Quotes from Ted Zeff

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more fortunate than the million people on the planet who will not survive this week. If you can attend a religious meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

The highly sensitive person has an important mission, which is to serve as a balance to the more aggressive behavior of some of the non-HSPs who advocate a less than nurturing policy toward humans, animals, and Mother Nature.

Sensitive individuals process experiences more thoroughly than others do.

Most sensitive boys tend to pause to reflect before acting and would not be considered risk-takers. This tendency can easily be understood as demonstrating a healthy caution. However, in most societies boys are frequently encouraged to engage in risky behavior and are praised when they do so, while more cautious behavior is regarded with shame.

In our Type A culture, people frequently equate verbosity with control and success.

What is the difference between a highly sensitive boy and a non-highly sensitive boy? A highly sensitive boy has trouble screening out stimuli and can be easily overwhelmed by noise, crowds and time pressure. The highly sensitive boy (HSB) tends to be very sensitive to pain and violent movies. He is also made extremely uncomfortable by bright lights, strong smells and changes in his life.

The highly sensitive boy's nervous system is wired in such a way that he is more acutely aware of, and attuned to, himself, other people, and his environment than the non-HSB. As a result, a highly sensitive boy is more easily stimulated by his surroundings. This is an inborn trait that researchers have also observed in approximately twenty percent of animal populations.

Try talking more slowly and being in silence sometimes. To reduce overstimulating arguments, wait five seconds before responding during an intense conversation.

when you sow a thought, you reap an action. When you repeat an action, you develop a habit. When you maintain a habit, you create a character.

This is also a time of new beginnings for you, and you don't have to keep repeating old habits that don't work for you anymore as you gain new knowledge and understanding of yourself (Hay 1987).

Especially those of us who have had a difficult childhood report a chronic, painful inability to avoid overstimulation (Aron 1996).

The sensitive boy who reacts deeply to stimuli and exhibits emotional sensitivity is perfectly normal. However, there's something wrong with a society that shames males who do not act in a tough, aggressive, and emotionally repressed manner—especially when such a significant portion of the population simply isn't cut out for or comfortable with these behaviors.