Highly Sensitive Pets & Highly Sensitive Pet Parents with Shannon & HSP Coach Jane Marie

Are you a highly sensitive person? Does your pet have the trait of high sensitivity?
   

Dr. Elaine Aron pioneered research into the survival trait of high sensitivity, a genetic trait people share in common with over 100 other animal species. 

However, if you are a parent or guardian to a highly sensitive pet, you are most likely not aware that your pet has the trait. You may even think your pet is just overly anxious, reactive or poorly socialized due to past trauma, abuse or rehoming.  

In today's episode, I talk with Jane-Marie, highly sensitive person and coach for highly sensitive people, about what it feels like to be a highly sensitive person in the world today.   

We also talk through the process of identifying if your pet is highly sensitive. As a dog mom of two, Jane-Marie unpacks her journey to discover if one of her dogs is also highly sensitive.   

In this episode you will learn:  

• The hallmarks of the highly sensitive person 
• The DOES framework for understanding high sensitivity 
• Self-care and coping strategies for highly sensitive people  
• How to help your highly sensitive pet de-stress and unwind 
• Ways to find support as a highly sensitive being in this world  

✨ Jane Marie's website

✨ HSP Community of Asheville, NC

✨ Dr. Elaine Aron's work on high sensitivity

✨ Free Highly Sensitive Pet Help Guide ✨

Transcript

Shannon Cutts: 0:12

Welcome to let's Talk to Animals. My name is Shannon Cutts. I'm an animal sensitive and intuitive, a Reiki master practitioner and an animal communication teacher for pets and their people and for our purposes. Today I'm also your friendly neighborhood host for the Let's Talk to Animals podcast. And here at Let's Talk to Animals we are in season five and we've covered a lot of ground. I've interviewed intuitives and healers and holistic practitioners from all over the world, but the number one, fundamental goal remains unchanged we aim to demystify, to de-woo all things inner species intuition.

Shannon Cutts: 0:52

When you get a vibe from your pet, is that the real deal? Are you making it up in your head? Who can do animal communication? What are some of the different pathways that can lead you down? And, in fact, on that note, today I have Jane Marie from Asheville, North Carolina, one of the prettiest places on the planet in my opinion and she is a highly sensitive person, a highly sensitive coach, and we're unpacking the possibility that Jane Marie is also a highly sensitive pet parent. So we're going to have a chat today about what is high sensitivity. What does that even mean? And if you're listening to this and you're kind of something in your gut or something in your heart or something even in your brain is going Ooh, that sounds interesting to me. It may just be that you're going to find yourself in today's podcast episode. So keep listening and, as you listen, if you start to get some spidey sense, if you will some vibes that maybe we are describing some traits you're seeing in your own companion animals, your pets definitely keep listening. We're going to unpack all of that today. So, Jane Marie, welcome to the show.

Jane Marie: 2:10

Hi Shannon, thank you so much for having me.

Shannon Cutts: 2:12

It's so good to connect with a fellow highly sensitive.

Jane Marie: 2:17

Yes, yes, I feel the same. It is a sense of relief really to just know that that is a shared quality that we both have.

Shannon Cutts: 2:29

Absolutely. And for our listeners who are tuning in today, maybe they're even finding Let's Talk to Animals for the first time. They're not sure why we're talking about highly sensitive. So let's just take a moment and unpack that. And if you could just share a little bit about how you discovered that you were highly sensitive, what that term means for you in your life, and just share a little bit about your story.

Jane Marie: 2:59

So our listeners can get to know you. Yeah, of course, thank you for that invitation. So highly sensitive. To describe myself is different from that story or that rhetoric heard as a child of being too sensitive. When I discovered the term highly sensitive person, I identified with it, but I didn't actually dive into all of Elaine Aron's research or any anything else out there. And then, once I did, what it really meant for me is an understanding of of why I'm so interested in subtle energies, why I'm so interested in the chakras, why, like why, so many choices that I've made in my life are the way they are. It allowed me to step outside and around and peer in at who I am in a different way. That has been really empowering and really helpful.

Shannon Cutts: 4:00

So for those of you you mentioned Dr Elaine Aron and for those of you who are not familiar, could you just share a little bit about her work, Kind of maybe give some folks some direction if they want to research that a little more.

