Understanding Anxiety vs Intuition in Highly Sensitive People

Can you tell the difference between your anxiety and intuition?

You might be surprised by how common this question is for HSPs, but it comes up often in my line of work, so today - we're diving in!

My intention for this episode is to provide valuable insight into how to discern between these two internal experiences. A common struggle for people who tend to process emotions deeply is recognizing anxiety. So, I'm dropping practical tips for identifying when you're spiraling into negative thoughts or simply engaging in deep reflection.

I'm also thrilled to share the resources and services I’ve crafted to support you in enhancing your emotional intelligence and embodiment!

This includes my exclusive 3-month 1:1 Embodiment Container and a handy Free EQ Self-Reflection Workbook!

And it doesn't stop there. Our vibrant Instagram community offers ongoing support and guidance, ensuring you're always surrounded by people who understand your journey. 

Let's embark on this transformative conversation together, arm ourselves with better understanding, and learn the tools to navigate the intricate paths of anxiety and intuition more effectively❤️‍🔥

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Click HERE if you’re ready to become deeply grounded in yourself as a highly sensitive, highly intuitive woman and learn how to protect your energy effectively.

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Go for it, sensitive soul - I can't wait to connect with you.


Website: www.calmwithdom.com
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Email Me: dominik@calmwithdom.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

How do I know if what I'm feeling is anxiety or my intuition? This question is asked a lot and the answer is obvious One is based in love and the other is based in fear. So many people have answered this question exactly like that, over and over. You name your favorite coach or mental health guru or YouTube famous therapist Everyone says the same thing. Just because the answer is obvious does not mean that it's simple. And if you've asked this question yourself, either to someone else or even to yourself in moments of turmoil over stimulation, that answer one is based in love, one is based in fear probably feels like a cop out or Vegas hell or like it's not really saying anything or not really answering your question.

Speaker 1: 0:56

I think this question is super important and thank you to the highly sensitive soul who asked me this. I think what's important to note is you might not have considered how anxiety and intuition can show up for you as a highly sensitive person, because your processing looks different to non highly sensitive people. So I decided to make this video. We're going to get into recognizing anxiety within yourself, recognizing intuition your intuition and a practical way to identify either within yourself. So I'm excited for this episode. Welcome to the comments on podcasts, by the way, where I help you harness your highly sensitive nature to overcome your energy leaks and strengthen your relationships with yourself and others. I am your coach, dominic. Let's get into it. I understand why it's tricky for us, as highly sensitive people, to identify anxiety within ourselves, because one of the most common symptoms at least one of the most well known symptoms of anxiety or causes of anxiety, is overthinking. And it can be very difficult, as a highly sensitive person, to understand when you're overthinking because, compared to a non highly sensitive person, yes, you are thinking and processing more than others, but the truth is, it's not that you overthink every little thing, it's just that you are presented with a lot more information. In the first place, I spoke about this in one of the very first episodes of the comment on podcast. I believe it was the depth of processing episode, and you can go back and listen to that if you'd like, where I explain this in depth. But ultimately, the playing field, so to speak, is not level, and so, if you want to identify if you're overthinking or experiencing anxiety, you've got to hone in on your body for this one, instead of pause to reflect, pause to drop in. This is something that I teach my clients.

