Episode #39: The Power of Presence and Quiet for Highly Sensitive People with Anna Forsline

A conversation about meditation, silent retreats, and how HSPs can find their authentic selves.

Welcome back to The Happy HSP Podcast. I’m your host Kimberly Marshall, and today, I’m joined by Anna Forsline, who is a coach, facilitator, and highly sensitive person who helps other HSPs reconnect with their intuition, reclaim their personal power, and live in alignment with who they truly are.

We talk about the power of meditation, what it’s really like to attend silent retreats, how to live authentically, and the deep inner shift that happens when we honor our needs instead of abandoning ourselves to fit in.

So, if you’re an HSP who’s wondered how to reconnect with your true self and what’s the big deal about going inward during quiet meditation, then this episode is for you.

I hope you enjoy it!

Kim: Anna, thank you so much for joining me today. It’s so great to meet and see you.

Anna: Likewise. So great to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Kim: Yeah. So, the first thing I’d love to know about you is your personal journey with high sensitivity and how you found out and what changed for you with that realization.

Anna: Oh, my goodness. There’s so much there. I always knew there was something different about me. I was very observant and inward and really connected deeply with dogs and cats and babies in nature and avoided chaos and hid from big energy. And it was just always something I thought was strange about me, but in time I realized, oh, there’s actually not something wrong with me. And I discovered, first of all, I’m sure this is probably a common thing for HSPs, Susan Cain’s book, Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. And that was the first realization. It was validation of, oh, being an introvert doesn’t mean it’s bad. It was always like, “Oh, you’re too shy. You’re too this, you’re too that. Why can’t you be more like this?” And, that sort of gave me permission to see, oh, it’s okay to recharge and be quiet.

It’s okay to not be able to join in on all of the social events. And then fast forward through some illness and big changes in my life and loss and doing very deep work, I found meditation practice, retreats, silent retreats. And it was there in the container of quiet that I really noticed how much I absorb. And that got me down a track of reading books about empathy and Judith Orloff’s The Empath’s Survival Guide, and realizing that I was absorbing so much energy from other people that I was having trouble feeling my own and getting lost along the way. And so that became part of my work, my personal work of growth and healing and transformation. And then fast-forward again to discovering Elaine Aron’s work and watching that movie, I mean, oh my goodness, tears. And it’s just like, wow, okay, this isn’t something wrong with me.

I wasn’t broken as a child to be so shy. And yeah, just leading to a recognition of this is actually a good thing. This isn’t something that’s broken.

Kim: Yeah, I hear you. And it’s so funny you mentioned meditation. It’s like when we make that space for quiet, it almost becomes a new part of us that we crave more of. I don’t know if that was your experience. Was that your experience? You mentioned meditation had such a deep resonance for you. What was that like?

Anna: Oh, my goodness. It was so powerful. It felt...I went to my first silent retreat, a six-day retreat when I was going through some really difficult times and wow, that was hard. It was really hard. And being in that container with a very skillful teacher and silence, being with other people who are doing their work, it was such a release. It was so freeing to be able to just be and to not take on other people’s emotions and to just...It taught me...I went on one or two every year for 12 years now, and it helped me practice with and create this space for myself. It used to be I would step into retreat, and it was just this, oh, thank goodness I can put my phone down. I can be around people who are just deep or just in it.

And my sensitivities would sharpen. I would notice leaves and light and birds. I’m a photographer and everything would just come out at me, all this beauty. And it felt like magic, honestly, and really hard. You’re open, and then that also releases emotions that you’ve been holding. And it’s a very healing process, and people often need support around it because a lot comes up. But yes, it was such a relief. And then early on, you leave that safe container, and everything just feels so overwhelming. You feel the ...Even just driving home from the retreat, it’s like, “Oh, a car’s coming from you.” It’s just like traffic. And everything just hits you. But there’s something about the contrast that you really learn from. And it’s like I used to think it was the retreat that gave me permission to be in that space, but over the years it’s like, I’m going to make that space here right now.

And it’s not the same, but it’s the feeling you get from it, the freedom, the openness, the connection that’s possible that doesn’t need a retreat to be.