Jane Marie: 4:16

Yeah, sure, I'd love to. So Dr Elaine Aron would be in the world of high sensitivity for people and, honestly, opening the door for animals as well, is the main researcher. She's the lead researcher and discovering that it's a trait that is not only found in humans but also in over a hundred different animal species and of course, it comes down to something that science can magnify and equate and qualify to make that a publicly acceptable and known thing, which we're calling a trait here. But of course, on a personal level, it's our lived experience. Personal level, it's our lived experience.

Jane Marie: 5:03

But on the science side, when you look at the insula, it's just in the center of the brain. It's more active for highly sensitives than it is for non highly sensitives, and so she really spearheaded this research and has paved the way and everyone calls it like the book. You know the highly sensitive person. So if you are curious, look up Dr Elaine Aaron and start with the Highly Sensitive Person, her first book that she wrote about it, and on her website are lots of resources, blogs and different directions that you could dive down a rabbit hole and find yourself in. But it comes down to what is more commonly accessible today, because we can't all end up in an MRI machine to see what our brains are doing Right To read through the acronym does so.

Jane Marie: 5:55

D is the depth of processing, o is overstimulation, e is emotional reactivity and or empathy and S is sensitivity to subtleties and like when you're not in the scientific culture, this culture of science and research. Emotional activity might sound a little jostling and or overstimulation, but the it's pointing to a nervous system and it really comes down to how you're taking care of your nervous system that you may reach overstimulation you pass that threshold sooner than a non-highly sensitive person and emotional activity is as much as the, the depth of pain, as it is the high uplifting aspects and euphoria of beauty and light. So it's, you know it has that dichotomy in it, but that that would be a good little overview about it, I think.

Shannon Cutts: 6:55

Yeah, that's a great place to start.

Shannon Cutts: 6:57

I remember finding, of course, you know the the wonderful Google algorithm, and how it'll just pop things out at you that you're like wow, I didn't know I was looking for that and I remember coming across her work and the first book I encountered was the Highly Sensitive Person in Love, and that was when I was going through a particularly tumultuous time in my long-term relationship that has since dissolved. Talk about opposites attract, and just I remember finding my way from the book over to her website and taking the test and scoring quite high on all the different attributes and realizing, wow, you know, it's like that Lady Gaga song born this way. Yes, yes.

Shannon Cutts: 7:38

And it was very affirming and kind of relieving, for lack of a better word, like oh good, there's a reason for why I am the way that I am.

Jane Marie: 7:49

Yeah, I, I totally. That resonates with me a lot and I, I do it. For me it was the same. It was relief I think her website is what I found first and went, went down that rabbit hole which she'll take you to a couple of videos on prime, and definitely same puts the pieces together of the puzzle.

Shannon Cutts: 8:08

Absolutely, and so, would you say, as a highly sensitive person, because I think this is where I get a lot of questions from my pet parent clients in my animal communication practice, where people confuse anxiety or reactivity, regardless of species, with sensitivity, and when we started our chat today you referenced that there's this stigma and especially for those of us who grew up in a certain era where it was more pronounced, it was like oh, grow a thicker skin, don't be so. And it's so interesting, don't be so sensitive. And it's like you know. I wish I could turn that down, but could you speak a little bit, cause it sounds like you went through that as well.

Jane Marie: 8:57

Yeah, oh my gosh. So my sensitivity as a child. I have a lovely parents with no patients, so it wasn't the easiest. It would be handled in a way like you're just tired, so that carried with me into adulthood, into misaligned relationships Like this is. This is a reason I'm just tired To see that sensitivity as as as the flip side. It's not something I'm going to tone down, it's something I'm going to turn up because it will guide me, it's something I'm going to listen to and express because it's the direction my body is needing to go in. It's something I need to trust and so it really allows that language to flip when you discover it's not easy for everybody, but for me it really was like a light flip, just like done, that's it Like. This is who I am and I have a sensitive nervous system and I am sensitive to energetic subtleties and nature and the elements and I love that and I'm not too tired that when that comes up there's something misaligned or something draining me, and it's something to listen to.