Speaker 1: 3:08

For those of you who do not know the difference and don't know this concept yet, pausing to reflect is something that is very natural. That comes very naturally to us as highly sensitive people. We are constantly reflecting deeply after our processing of all the information that's around us, all the information that's happening within us and the information that we're experiencing in our relationships. Right, we reflect deeply and we have the capacity to do so at deeper levels compared to other people, and that is what we rely on to make our decisions. We're really good at this, we're masters at this, but it does cause you to go straight to your mental right, to your mental headspace, to intellectually approach your experiences and sometimes even your emotions. I'm not saying every highly sensitive person operates this way, but I've just had enough experience working with other highly sensitive women to know that we are really sharp up here and we can go straight to whatever distortions, stories, limiting beliefs, etc. That we are telling ourselves.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Pausing to drop in, on the other hand, is when you literally pattern interrupt. You interrupt that pattern of reflecting right away and you drop down into your body and you feel where our emotions happening and taking place within your body, right? What sensations are you feeling within your body that maybe you don't need to address, but you need to acknowledge and know is happening? Just a really good practice to start when you're not yet familiar with what anxiety feels like in your body and if you're asking yourself this question, you're probably not completely certain, right? So is your chest tightening? Is your stomach upset? Are you getting tingles or shivers anywhere? You numb anywhere? Is your face getting flushed? Do you feel like speaking is getting harder to do? Is it harder to articulate your thoughts? So pause to drop in, and then you can go ahead and analyze and process all the data that you accumulated from your body. If your thinking is fueled by scarcity or lack, then, yes, it is probably anxiety. You don't have to go deep into shadow work to get this. It just takes a moment or two to intentionally check in with what's going on with you to understand what anxiety feels like for you.

Speaker 1: 5:54

Some tips that I have, though. Here's a sign that it might not be anxiety if you're simply observing, right? As a highly sensitive person, you probably have a very rich inner world. It's beautiful and complex and it requires time to process, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. But sometimes we can mistake over thinking with our own observations. Right, we're just taking note of everything and just because we have more access to more information all around us and again, by information, by data, I'm not just talking about the things that you see with your eyes or the information that you're getting from your five senses. It's also what's happening internally, what's happening emotionally. What are you feeling during some of your energy exchanges and your connections? What are you noticing about the way other people are feeling in this moment? How are their behaviors? It's just a lot of information that you're gathering and it may not be overthinking.

Speaker 1: 7:00

If you're just observing and making note of things, that's not overthinking. If you're doing more than observing and analyzing, you might be overthinking. You might be a little anxious If you're so preoccupied that it's not easy for you to get back to the present moment. You might be anxious If your concerns are leading you into a spiral instead of leading you to concrete decisions. You might be anxious. I don't give you an example.

Speaker 1: 7:31

Thinking something like I feel like my friend isn't being herself right now. I wonder if they're okay. I'll wait until we're alone to check on her and if I can't, I'll call her a little later. That's an observation that led to a concern, ultimately led you to a decision, a decision that isn't dysregulating. That's not anxiety. That's not even overthinking. That is just you observing, analyzing, processing and coming to a decision.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Now, this is what anxiety might sound like. In that same scenario, I feel like my friend isn't acting like herself. I wonder, if she's okay, should I say something? Am I making her uncomfortable? I feel like an asshole. I should know what's wrong with her. I'm her best friend. Am I missing something? Is someone else making her uncomfortable and I haven't noticed it yet? Now, that is. The difference between those two is that that's more of a negative spiral that's going on and so, yeah, you might be a little anxious. Is it crippling? No, but we're talking about how to identify anxiety within ourselves. Right? This is that's anxiety. That's more than observing, analyzing, processing, coming to a conclusion or coming to a decision that isn't dysregulating. It sounds like if that thought pattern continues, it could spiral, get even worse and become dysregulating. Right? If there's little frustration that you're feeling within yourself and an internal conflict or an emotional conflict that you're that you're having, then that's that's anxiety, that's overthinking, right Now, when it comes to identifying intuition, I do want to demystify this a little bit because I don't believe it's 100% inexplicable.

Speaker 1: 9:22

Like, intuition is a deep understanding, a deep knowing, inner knowing, without an explanation. But I do think it's a little easier to. I think we can explain it a little bit If that might just be my comfort with my intuition showing out, but that's exactly why I feel like I can talk about it. The problem with the answer intuition is rooted in love is that it's just not the full picture, that's all. Intuition is just as rooted in trust as it is in love.