Kim: Gosh, that makes so much sense. And it’s funny, I do meditate often. I try to do it at least once a day. But, what you mentioned there, I don’t think I’ve been able to put words to. It was just like when you’re in that space of quiet, yeah, it’s almost like you kind of let the outside world melt away, all the demands on you, everybody’s energy is what everybody wants and expects of you, and you’re just being yourself and you’re just in the moment. And I feel like we don’t get a lot of time like that to ourselves without all the bombardment and the noise and the chaos, and we’re just ignoring such a deeper part of self. 

Anna: Yeah. It really gets overlooked. Or I think one of the challenges about being highly sensitive is that, well, it’s a gift, but it’s also a challenge of being so receptive and absorbing the energy around us that sometimes we will read the energy of a room or energy in a dynamic, and we’ll match it. And in doing that, maybe it leads to self-abandonment really of, “Oh, I’ll match you. I know how to match you. I know where you are.” But then you can get on these detours where you’re just following someone else’s energy, and you realize sometimes, gosh, years down the road that, wait, this isn’t actually authentic to me. I’ve been sort of following along. And I think that’s the beauty of finding space, and whether it’s meditation, whether it’s hiking, whether it’s being at home, reading a book, finding that space to really tune into yourself and into your intuition and holding it.

I think that’s the power of those concentrated practice times is that you really do get practice, making space for yourself when no one’s projecting on you, no one’s bombarding you, no one’s talking to you, you’re free of the judgment from others. There’s judgment in your head about what you’re experiencing of doubt, right?

Kim: Let alone our own judgment.

Anna: Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, I’ll say sometimes I’ve said the silent retreat is the loudest place in the world because it’s when you have to deal with your own thought processes and thoughts, but then you realize you can have a relationship with it and it’s not who you are.

Kim: That’s such a beautiful concept because it’s almost like the distraction is distracting us from ourselves and our inner voice. And everyone’s craving this sense of intuition and direction and higher self, yet we’re so caught off from it because our minds are so busy. But I think the scary part is when you do quiet the mind, and you are faced with your own thoughts, there’s things that you have to work through, which could be the reason that we avoid this work.

Anna: Yeah, exactly. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. Yeah. And I’ve certainly needed a lot of support over the years staying with it because there is a temptation to, “Ooh, this is getting hard.” It was easier to do this, but in the long run, isn’t it easier to live from our authentic nature rather than keep chasing whatever it is out there that we’re trying to fit in with? And yeah.

Kim: So, what is your sense of authenticity? How would you describe authenticity, and what was that journey like finding who you are as a highly sensitive person or in general?

Anna: Wow. Yeah, that’s a big question. And I think my journey as an HSP has been a windy road. It’s like this, you take a step in, you take a step out. It’s like you’re stepping into a pool into the deep end and you know the deep end is where you want to be, but it’s all about self-awareness and self-discovery, tuning into what feels right and what doesn’t feel right. Soaking up the moments when you know something’s resonating like, Oh yes, this, more of this, that’s authenticity, that’s alignment.

But then we can get caught on a detour, caught moving in a direction that maybe is exciting, but there’s something in us. There’s this intuitive voice that unfortunately does get covered up a lot. And I would expect that HSPs maybe experience this more because other energy is just so big. But there are times when we say yes, when our body is really saying no, or we feel this little, something’s not quite right here, but there’s this old conversation that says, Oh, that’s probably just because I’m really sensitive.

That’s probably just because maybe I’ll feel comfortable with this in a couple months.

Kim: Yeah.

Anna: Does that resonate?

Kim: Yeah. And it’s like you kind of already knew that it wasn’t going to go well, but you’re like, “Oh, let me try it anyway.”

Anna: Right. There’s maybe some self-doubt of, oh, it must just be me. And one of my practices as I’ve moved along this path is valuing that intuitive voice and trusting it rather than dismissing it. And instead of that conversation, that broken record of something must be wrong with me, I’m just different than other people, it’s probably just this to, there’s something I really need to pay attention to here. My intuition is telling me something, but you tend to ... I think I am better at managing my own emotions than other people, so I’m going to tolerate this because I don’t want to upset people because that’s hard to receive. So, I think we take these steps away from authenticity and then we dip a toe into it and it feels really good, but yeah, it’s that practice of coming back to that intuition and being more rather than less.

