concepts.
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Post by marjoram_blues »

TSBU wrote:Every person here has a completely different idea about what exactly is a sensitive or insensitive person.
As I said, absurd concepts.
That is the beauty of philosophy.
It is not absurd to discuss how to live well and take care of self, and others.
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TSBU
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Post by TSBU »

marjoram_blues wrote:
TSBU wrote:Every person here has a completely different idea about what exactly is a sensitive or insensitive person.
As I said, absurd concepts.
That is the beauty of philosophy.
It is not absurd to discuss how to live well and take care of self, and others.
True. And it is good to know if tomatoes ar better than meat for a salad. But talk about it when prople will understand potato when you say tomato, milk when you say meat, and hamburguer when you say salad...
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Post by marjoram_blues »

TSBU wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote:
TSBU wrote:Every person here has a completely different idea about what exactly is a sensitive or insensitive person.
As I said, absurd concepts.
That is the beauty of philosophy.
It is not absurd to discuss how to live well and take care of self, and others.
True. And it is good to know if tomatoes ar better than meat for a salad. But talk about it when prople will understand potato when you say tomato, milk when you say meat, and hamburguer when you say salad...
Dictionaries can tell you what a potato is. Or any other object.
They won't tell you if one thing is better than another thing.
Dictionaries can tell you what words - like 'sensitivity' - mean. Usually, depending on context or complexity, there is more than one way to use a word.

Yes, it is useful to clarify what is understood by 'sensitivity', given all its degrees and nuances.
If we want to help someone with a particular problem, we first need to identify what that problem is; if indeed it is a problem. For that, it is useful to talk. Usually.
But you know that...
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TSBU
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Re: Re:

Post by TSBU »

marjoram_blues wrote:
TSBU wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote:
That is the beauty of philosophy.
It is not absurd to discuss how to live well and take care of self, and others.
True. And it is good to know if tomatoes ar better than meat for a salad. But talk about it when prople will understand potato when you say tomato, milk when you say meat, and hamburguer when you say salad...
Dictionaries can tell you what a potato is. Or any other object.
They won't tell you if one thing is better than another thing.
Dictionaries can tell you what words - like 'sensitivity' - mean. Usually, depending on context or complexity, there is more than one way to use a word.

Yes, it is useful to clarify what is understood by 'sensitivity', given all its degrees and nuances.
If we want to help someone with a particular problem, we first need to identify what that problem is; if indeed it is a problem. For that, it is useful to talk. Usually.
But you know that...
I can take 10 people and make a question ""Who is sensitive", I bet no one here would answer the same in most of them.
For the caveman, a sensitive person is a coward, a weak. For the first who posted, a sensitive person is a person with strong feelings, etc. First of all the should talk about what is sensitive or not. And if they do, they would get to the conclusion that the concept is too laxe and useless and it leads to confussion. A person is much much more than "sensitive or insensitive" to say that it is better to treat them in one way just by being that, no matter what is the meaning of the word for you.

You are not telling me anything I didn't know.
Walker
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Re: Survival techniques for oversensitive people

Post by Walker »

Greta wrote:
Walker wrote:
duszek wrote:If a hypersensitive person lived centuries ago he or she would die an early age for sure.

In certain countries nowadays (Europe mainly but also US perhaps) hypersensitive people can survive due to social security and human rights.

They are less interested in risky activities and travelling, both being too much stress for them.

What would a course in self-care be about ?
This is a good place to offer some ideas for experimentation.
It would be about understanding the nature of hypersensitivity and directing the mind toward peace of mind.

Why is hypersensitivity over-thinking, you may wonder?

When not managed properly, the mind wanders into over-thinking, and hypersensitivity.
What if "hypersensitivity" is just "more sensitivity than usual"? What if the distribution of sensitivity in human populations plots to a Bell Curve like most other attributes? Logically, being exceptionally sensitive or insensitive and living in an unsuitable environment could make such people vulnerable to mental problems.

Each society will necessarily produce a variety of people who differ in all sorts of ways and many will gravitate to a place that roughly accommodates their strengths and weaknesses. Some people "miss their calling" in life, are never able to gainfully utilise their individual characteristics. Maybe there was no local demand. Maybe no one needed that mix of characteristics at the time?

Stuff happens, eh?
I understand your point, however yellow flags of mindfulness surround the use of words and their arbitrary, designated opposites, suffixes and prefixes, in order to dictate the meaning of reality.

Thus, the attempt to corral this thread into some semblance of pragmatic meaning as requested, with an initial, stated definition of intelligence and hypersensitivity that withstands comparison to reality.

To be too intelligent is not possible. Because sensitivity is intelligence, to be too sensitive is not possible. Thus, hypersensitivity as a problem is not an aspect of intelligence.