Shannon Cutts: 10:08

There is something in it. It's not fatigue, but just like it's not necessarily anxiety. It can manifest that way If we don't know what we're looking at. It sounds like you're seeking them out, almost like nature, like learning about the subtle energies, and I'd love to hear a little bit more about. Of course, you had your aha moment, or probably moments where you started to realize, okay, how I was parented or how I was perceived as a child in groups, or even how I perceived myself for a time. That's not who I am, but now I know who I am. Now I need to set up my environment, my relationships, my life that play to my strength, and so it would be really helpful to if you could share some of the ways that you do that, some of the things that you found helpful.

Jane Marie: 11:02

Once we're out here, the conditioning start. Even while there may have been relationships that were misaligned like that, I had enough sense to have a side life and be in that space through my yoga practice, through my studies in Ayurveda, and be in that lane as well. It actually made me reorient my business because I realized I was calling in highly sensitives already. So that was a pivot and it was like trying on that perfect shirt or sweatshirt which is like, oh my gosh, this is the best fit ever. So it it did draw that change and in regard to space and and and setting things up, because we had, you know, recently, not too far off, gone through a pandemic and I uh, yeah, I off, gone through a pandemic.

Jane Marie: 11:55

And I, uh, yeah, I'd gone, yeah, I'd gone through a divorce, I'd gone through a very deep Valley. I had leaned so heavily in my practices and Ayurveda and yoga and subtle energies and chakras to maintain a homeostasis within myself through all that that I didn't have much to reorient, it was more. It honestly felt more like a magic wand, like I'm doing this in alignment. And here's my wand to like make it sparkle a little more, because I am sensitive and this is why I'm choosing this, whatever it may be. You know, I think it just kind of gave me that permission slip that I needed because I already had per, my dose of life, you know, my serving that I had got and switch so many things around to draw myself into the alignment that I knew I needed to heal through that. So it kind of just became, yeah, that kind of glitter sass that we all want in life, just like, and that's quite it.

Shannon Cutts: 12:56

This is my special sauce. Well, I love that. On your Instagram, by the way, please do go and check out Jane Marie. She is under the handle the H S P way on Instagram and it's fun because you do, you add a dose of sparkle, you add a dose of glitter and it's like a splash of special reframing how we see our potential as highly sensitive people.

Shannon Cutts: 13:26

If we have, let's say, we want to listen to music and we could listen to it almost at zero, which is a very low volume, we can listen to it at 10.

Shannon Cutts: 13:34

We have the whole range to choose from, and I know in my own life it's become more about learning how to adjust the volume for different sensory inputs, for different relationships in my life, and learning that it's safe, healthy and good for everyone for me to take the lead in that If something is overwhelming, if it's too loud, if it's too bright, if it's too fragrant, if you will, if the energy of someone else that I'm keeping company with is a little too aggressive maybe not not be the right word, but just palpable then I can take the lead and I can adjust, because when I don't do that, everyone tends to suffer, if not in the short term, then in the long term, and when I do do that, what it looks like is a lot of behind the scenes, like what you're talking about working with your subtle energy centers, working with Ayurveda, working to develop relationships with other highly sensitive souls who naturally self-regulate and don't question it when you do.

Jane Marie: 14:43

Yeah, and I love that image of tuning. You might be in a busy place where it's not the space to speak up, but in the spaces where it is, it's like you can really allow that part of you to speak and advocate for the space, for the people, for whatever, for the animals, for whatever.

Shannon Cutts: 15:03

The given scenario is I love that For me, like behind the scenes, means I kind of have a daily routine. I've learned that my highly sensitive, highly aware nervous system does thrive with some structure underneath it. We'll start out with the morning meditation and I do some guided breath work and some visualizations. And you mentioned yoga. I'm a fan as well because I need to move my body, and not necessarily nothing against this. But I went with my mom to her gym a few weeks ago and there was some class going on and just the volume of music from outside the closed door, like I wanted to run out of the building. So just even understanding like what kinds of exercise work for us versus what might be overstimulating, and just kind of gravitating towards the stuff that feels good.

Jane Marie: 15:57

And and just even like, taking into account that, like I think of chess players, right, and then they burn 5,000 plus calories a game or something we're processing on the time. And exercise is important. Obviously, keeping your body well is important, but thinking of that exercise and outlet is, as something you said, of matching it to a place where your nervous system is going to appreciate and benefit. I same, absolute same.