Kim: Yes. And as you’re saying that, I wonder if you can relate to this, because this has been my experience, is that when I’m practicing following my intuition, it almost took a while to see patterns to trust myself because I feel like people say, “Oh, listen to your intuition.” And it’s this concept of one and done. I know what I want and that’s it. I feel like it’s deeper than that. And I wonder if you agree because with me, it was like, Okay, I have this nudge, but I don’t know what’s going to happen when I follow it. Let me see what does. And it was a way to get out of that loop, that loop that we keep ourselves so stuck in all the reasons we can’t do things, all the reasons we’re not good enough, well, how do I step out of that and follow my intuition?

And it’s like you try it and then you have to let time pass to see, well, did that work out the way I imagined? It’s almost like a trial-and-error type thing.

Anna: Yeah. Yeah. We have to learn through experience and learn to trust, learn to trust our intuition, learn to trust ourselves. And it’s hard to do that when we carry so much self-doubt and questions of, is something wrong with me? Why am I different? My intuition must be wrong, but we really, yeah, it’s a practice. And like you said, that’s why I say it’s like this winding road of you...And I think as we practice, really deeply tuning into that feeling of resonance and rightness, if you will, when something feels right versus when something feels a little off, we do tend to then move toward things that feel good, and then it becomes more and more obvious that we can trust our intuition, but it does take trial and error, like you said. Yeah.

Kim: And one other thing I feel like was interesting for me was outside voices, like what other people think...It’s so funny, when I look back on big decisions in my life that pointed me in the right direction or the wrong direction, it’s like I did know what I wanted. I knew what I felt was right, but I let others talk me out of it or plant that seed of doubt. Maybe this isn’t a great idea. My dad says that this is foolish, or my best friend thinks I’m crazy. And it’s like, but wait, no, that was really what I wanted.

Anna: Yeah, right. And as you were talking, I could feel the energy of, and it resonates with me that other people’s opinions and energy somehow seem bigger than the energy of our own intuition.

Kim: They know better. Right.

Anna: And so, isn’t it amazing? Wouldn’t it be amazing? And it is if we make our voice bigger or at least the same, at least carry equal weight. And I think that a lot of that comes from, at least in my personal experience, being that quiet, observant, held back kind of person and used to holding that energy for myself because I didn’t feel like people were matching me ever. I was always matching them, unless very special circumstances, there was quiet connection where I really felt seen. But I think there comes a point when we can make our energy powerful. We have to see it first. That’s that self-awareness practice, that’s what meditation has helped me with, is seeing it, owning it, valuing it, and being it. So, I’m not in the shadow anymore.

Kim: Standing in your own light, in your own power, in your own knowing who you are, what you want, what you can provide. There’s no more doubt, not no more doubt, but it’s quieter maybe.

Anna: Yeah, exactly. It’s still there, but you can say, Oh, I see you. I see you, and I know what I’m doing. Let’s try. Yeah, it’s developing a relationship with that. And I think meditation, mindfulness practice really can help us see what’s happening so then we can hold it. And there are other ways, lots of beautiful practices too to work with that. Yeah.

Kim: So, you help HSPs now in recognizing these things, right?

Anna: I do. Yeah. It’s just part of the winding road and moving into the deep end. Something really shifted for me when I discovered HSP empowerment communities and podcasts, and I saw, wow, there’s a lot of big, beautiful energy out there trying to help elevate HSPs who maybe have been in the shadows because it’s not the HSPs who are out posting all the time. I mean, there are some, absolutely, but it tends to be more extroverts.

I know there are extroverted HSPs as well, but anyway, HSPs aren’t the focus of social media. And so, there was a lot of resonance when I discovered the work that was being done around empowering HSPs. So, I couldn’t help but dive deeper into that. And everything really started coming together for me. I am a healthcare provider, and I’ve been a clinical audiologist for years, and I just love my relationships with my patients and helping them.

