Some people, through their unique processing of feeling, are able to perceive things much differently than the rest of us. They may instantly feel someone else’s pain…taste shapes or hear colors…have extraordinary artistic, musical or mathematical talents… see energies around people…remember someone else’s life…or experience apparitions. These individuals possess a unique emotional heritage. We can learn a great deal about human development – and the unimagined contours of the world we live in – by taking their perceptions seriously.

“The dynamics of emotion serve as a gateway into extraordinary states.  This gateway is emotional and energetic.”

Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion, chapter 5

“One young adult with autism, when asked if he sees things differently than others do, responds emphatically: ‘I feel them different.’”

Sensitive Soul, chapter 4

“Hypersensitivity is an oft-noted aspect of synesthesia.”

Sensitive Soul, chapter 4

“Synesthetes may well be more prone than the general population to anomalous perception.”

Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion, chapter 9

“Virtually all prodigies have a finely tuned sensitivity to feelings – their own feelings as well as those of others.”

Sensitive Soul, chapter 4

“Seventy percent of apparent past life memories involve the recall of a person who had died violently or unnaturally.  The degree to which children show heightened emotion in recounting these apparent memories is a tipoff that something truly significant is going on.”

Sensitive Soul, chapter 4

“’Telesomatic’ refers to spontaneously feeling someone else’s pain at a distance.  Such experiences almost always take place between people who share empathic, loving bonds: parents and children, spouses, siblings, lovers.”

Sensitive Soul, chapter 5

“Feeling is ground zero for all sensibilities, all our perceptions, memories, dreams, and insights.  What we feel – especially if deep or intense – has the capacity to bridge what is physical, mental, and emotional.”

Sensitive Soul, chapter 7

“Hauntings are a physical phenomenon with a human face.  Poltergeist occurrences may be an extreme form of normal processes in the bodymind, especially those involving emotion.”

Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion, chapter 6 

“The bodymind and its energetic processes are what propel any out-of-body, near-death, or mystical experience.  People who undergo these experiences are likely to feel profoundly transformed: psychologically, emotionally, spiritually.”

Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion, chapter 12