Shannon Cutts: 16:23

And keeping hydrated, and I think you had a post on your Instagram even about snacking and about blood sugar, and it's like that sensitivity, that inner awareness for me. I've found that it covers all the whole spectrum of life experiences. I'm highly aware when I'm hungry. I'm highly aware when I'm tired. I'm highly aware when I'm dehydrated or when I sat for 10 hours.

Jane Marie: 16:47

Yeah, yeah, and honoring it and learning that and same going through that experience of understanding how different you will feel when you have a night routine, when you have a day routine, when you make time to have that self-care ritual in place. It makes packing the snacks easier, it makes time for a walk mean more, because you know the benefits and I do think any non-high, highly sensitive person would benefit from the same exact thing. But, like you said, it's like where the dog whistle, the. You know, when people are fatigued to be like yep, well, I brought snacks and I have enough to share. You know to be that that advocate for, for the body and the and the space and the energy.

Shannon Cutts: 17:31

Absolutely so. Speaking of pets, speaking of dog whistles, you are also a pet parent, mama. You and I were chatting a little bit before I pressed record, and talking about how you are discovering whether one of your dogs, one of your two dogs, may in fact also be highly sensitive, and so I'd love for you to share a little bit more about the temperament differences that you're observing. You haven't told me yet which one you suspect is highly sensitive, so I'm waiting to hear as well.

Jane Marie: 18:01

Yeah, the unveiling. This is the highly sensitive dog release right here that we're going to unveil. So I have two pups, both females. They're four years apart, the older one of course. I had her one to four and it was. There was no comparison. She was just my world then and of course I cared for her dear, dearly. And it wasn't really until I understood highly sensitive was an aspect of beings that all of a sudden not only did my life flash before my eyes, but her life flashed before my eyes.

Jane Marie: 18:37

And when she was a babe getting shots, she had reactions. I had to rush her back. I had to navigate her anxiety in vets or in a doggy daycare and advocate for her in a very different way than I had dogs prior. They just had a different season of life. I adopted them both at about one and a half years old and they had their hardships in life before they found me. So our nurturing relationships just gave a different sort of life to both of them and I didn't dabble in doggy daycares with them or anything. So this was very different for Batman and for me to advocate for her.

Jane Marie: 19:15

But one thing that stood out not just the sensitivity to the dosage of shots and vaccines. But if there was something on her you might draw attention to you know you want to check your dog instead of a bump or what is that. It was too much attention, it was too much focus on her and she would shake and she also didn't have a sense. She didn't have anyone to model how to reset her nervous system. So she didn't have a good dog shake either, and I of course you know some vets would prescribe gabapentin. I'm like this dysphoria is horrible for her, like I'd never want to do this again, and then prescribed painkiller. She had a tweaky kind of knee thing when she was a pup. Nothing I would ever want to give her per her response to the scenario. You know just how she's behaving. That's not what she's asking for and I could tell and really honoring that. So there's really specific. She was at a place that I'd never used before but they had a cam so I was like, okay, let's try this. And they had checked something in her mouth and I saw night and day. I said they did something to her, like something happened and I don't know what it is. And so the next four hours of my life is just really sad, you know, really sad for my dog in this situation I can't go and recover from because I'm somewhere else. So those moments really really make an impression on you. And I asked, I said, oh, we looked at something. I was like, well, that's exactly when she shut down.

Jane Marie: 20:46

And if you're not there for your animal to help them reset their nervous system and they don't know how to yet do it on their own, then I think a lot of people do and I saw this from that say that they have anxiety. You can put them on Prozac X, y and Z, but for her I mean, she's my baby, you know, and I know getting her out on a trail without a leash, you know, where she can just find freedom and be herself, she's great, the trail. If she hears something before I do, which it's probably usually common they hear like 10 000 decibels higher than our, 10 decibels higher than us. They hear more than us and like she knows to look at me and and listen, like she's just very in tune with that messaging and awareness and cautiousness. When she was younger she'd always put her chin on the cushion first before asking to come up. She's just sensitive to the space around her, asking for permission and so, like I said once, I realized high sensitivity is in beings. Of course that was like this is Batman. Of course, like that was like this is, this is batman.