We do a lot of rehabilitation and just helping people get through challenging situations and empowering them to move into what they can do and giving them the tools to do that. And so, my experience as a clinician, I’m a mom, just the way I tune in to people, and then all of my meditation experience and facilitation trainings within the Dharma world, and it just all became very clear that I want to take my experience and apply it to more than just audiology practice.

So, I actually started a coaching practice this year as a side project, and I’m really excited about it because one of my favorite things in the world is to sit in deep spaces with people and feel that energy of connection and inspiration and insight and see what people do with it. And just there’s an energy that we can build when we’re together and an energy that we can share when we’re together.

And it’s just been incredibly, it’s been valuable to me to share that space with practice communities, with mentors, teachers, and now offering it myself.

Kim: You mentioning the word energy, and I’m curious, energetically, what does that do for highly sensitive people when we come out of our shell, we find this supportive community, what can that do for us? And in terms of our energy, in terms of our life force, is that how you would describe it?

Anna: Yeah. Well, so what I mentioned earlier about picking up the energy around us and feeling small, feeling like our energy isn’t as powerful, there’s a disempowerment sense to that. And I think when we cultivate these conversations, and people can really tune into what lights them up, what am I good at? What do I want to bring into the world that energy builds into empowerment and inspiration.

And so, it’s moving from this place of limitation of, Ugh, I can’t do these things. I have to protect myself and I’ve been there. And it goes from this self-protection because I have these needs that aren’t really common. It goes from this limitation. I need to protect myself to this, what can I do? It moves it into this place of possibility and energetically, there’s a really big difference. There’s this small limitation, voices of limitation to this, whoa, there’s a lot of opportunity, there’s a lot of potential here.

And when you’re aligned with that, that’s where growth and transformation, and that’s when we can really own it, embody it, be ourselves, be bigger, and still be HSPs.

Kim: And still take care of ourselves.

Anna: Yeah. Yeah, just a stronger version. And switching to the, I take care of myself so I can be big, rather than I take care of myself because I need to need protection. There’s a place for all of it, and it’s that empowerment piece.

Kim: I so get you there. And I could almost feel the difference when you were explaining that because I feel like a lot of us, especially in the career space, we get so stuck in jobs we’re not happy in, and that’s when the looping happens. Well, I can’t find anything else. I have to make money, that kind of survival energy. It’s such a restrictive space.

But like you said, when you can open yourself up and think of it in terms of possibility and what I can do, it’s almost like an expansion and a lightness. There’s a difference in feeling. One is heavy and one’s light and exciting. And yeah, it’s finding out more about yourself and how you can stand in your own power in that way. It’s so liberating, I guess.

Anna: It really is. And it’s not about quitting the job, getting a new relationship. It’s not about making all these big changes. Like I was saying about retreat, being a container where you’re given permission to be deep. Even in the current situation, you’re a parent of young children, you have a job where you’re working 60 hours a week and you’re stressed out all the time. And one of the things I’m really passionate about is finding moments in a day where you can touch into that space. So, I do little videos and starting to do guided meditations and things that help people touch into those spaces because in day-to-day life, we can find those moments when we’re doing dishes or in a moment when we’re walking the dog, or there are ways to bring those moments into our day and change our experience.

Kim: I love that you mentioned that. I feel so deeply about this. It’s not about changing so much the outside world, it’s the inner world and the outside will change based on what you’re doing internally very much.

Anna: Yes, it will. Yes, it will.

Kim: But when you’re, like you said, coming home to yourself when you’re more authentic, when you’re respecting your needs, you just have a different way about you.

Anna: You do. And people notice and people notice, too. And then as you’re tuning in with that side of yourself and you’re touching into those things more often, your connections do become more authentic. I mean, if we’re connecting in the name of matching other people’s energy, are we really authentically connecting?

But if we are more in touch with that deep part of ourselves, then it just enriches everything. And we can become more present in our work. Maybe, we can look at our work and find those moments where we do feel that resonance. So, I mean, I know that awareness practice and meditation practice really affected the way I engage in my clinical job, creating a safe container, just being truly present. And it’s a practice. It’s a practice. But what a relief it is when we’re in a room with somebody who’s present with us.

