Dear Sensitive Soul, Do You Remember When...

I used to cry. A lot.

Remember that line from Hootie and the Blowfish, "I'm such a baby 'cause the dolphins make me cry"? (Yes, I'm aware I just labeled myself an "elder millennial" with that reference.)

Dolphins. Good books. Romantic movies. Animals dying. Vibrant sunsets. Emotional dancing. Human cruelty. Spiritual pain. Someone being generously kind and beautifully compassionate.

I still do often, and have learned to embrace my big feeling moments... but I've also learned how to regulate and care for my heart in this life as a sensitive soul.

Yet as I watch my little empath children grow I'm reminded of how this highly sensitive life holds such deep beauty and pain. Both in observing as they experience it and in the memories that come flooding back of myself at that age, this awareness surrounds us.

Do you remember when being a sensitive one was a treasure? When you were little, having a big imagination was something that adults saw as a sign of creative intelligence. Your depth of empathy for the animals was seen as a treasure. A time when creating imaginative worlds and believing in the mystical was endearing. When dreaming big was encouraged and you were cheered on as you did. When challenging your body and creating art was something scheduled into your every day activities.

Now, do you remember when that changed?

Maybe you had a peer treat you unkindly when your imaginative ideas were demonstrated. Or a caregiver told you to stop being so sensitive and quit your crying. Perhaps your tears were made fun of or your artwork mocked. Or maybe you just observed the world around you and recognized that our society seems to make sensitivity and vulnerability feel like a weakness rather than the immense strength it truly is.

I can recall being a young girl, a daydreamer who loved dancing and making music, playing with animals of all kinds and creating beautiful stories where good always prevailed.

Here's the thing...

I'm still that girl. She didn't just disappear. Just like your beautifully sensitive inner child... these are parts of ourselves that we've built upon and grown with. Some of us have had to stuff them down deep and keep them hidden to survive. But that part that is a key component to the very essence of your soul is still in there.

It's time to awaken them.

Let that soft strength and gentle power of empathy rise within you until it overflows. We already know this societal structure is not working. There are too many systems broken and corrupt, being overpowered by greed and selfish egotistical living. We see it every day. We suffer in it every day. But this isn't how it has to be.

Which is why it's crucial that now, right now, we take back our power and rise into being a mighty force of compassion in this world. That young version within me who believed good would prevail? I bet they live deep inside of your heart too. They know we are capable of creating the kind of world we envision.

Let's empower them to rise, together.

Love & Healing,

Ashley Kay

P.S. If this message resonated with you, click here for the release of the new book, Empaths at the Edge: Heal Your Soul, Awaken Your Intuition. and Become a Mighty Force of Compassion. You'll get a reminder when it comes available on the Autumnal Equinox (September 22nd) AND a free guided meditation to help you feel cleansed, refreshed, and empowered to embrace the highly sensitive within yourself.