Jane Marie: 21:57

And when I brought avi into our life, her name's avigail. She is. She's just that vibrant life that she does get scared of things and she's part chihuahua mix. So I think she actually thinks she's smaller than she is sometimes because she's actually 20 pounds, so she's not itty-bitty. But she naturally had a good shake out. She had a natural reset and has taught since batman to have that more, that reaction more readily at hand for her and so, and watching the difference between the two of them, avi just does bounce back a lot quicker and and that, you know, does better with both of us there. I think a lot of times she does great when it's just dogs, like she'd prefer all dogs in her life all the time. I'm like I can't. You're like an honorary dog, exactly. I'm like I do my best. Yeah, I hope that's not too long winded, but just really.

Shannon Cutts: 22:53

Not at all, and in fact, it really intrigues me when you're talking about the shake out. This is something that I talk with my pet parent clients a lot about. It is very important for all beings, not just dogs, not just non-human animals, but I'd love for you to explain a little bit more about what you're seeing for anybody that doesn't know what you're looking for in terms of a nervous system system sorry, nervous system reset and uh yeah, yeah, it's that you know right, when you bathe your dog and they want to shake their coat out and get you wet, it's that same action.

Jane Marie: 23:31

But you want to look for the lips, nice and loose. You know you want to see their teeth and their gums as they do it, their ears are all relaxed and it's really from tail to toe, I mean nose to tail, the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, and you'll notice it after they have a bit of a run around with them, with another dog. You'll notice it in any kind of situation that when you start to notice it, you'll you you get an insight into their nervous system and into okay, that was too much, you know, and how can I do that differently? Or you know how can I coach you through that moment differently and be there for you. It's just really important. I'm sure all your listeners see those humans but the leashes and they use the leash to talk when you don't need to use the leash to talk. You know and you can. You can communicate in different ways with your animals. Watching that shake out is that communication that not only are they giving to their body but they're giving to you.

Shannon Cutts: 24:35

It's so interesting that you highlight that too, and I really love it because it's something that I had to learn how to do from watching animals. I was at a park somewhere and this hawk flew in and it grabbed hold of a dove. There I am kind of like wanting to go interfere with nature yet again. Well, I didn't even need to, because that crafty little dove figured out how to get away somehow from the hawk and I watched what happened next, as she just landed on the ground and did exactly what you just described from tip to tail. She just shook her whole body and she just shook it off and then it was like she kind of gathered her consciousness, kind of gathered her awareness. Again, for those of you who are watching the video version, you can see an example of me doing it really fun, and she just kind of was like okay, on with the rest of my day and what's so vitally important about this?

Shannon Cutts: 25:31

And if you are suffering from any kind of lingering anxiety or trauma in your past, whether it's due to being a highly sensitive person or not, you can give this a try, because you literally activate your lymphatic system, because moving the body is the only way we can activate our lymphatic system, which is the shadow side of the cardiovascular system. So you just move your body and that lets your lymphatic system know that it needs to get started moving cortisol out of the body. Cortisol is the stress hormone that can build up to toxic levels, and you just reset yourself. You're like okay, that's over, now I don't need to carry it with me for the rest of my day, for the rest of my life. And it's the part that we human animals, since we spend so much time up in our heads, we tend to forget that we need to do this because we've kind of left the greater food chain of life. We have these artificial lives and these artificial environments and a way we can kind of afford to hold onto our traumas.

Shannon Cutts: 26:31

Like that dove, if she got stuck and, oh my God, I was almost eaten for lunch and she was still ruminating about that at dinner, she wouldn't. She wouldn't make it to breakfast the next morning. You have to be, you have to shake that step off and come back to what's happening right now, or you're going to end up. If you weren't hawk lunch, you're going to be hawk dinner because you're going to be distracted. You're not going to be in the present moment. You're not going to be aware.

Shannon Cutts: 26:54

This is so important and I feel like many of our animal companions, because we're their primary mirrors and models and companions.

Shannon Cutts: 27:06

They don't remember how to do this and that's where we can bring in some of these other tools Dog yoga I've done goat yoga, it's wonderful, highly recommend it EFT tapping and other tools. I'm a Reiki master. We can move it through with energy, but helping our animals to get back in their bodies, to remember how it's all already wired to work, how it's supposed to work, and tune into their own instincts. It's like it's okay to just shake your body. It's beneficial, it's necessary.