Kim: Oh, we feel so much more seen, so much more understood. It’s a respectful presence. It’s respect for the other person to not be distracted or on your phone, which makes people feel ignored. Yeah, it’s not something everyone is able to do, but when you have that experience, it’s so much more fulfilling.

Anna: It is. It is. It feels like a true, like a real connection. And it’s not the norm, let’s just say. But as we all are practicing and touching into presence and being more present in day-to-day life, it’s just interesting to see what shifts.

Kim: We can all benefit from that.

Anna: Yeah. And it’s that thing about what you feed or what you water is what grows. And so, figuring out for each of us, what lights us up? When do we feel deeply connected? And it doesn’t...I know it’s very common, and I certainly used to do this and still admittedly to it. Sometimes we have to go away. We have to go to the beach, or we have to go to the mountains, or we have to get away retreats just to feel that spaciousness. And yeah, just an encouragement that I really do believe that that spaciousness is actually in us. We’re touching into it in us in that container. And it’s not nature that’s doing it to us. It’s nature that’s bringing it out of us. And can we bring that out at other times is the question. 

Kim: Beautiful. So, what would you say you struggle with when it comes to your high sensitivity? What might be challenging for you?

Anna: Well, overstimulation, overextension, right? Like I was saying earlier, it’s a quick trip to self-abandonment to be out there in everyone else’s energetic space. So, it’s a challenge to hold my own. And the story of “shoulds,” I should be like this, I should do that. One of the things I appreciate about awareness practice is just noticing when those shoulds come up and go, I am who I am, and it’s okay. It’s okay if I leave this event early. It’s okay if I come late. It’s okay if I say, “Hey, I want to see you, but can we meet for coffee tomorrow instead because it’s a big party or something.” So, I guess taking care of my needs and balancing that with the expectations and needs of others. Setting boundaries can be really hard when we’re so tuned into other people’s emotions and yeah, it can be really hard to know that you’re maybe disappointing people or affecting them in a “negative way.”

We tend to be people pleasers. Yeah.

Kim: And we care about how we make people feel. Yeah, we do. I do that all the time. I’m like, I know I want to say no, but it will make them feel bad, but I’ll be happy. Yeah, it’s a catch-22, but we’re always the ones that are used to helping other people feel comfortable. Yeah, there’s something to say for speaking about our own needs confidently and kindly and assertively.

Anna: Yeah. And that challenge of it’s so tempting to, I guess, sacrifice our own experience, our own sense of wellness for other people. So, we do the “right thing.” So we say the right thing and then we end up, I know I did, I end up with a lot of anxiety and health issues because I’m not taking care of myself and I’m not living from a place of authenticity and that certainly starts to build emotions on our part, like resentment or just wanting to push away and hide, and that doesn’t feel like that’s moving in the right direction.

Kim: Oh yeah. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to say no. It’s okay to share that you’re feeling authentically. You can still be loving, but like you said, you’re being honest. You’re not holding it in. That’s what hurts more our body.

Anna: Right, right. And we often do sometimes make that conscious choice of, I’d rather manage my own emotions than manage some sort of break in this relationship. But in doing that, there’s a break in the relationship because you’re not being authentic.

Kim: Totally. You’re so right. Yeah, we’re so used to fitting ourselves in, like you mentioned before, matching others’ energy to make them feel comfortable when it’s kind of a foreign concept, but like you said too, something that we practice standing in that own power, that own truth, our own authenticity and letting people rise to the occasion.

Anna: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And it is okay to let go of things that aren’t serving us or of energy that doesn’t feel right.

Kim: Yeah, you have our full and utmost, what’s I going to say? Our permission.

Anna: Yeah.

Kim: Not like we need permission, but sometimes we need permission.

Anna: Right. No, I think we often feel that we do. I know, I sure felt that way.

Kim: So, what do you love about your high sensitivity?

Anna: I mean, I do love just being deeply moved by music and nature and beauty and connection. And I love how I connect with animals and children and people in these deep spaces. I love how powerful just moments of silence are on retreat or in nature. Nature’s where I go when I need to just tune in and feel very grounded and centered. I just feel like there’s a magic. There’s an energy level. There’s a level of magic out there that I think we can tap into. And I’m glad that I see that doorway. I’m glad I can step in there.