Considering hypersensitivity in context of it existing as a problem:

Self-cherishing is the cause of all problems, and that’s a fact, for self-cherishing is what designates a situation as being a problem. The conceptual content that fills the over-thinking, that is the crux of hypersensitivity, is self-cherishing.

In order to change the over-thinking effects of self-cherishing, you can’t simple say to someone, don’t cherish yourself. The attachment of self-cherishing, as with all attachments, is a consequence of confusing the object of cherishing with permanence.
To cherish oneself is natural because knowing ourselves, we assume a permanence to identity. Permanence in a perpetually-changing world is a comfort, thus the need for attachment. Memories of childhood comforts often seek replication.

And if one has any sense about oneself, one protects what is cherished. That is the proven principle and it extends to all things cherished, including self. This has biological causes intertwined with nurturing at an early age, cherishing that which fulfills needs, that which later gets transferred to self-consciousness and psychological autonomy.

All of this is predicated on the permanence of self.

For those familiar with Zen and other forms of Buddhism, there is a well-known contemplation that logically seeks to find specific evidence of self located in time and space, but to no avail. For those who feel the natural inclination to cherish the self which senses the world, even now, this can be a conundrum. Somehow, this results in Zen teachers hitting students with sticks, at the appropriate time and place.

However, undigressing back to hypersensitivity: When someone is following the natural inclination to self-cherish, then if the someone has any sense, there appears a naturally arising need to protect what is cherished, including the self. Thus the need for compassion in one who has nothing to lose. An old horse will run until it falls over and can run no more, thus the need for the appearance of a Yoda within a culture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-t2n_jk1QM
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Re: Survival techniques for oversensitive people

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Walker wrote:To be too intelligent is not possible. Because sensitivity is intelligence, to be too sensitive is not possible. Thus, hypersensitivity as a problem is not an aspect of intelligence.
I'm being pedantic but it is possible to be "too intelligent", eg. to stay in mundane jobs, to easily make friends, or to be an inspiring leader (who tend to be of average intelligence, connecting with the greatest numbers).

Yes, the protective ego we build up through conditioning is a key part of the thread's subject (since we can't do much about our genetics). If one is self protective, one becomes smaller, with growth projects shelved.

Prey animals lacking in weaponry often curl themselves up into a tight ball, limiting their contact with the outside world, hiding their sensitive bits and exposing only its armour. When they are not threatened, they stealthily creep from nook to cranny, always on high alert. On the other hand, social types protect themselves by pushing to the centre of their herds or flocks, where the central hub acts as a protective nook for them. Others use distance and speed to avoid exposure to risk.

I see human analogies in each of these coping strategies. The issue then is growth, which tends not to be helped by "curling up into a tight ball". All growth entails risk. The risk factors may be overcome and alleviated by strategic work. The question is whether one has the understanding and energy to do the work needed to grow. Starting with smaller, fairly unambitious life projects is one way of balancing risk with growth.
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Greta wrote:
Walker wrote:To be too intelligent is not possible. Because sensitivity is intelligence, to be too sensitive is not possible. Thus, hypersensitivity as a problem is not an aspect of intelligence.
I'm being pedantic but it is possible to be "too intelligent", eg. to stay in mundane jobs, to easily make friends, or to be an inspiring leader (who tend to be of average intelligence, connecting with the greatest numbers).

Yes, the protective ego we build up through conditioning is a key part of the thread's subject (since we can't do much about our genetics). If one is self protective, one becomes smaller, with growth projects shelved.

Prey animals lacking in weaponry often curl themselves up into a tight ball, limiting their contact with the outside world, hiding their sensitive bits and exposing only its armour. When they are not threatened, they stealthily creep from nook to cranny, always on high alert. On the other hand, social types protect themselves by pushing to the centre of their herds or flocks, where the central hub acts as a protective nook for them. Others use distance and speed to avoid exposure to risk.

I see human analogies in each of these coping strategies. The issue then is growth, which tends not to be helped by "curling up into a tight ball". All growth entails risk. The risk factors may be overcome and alleviated by strategic work. The question is whether one has the understanding and energy to do the work needed to grow. Starting with smaller, fairly unambitious life projects is one way of balancing risk with growth.
It depends in what do you call inteligence. Of course, you can be "too" anything in function of other things, but we usually call "intelligent" to those who know better how to face reality (any problem), in that case, being intelligent can't be bad for yourself: Enough intelligence would mean having friends easily or not needing friends, or be a "leader" (only stupid people want to be leaders anyway XD).

We are not dogs, even if you want to see it that way.
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Re:

Post by Greta »

TSBU wrote:We are not dogs, even if you want to see it that way.
Straw person. Bleagh.
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