I know it’s been a really long time since I last posted.

But if you’re an introvert who has also identified yourself as an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) — I’d like to let you know about some things going on this fall.

A gathering of HSPs is scheduled in Phoenicia, NY in early October. 70% of HSPs are introverts. If you’ve ever wanted to meet others like yourself in real life, this is a wonderful chance to do that.

You can find more info here.

And you can sign up here.

For HSPs in the Pacific Northwest, there’s also a new network site for HSPs who live in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, and British Columbia. You can find that here.

And last but not least, if you’re not sure you fit the description of an HSP, but you’d like to find out, you can take a self test here.

I probably won’t make it to the NY gathering (although I know some great people who will). But I’m part of the Pacific Northwest group, and it would be fun to see some of you there.

I’m thinking of how sound affects introverts. Many introverts complain of noise – often in the workplace, sometimes at home. The other side of that coin is that extraverts seem to enjoy noise. You know how it is when you’re enjoying the silence and some well-meaning extravert turns on the radio.

At a meditation center, after twenty minutes of blissful meditative silence, there are always a few slightly hysterical extraverts trying to start a conversation before we even leave the room. Conversational gambits are not welcome as I try to hang on to the silence and carry it outside.

Music can be blasted at dictators to encourage their surrender and it can be sung to babies to help them sleep. The boundaries of these sounds are measured in Hz and decibels, but measuring a thing doesn’t explain it. Extraverts run to sound as if to an islet of sunlit joy, while introverts run from it as if from chaotic anarchy.

I think – and this is only a theory – that sound is an irresistible magnet to the “outer” world, which is where extraverts replenish energy and introverts spend it. Everyone needs to decide when and where to spend their energy. It might be that, for an introvert, only solitude can provide the power of choice respecting sound.

I can’t let the holiday get away from me before sharing with you an article, written by Dr. Elaine Aron (author of The Highly Sensitive Person): What to Do About Extravert Envy. Introvert herself, she has some interesting things to say about it.

Enjoy, and have a warm and wonderful holiday.