Kim: Yeah, I’m with you. It’s like there’s a level to life that isn’t just the mundane, the normal, the natural. There’s something deeper. There’s something really magical about just being immersed in nature and things like that that really light us up.

Anna: Yeah.

Kim: Yeah. I’m with the magic.

Anna: Yeah. Yeah. It’s all about the magic.

Kim: Yeah. And what advice do you have for HSP to maybe struggling finding that layer of magic or the joy, the happiness in life?

Anna: I mean, I feel like it’s there for everybody. For everybody, it is there, that magic, that energy level. And I think self-care, self-awareness practices, taking care of ourselves, that’s where it has to start. Seeing ourselves. How can other people see us if we aren’t seeing ourselves?

I think we often will say, Ugh, I just don’t feel seen. People don’t see me. And one thing I’ve realized is that how are they going to see me if I’m actually not showing my authentic self? If I’m hiding behind, we’ve all learned what masks to wear to protect ourselves because we needed to, especially as a child. Well, gosh, and as adults too. And so yeah, taking care of ourselves so we can embody who we truly are and show up in the world and just noticing those moments of beauty and soaking them in and appreciating them like, Oh, I see that beautiful sunset and just going to breathe that in and enjoy it.

Just rather than let it be a, I noticed it. And yeah, just appreciating those moments of connection with others, with connection with self.

And that just reframing, if you hear yourself with a thought of, What’s wrong with me? Here I go again needing to leave the party earlier. Rather than noticing when I’m having that conversation and saying, “There’s something important that needs to be heard here.” And it’s actually, nothing’s wrong with me, but what’s right with me? What am I noticing? And taking care of ourselves in that moment rather than what’s wrong with me and trying to take care of other people’s experience. So just self-compassion, self-love.

There’s so many practices for sitting with that. So, I know for me, just consuming, just listening to and absorbing podcasts like yours, there’s so many wonderful resources out there, finding groups. There are groups, communities, in person, online. I’ve found spiritual practice communities, dance communities, places where I can show up authentically and to learn to be bigger, to cultivate my energy, friendships.

And yeah, there’s just so many resources out there. So, we’re not alone. We’re not alone out there, even though it could feel like that sometimes. And so yeah, just reaching out, checking into those communities. If you see trial memberships or there are all kinds of, there’s so many things out there.

Kim: Give it a shot. Feel free. Give it a shot. Yeah, be yourself. Put yourself out there a little bit more. That can be hard for us. I think our little bubbles. And I just want to also reiterate what you said. I loved the mindset shift. Instead of beating up on yourself for wanting to leave the party, you can even feel proud about yourself like, "Hey, I stood up for my needs, and I left. That’s awesome. Pat on the back for me.

Anna: Yeah. Yeah.

Kim: Just giving yourself permission to be yourself and put yourself out there.

Anna: Yeah. I had an experience recently where I did that. I left an event early and I remember I’m sitting in my car and I felt a lot of emotions all at once. I heard the, Oh, here I go again. And why can’t I handle all the noise? And then it was a quick trip to, it’s okay, building these reassurances, it’s okay. But then I was holding sadness too because I’d like to continue being at the party, but in that sadness and in that knowing that I need to take care of myself and it’s okay, there was just this acceptance and this, it felt authentic.

So, it’s not about pushing those voices of limitation away and saying, I’m taking to take care of myself and it’s going to feel great. It can feel hard. It can feel sad. It can feel lonely. And it teaches us that I like to connect with people, but that wasn’t the right place for it.

So maybe tomorrow I’m going to reach out and say, Hey, can we meet in this way? And then we’re moving in the direction of that authentic connection. So just to say that it’s not easy and it can hurt and it can feel lonely and sad, and those emotions tell us that it’s important.

Kim: You may have the sadness, you may have the disappointment, but you can also be proud of yourself in the moment. And yeah, like you said, it’s the authenticity that matters. It’s the being able to be yourself. But I love that you share that it’s not always the sunshine, easy, happiness. It’s like these things do bring up different emotions in us, and it’s okay to honor them all.