Jane Marie: 27:41

Yeah, I love that description. And adjusting to get that cortisol to shift. You're not releasing it anymore, you're fleshing it out, it's. It's brilliant um point that you're making and it's been interesting watching her with two now in the house, right, um, she, her, her lead, it's allowed her to step into that leadership role and it's allowed her to step into a different space with confidence. You know not to say, if I took her to the vet, that she's like fearless, right, but uh, to, in our own private life, in our own spaces, I've seen her be able to have that mirror neuron experience with a like creature that's really been able to shift, you know, between between, like healthy walks, definitely freedom, like she just revels. She'll refuse a walk, but if I take her to a park where she can be free, she'll embrace it, you know, and she needs her own expression and it makes such a difference for her.

Shannon Cutts: 28:44

Absolutely and really honoring that because, just like our energy tends to change and shift depending on how those other individuals in our life see us, as a child growing up, I have a softer voice and I'm an introvert on top of being a highly sensitive individual, and so I didn't gravitate to being at the front of the line, at the head of the class, raising my hand and doing all kinds of things that other some of my less sensitive, more extroverted peers really enjoyed. That. Those weren't things I really enjoyed, and so I grew up with kind of an awareness of myself that wasn't formed from the inside out. I didn't really know who I was. I just knew that I wasn't meeting other people's expectations and that created the energy of what was coming to me from the people I was surrounded with my teachers, my peers, my friends.

Shannon Cutts: 29:44

We can feel that, even if nothing is said and I believe that our animals in fact I've experienced it many, many times that our animals have the same abilities amplified we don't have to say to them oh, why are you behaving like you're anxious again, or why do you have to be such a diva about everything or whatever might have been said to us as we were growing up. We just think it and that creates an emotion, and then our animals receive that emotional frequency and they tend to fold into themselves even more. And so just being able to look at our animals and just say, I see you for who you are, I love you exactly the way that you are and I honor you for exactly the way that you are.

Jane Marie: 30:28

I love you exactly the way that you are.

Shannon Cutts: 30:30

And I honor you for exactly the way that you are and I learn from you exactly the way that you are and I trust that you and I are supposed to be together and I am open to anything that you want to teach me about what you need from me, anything that you want to teach me about what you need from me, how I can set up your world so that you feel safe and at ease and confident and known and respected and loved for who you are.

Jane Marie: 30:59

Yeah, and honor it. Yeah, she's, she's just, she's a gem I mean they all are, but she's definitely like. She reminds you it's bedtime. She reminds you know she doesn't love highway sound, so she doesn't matter if it's like a huge car ride or short car ride, like taking breaks, you know, and grounding. She is a big grounder. That's another, I think, big qualifier for her is she once she gets out of the car or out of the house into the yard, she grounds, she rolls on that earth and she, she can't get enough. And, like you said, just being in the know of openness and curiosity and respect to them, and just like you said before, you know there's a fragrant that's too too strong or a sound that's too loud, the way she honors her nervous system and tells me what she needs as the reminder that I need.

Shannon Cutts: 32:04

Yeah, that's really critical to really recognize that, and so many of us I've discovered that when we are highly sensitive and when we are aware, other highly sensitive beings will naturally find their way into our world. Because we can see them and we allow them to be exactly the way that they are and we learn from them. We find our way through the world together and, in fact, I love that you have a group, a meetup group, for highly sensitives in Asheville. That sounds like something really fun to do. So I would love it if you could share a little bit more with our listeners about how they can reach out to you, about your local and your online offerings, ways that they can work with you, especially if people are listening and they have questions about. Well, I'm not sure I am highly sensitive, or I feel like I'm highly sensitive and I'm not really sure what I need to do in order to act on that and make some changes or some adjustments in my, in my world to play to my strengths.

Jane Marie: 33:15

Yeah, yeah, no, I think it's perfectly worded. And so you first asked about the meetup which everyone's invited, because I do virtual meetups as well, virtual book clubs. So the next book we are going to do is the book the Highly Sensitive Person. So that is on meetup. It's a platform, if you're not familiar with it, where you can search different kinds of groups and outlets, and this one is called the HSPs of AVL, which is Asheville.

Shannon Cutts: 33:47

I'll put it in the show notes of AVL, which is Asheville.

