Interview with Maria Hill, author of 'The Emerging Sensitive'

Maria Hill is the founder of HSP Health and Sensitive Evolution. She is a lifelong explorer of the sensitive experience and the challenges of bridging the difference between sensitive and non-sensitive people. Her interest in wisdom traditions, and new developments in the understanding of patterns of human behavior and living provides a unique perspective about the value of the sensitive trait and the needs of highly sensitive people.

Her latest book is the self-help book, The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World.

For More Information

• Visit Maria Hill’s website.
• Connect with Maria on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Book:

Title: The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World
Author: Maria Hill
Publisher: BookBaby
Pages: 150
Genre: Self-Improvement

Having only been given a name for their unique nature a few decades ago, highly sensitive people, or HSPs, are finally able to identify their traits and connect with one another in new and beneficial ways. In her book, The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World, Maria Hill illuminates the path to self exploration and discovery for HSPs. Drawing on work of HSP expert Dr. Elaine Aron’s “DOES” model, Hill paints a vivid picture of the world as seen through the eyes of a highly sensitive person. She traces the roots of HSPs back to the earliest civilizations by following the evolutional framework of Spiral Dynamics as laid out by Don Beck and Chris Cowan. In doing so, she reveals the shifting roles of highly sensitive people in societies throughout the ages and exploring what the future holds as the culture shifts to a more HSP-friendly stage. Along the journey, Hill provides key insights and tools like the Whole Self framework of Bill Plotkin for highly sensitive people to take control of their lives and embrace their sensitive natures. With the guidance and resources contained within this book, HSPs can begin to discover and nurture their true potential.

                                      

Praise for The Emerging Sensitive:

“The Emerging Sensitive is an essential resource in supporting highly sensitive people in showing up in relevant ways, and not at a cost to them. The culture we live in has created many challenges to sensitivity and those who are more highly sensitive. Connection has created pain and therefore avoidance for many highly sensitive people. The cost to being present has been the sensitive self. But, it is changing. It needs to change further. I believe our culture will change the more highly sensitive people can join in and offer themselves genuinely, without compromise. I believe strongly in changing the way we all use sensitivity, and this book is a solid contribution to that effort. It is full of great resources to help a spectrum of highly sensitive people in finding their place and bring their gifts to light.”

--Ane Axford, Sensitive Leadership

For More Information

• The Emerging Sensitive: A Guide For Finding Your Place In The World is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life!  Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process.  Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning?  Where did you come up with the idea to write your book?

I have a website for highly sensitive people, Sensitive Evolution. In order to develop it, I conducted some surveys and also did some coaching calls. What developed from those explorations was an awareness that highly sensitive people do not see a place for themselves in the world and that they feared for their ability to support themselves. The perception is not unfounded but the situation is changing. So I decided to write a book that would help sensitive people gain some perspective on their nature, their challenges with capitalism and other cultures, and where their are new opportunities for them.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

That is a difficult question because I have been grappling with these questions my whole life so I am very familiar with the subject. I have also been researching patterns of culture and emerging cultural change including the emergence of cultural creatives so in some ways it was easy because I had accumulated a lot of knowledge over many decades. It would have been a lot more difficult if I had tried to write the book without the knowledge I have. I would recommend to writers to explore the topics that interest you on an ongoing basis. They will become books at some time in the future and your ability to write about the topic in an engaging way will be excellent because of your own investigation and processing of the subjects that you are interested in.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

I self-published through Bookbaby.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

Although it was a lot of work - writing any book is - it was not the ordeal that I expected it to be. I had the impression that getting a book published was difficult but it is not. However, if you want it to be a success you have to invest in creating a platform and ongoing marketing of your book.

Q: What other books (if any) are you working on and when will they be published?

I have not started my next books but I already have a new book on sensitivity in mind and several others in the back of my mind.

Q: What’s your favorite place to hang out online?

I have a couple of groups I belong to and some social media accounts I have developed. I spend most of my time working on my website, Sensitive Evolution, creating content and courses to serve the highly sensitive community. I share a lot of cat videos!

Q: What’s your nightly ritual before retiring for the night?

I have been meditating for more than 20 years using Transcendental Meditation so I do not have a winding down ritual at bedtime.  I go to bed at 9PM because I rise early. So I collect my cat, Kelly, who sleeps with me, take her upstairs, put cream on my face and hop into bed. I work hard so falling asleep is easy for me.

Q: Finally, what message (if any) are you trying to get across with your book?

I want sensitive people to start to see that there is a reason why the world is becoming more aware of them now and that they have a role to play in the new emerging egalitarian society. The world is in transition and sensitive people are also as we reshape is to be more rewarding for everyone.

  

Q: Thank you again for this interview!  Do you have any final words?

Thank you for having me. I am looking forward to the day when sensitive people are accepted. The geniuses of the world are often highly sensitive. Robin Williams was one. Many other genius artists are. We need all the different geniuses if we are to make our complex and difficult world work for all of us.