Speaker 1: 9:56

With anxiety, there's a lack of trust. With intuition, you may feel inexplicable clarity, clarity that you cannot explain. Or you may feel a lack of clarity with safety, with trust. That's the key. So intuition can sound like I don't know why. I know this, but I do, and this is what I'm going to do about it. It can also sound like I have no clue what I'm doing right now, where I am or where my decisions are going to leave me, but I'm okay with not having all the answers right now because I know that I'll be okay. In other words, I feel safe not having all the answers.

Speaker 1: 10:32

These are two very different experiences, but both are rooted in trust, in the inexplicable knowing To trust yourself as a form of love. You may resonate with that being what faith is like, though I would say faith and knowing are two very different things, and with intuition there is a knowing. There is a knowing without explanation and we all have intuition. We all have a deep knowing where we don't know why we know what we know. But you know what truth feels like and you trust the truth within yourself. So how do we identify that? How do we identify either one?

Speaker 1: 11:12

A question I like to ask myself that has helped me and maybe it'll help you now is what is this making space for in my life? Whenever I feel anxious and I ask myself that question well, what is this feeling making space for in my life? Right now, it's very clear Exiety makes space for fear, a lack of sleep, a lack of focus, a lack of intentional focus, a lack of trust, optimism and self sabotage. Honestly, whenever I ask myself what is this feeling making space for in my life when I'm anxious, it's all negative, it's limiting. When I'm listening to my intuition, on the other hand, that makes space for excitement, for more options, the opposite of feeling stuck right, the opposite of the constriction of anxiety. With anxiety, the thoughts that come up are I have to do this one specific thing or I'll fail. I have no other options. Or I want to get out of this situation, but I'm stuck, I cannot, I don't have options.

Speaker 1: 12:26

When you're following your intuition, you will know, because it invites expansion, it invites several options and it also makes space for the opportunity to either learn something or teach something. In other words, with your intuition, you're either going to be rising to the occasion, stepping up to be the exemplary human, walk your talk, step into your power, embody your power and that's what I mean by the opportunity to teach something or it's going to have you step forward with your palms out, admitting ignorance and being willing to learn something new. Either way, you are gaining something with your intuition, and it has the potential to be a little uncomfortable. These are not mutually exclusive experiences, by the way. You can feel the pull of both at any given time.

Speaker 1: 13:25

At the same time, even In your anxiety, you can feel the pull of your intuition, and maybe it's just harder to access because you're acting in anxiety. You can imagine intuition being the well. Maybe there's something that we can do, maybe we have another option. Why haven't you considered this at all? Or it can sound like you know you really wanna do this thing. Why are you throwing it off the table? Why can't it even just be an option right now? You know your anxiety. On the other hand, in your mind, it will shut intuition down. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm too scared. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Too scary, too risky. This is what's safe. This is what you're limited to. This is what the story is. This is how the other person is feeling. There's no other way. There's no other story, there's no other truth. Right, very frantic, very stubborn.

Speaker 1: 14:18

And also, when you're following your intuition, when you are in tune there's a lot of highly sensitive women that I work with. They're highly intuitive and when you are that in tune with your intuition, it doesn't mean that following your intuition is easy and doesn't come with anxiety or fear. It's more of which pole is greater. And the bigger point I wanna get at with this episode is, once you understand what your intuition feels like and you understand what your anxiety feels like, it's only a matter of choosing the one to live by, not all the time. Right, there are uses, great uses for both, but when you are overstimulated or overwhelmed, really you have the decision to either lead with love or lead with fear. In other words, act in anxiety or act in your intuition, your intuition being acting in love and in trust. Trust in your inexplicable inner knowing, because that's peace, that's a groundedness that signals the transformation when you're going from simply knowing that you're a highly sensitive woman to embodying your sensitivity every single day, where these decisions just become easier for you to make. And if you wanna feel that transformation for yourself, live your embodied life as a highly sensitive, highly intuitive woman.

Speaker 1: 15:50

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