Jane Marie: 33:53

I'll put it in the show notes. Yeah, a lot of thank you. I would say a fair amount of members do realize exactly what you're saying. Like I now I know I'm highly sensitive. Now what do I do? How can I use this to play to my strengths? You come to that knowing when there's been a pretty big speed bump in your life and it sends you down that rabbit hole to understand what, what is going on and it will lead you to understanding this part of yourself. And so, as the life coach for highly sensitive people, that's really where I I show my strengths and supporting other highly sensitive people to navigate back to trusting their intuition and back to trusting themselves.

Jane Marie: 34:35

I always say we live in a do-it-yourself culture. That's true. And to what you know, to what extent are you going to keep going down that path? Like we also say, it takes a village, and that is why I'm such an advocate for getting support, whether it's a therapist, a meetup group, a coach, but finding a place where you feel that support so you can grow. It takes a lot to just nurture your seed. You know it's not. You're not the only one creating the garden. You have the soil and the water and the sun and the insects and the chickens and the sun and the insects and the chickens, like it's a whole, it's a whole loop.

Jane Marie: 35:12

You know it's like yeah, jumped in this loop and that's that's where I. That's basically a space, especially post-divorce career change or feeling that you feel that resistance, but you're ready to level up, you to grow, you're ready to expand. But moving through all the years of not understanding this part of you really helps to get support, to open that door even wider and let the leg fully in. So, as you said, I am on Instagram at the HSP way and my website is thisisjanemariecom. It's pretty easy, but those are places to just learn more about me. But I mean, don't be a stranger, just send a dm. You know, it's the to break down these electric barriers we create. Right, it's like it's great that I've been able to connect with shannon. We just connected through instagram and facebook and like look, here we are. You never know.

Shannon Cutts: 36:06

Exactly, yeah, exactly. Say hi, absolutely and just you know. Just spend a little time and see what resonates and if you find yourself getting drawn in at deeper levels, just understand that there's something calling to you. I don't have to have all the data. I don't have to go through the MRI machine be able to share a printout with somebody. I don't have to go through the MRI machine to be able to share a printout with somebody. I don't have to prove to anyone else that the highly sensitive personality trait, the genetic trait that applies to me, that that feels like a fit for me. I can just become more aware of what I prefer and how I respond to life and situations and I can make up my own mind, gut mind, heart mind as well as head mind about who.

Shannon Cutts: 36:56

I am and how I want to be in the world. Yes, yes. And so if something about today's conversation is drawing you to research a little bit further, to explore a little bit more deeply, then welcome to the club, welcome to the highly sensitive world, and.

Shannon Cutts: 37:19

I will also post some links in the show notes for how to reach out to Jane Marie and also how to access. I have a free highly sensitive pet help guide that you can access to guide you to explore this a little bit more deeply with your companion animals, just like humans. No, the scientists have not gotten around to survey every single species on the planet, but with a hundred and counting, you can bet that there are more. I have parented highly sensitive parrots and turtles and canines and there's a reason why and there's a reason why you're together, whether it's so that you can take a walk in your pet's paws or claws or fins or feathers and try on a different way of life for size, or whether it's because your pet is calling you to own who you are a little more deeply and express yourself fully and not hold back and not hide aspects of yourself just because in the past maybe somebody somewhere has let you know that that wasn't okay with them. It's time to be more than okay with all of who you are. Jay Marie, thank you again for being with us, hsp coach and potentially a highly sensitive pet parent. Of course you can find us.

Shannon Cutts: 38:42

Every two weeks we release a fresh new episode of let's talk to animals. You can find us at let's talk to animals dot buzzsproutcom or at let's Talk to Animals. You can find us at letstalktoanimalsbuzzsproutcom or at letstalktoanimalscom backslash podcast or everywhere that streaming services are available, also over on YouTube if you want to watch me act out the podcast on the video version, and we are so grateful for your time and attention. Let me know what topics you'd like to hear about next. Let me know what you thought of today's episode and what questions you have, and we can address it on a future podcast episode. And, of course, like subscribe share. It helps our little podcast work its way up the ladder, the podcastosphere ladder, and so we can reach more folks who are interested in what we have to offer, and I'm sending you all my love. I'll see you back in two weeks. Bye for now.