'Written with such understanding and power it takes your breath away' - JEREMY VINE

DISCOVER THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF SENSITIVITY

Have you even been told you are being 'too sensitive'? That you should develop a thicker skin? Society tells us that it's bad to be too soft, or feel too much. But is it?

Hannah Jane Walker, a highly sensitive person, has spent years researching sensitivity. Drawing on a wide range of experts, ideas and experiences, Hannah challenges the myth that sensitivity is something negative, and seeks an answer to the question: how useful is sensitivity to the world, and what is it for?

Hannah discovers that high sensitivity is sometimes connected to higher levels of empathy, emotional intelligence and creativity, and that whatever our level of sensitivity, it can be beneficial for us all. Society has undervalued sensitivity, teaching us that only the tough succeed, but this book seeks to change that story. Sensitivity is not a weakness or something to be ashamed of, but an invaluable form of strength, offering so many new ways of looking at the world.

Hannah Jane Walker

Hannah Walker is a very sensitive person, along with at least a fifth of the population. Like many, she was conditioned to believe this was a weakness and a trait that she should try and overcome. When she had her first child, and realised that her little girl was sensitive too, Hannah decided to find out whether sensitivity might in fact be a positive trait. Her question led to some fascinating answers and ongoing research that suggest survival and thriving is not only limited to the fittest, but to the sensitive.

If you are someone, or know someone who sat at the edge of the party as a child, or waits to be sure about what you want to say only to never get a word in, or jumps at loud noises, or worries that you cry so easily at a beautiful piece of art, or that you just seem to feel so much (too much), this book reveals the strengths in these traits and also how we need to embrace them rather than be embarrassed by them. People who are highly sensitive are highly caring, they are observant and notice new ways of doing things in difficult circumstances, they are able to follow their gut instincts (a real, scientific thing), they bring teams together, they listen well and are far more resilient than we've often been led to believe. The problem is that in today's noisy world, they often suffer from lower self-esteem and low confidence levels.

Like Quiet, which showed the power of introverts in an extrovert world, Highly Sensitive overturns old cliches and stereotypes and suggests a new way of looking at a trait that people so often feel ashamed of but that has so much untapped potential.