Anna: Yeah. Honor them all, welcome them all. And those emotions and those experiences are telling us something, telling us what we’re maybe longing for, what’s important to us. And rather than getting stuck in that example, getting stuck in the story of, I should have, I wish I, if only just if you tune into that emotion of, oh, I’m sad that I’m leaving because that friendship is actually really important to me and learning from it and valuing that connection. So not being sad about missing the event, but that’s actually really important, and I want to see that person when I can actually talk to them.

Kim: And it’s like I want to continue this in just in a little bit of a different way.

Anna: Yeah. So, we can still have that thing that we want.

Kim: Yeah. Maybe one-on-one, not so much in a group setting. It’s a way to share and kind of tip you off, what is this saying about my needs and what I want?

Anna: Yeah, exactly. And depending on who this person was that you were with at this event that you were sad to leave, if they’re a good friend, deep friendships are a huge source of support that you can even say, I was so sad to have to leave you, but I was feeling so overwhelmed. Can we get together a different time? And when I think of a few friends that could be, they would say, “Yes, let’s do that.”

Kim: Yeah, we’re friends. I want to honor you in that way. And if they don’t, well, then they’re not for you. So yeah, there’s a little bit of fear there, I think, for rejection. But again, the right people will rise to the occasion and in a better way for you than if you were to tag along in something that wasn’t comfortable for you.

Anna: Yeah. And in my experience, if you’re showing up with authenticity and presence, you become the one who holds the container that they then can match rather than the HSP going into this chaotic energy container, you can be like, I’m here. Let’s talk. So anyway, just taking some agency over setting the energy of a dynamic too. It goes both ways.

Kim: That’s the hidden strength that we have is highly sensitive people. Yeah, we can totally hold that container in a different way. I love that so much. Thank you so much for sharing that. And can you tell me a little bit, you were mentioning that you were leading events in Luminance in this platform. Can you share what that is and how people can follow along on your journey?

Anna: Yeah, absolutely. So, thank you. So, I do have a website. I don’t know, do you have a description on your-

Kim: Yeah, I’ll put

Anna: Something- You’ll put it in. Okay. Yeah. So, I do have a website. As I mentioned, I’m a photographer, so I also have a YouTube channel where I just do nature videos, contemplative nature videos that are just really fun for me to film and post. And yeah, so most of my coaching work right now, I’m doing within the Illuminance platform. So a community of HSPs that are learning and growing and moving into their potential and finding purpose. And there are some classes that people take in there and I’m leading events and helping to facilitate group conversations there. And I’m certainly available for one-on-one coaching as well. You can see all the links in my website and I think that’s it. Oh, I just joined Substack, so I’m playing around with making connections on there, and that’s been fun. Different collaborations coming up, and I’m excited to just start diving in deep with people, and in whatever way that is, I would assume that we’ll start doing some Substack groups.

And I would love to do some in-person meetups for HSPs. I live in Portland, Oregon. So, in 2026, there’s going to be a lot of, I think, growth in what I’m building with others and with these collaborations that I’m exploring.

Kim: Amazing. Anna, thank you so much, not only for the work that you do, but for joining me today and sharing this conversation. It was a real pleasure.

Anna: Oh, likewise. It was so great to talk with you. Thanks for having me.

Thank you so much for listening in on my conversation with Anna. I hope it reminds you that the more we practice turning inward during moments of silence, the more we begin to connect with and trust ourselves. And when we trust ourselves, we stop reacting to the energies around us — and start living in alignment with who we truly are.

Until next time, take care

About Anna Forsline:

Anna Forsline (pronounced Forslynn) is a coach, facilitator, and HSP who supports Highly Sensitive People in reconnecting with their intuition, reclaiming their power, and moving toward living in alignment with who they truly are and with what they want to bring into the world.  In her practice, Threshold Shift Coaching, she guides people who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected into deep self-discovery.

Threshold Shift Coaching was shaped by Anna’s own healing journey, over a decade of mindfulness and meditation practice, facilitator trainings, and her experiences in providing compassionate care to patients throughout her 25-year career as an audiologist.   She brings a deep embodied presence to all of her work and creates a safe and supportive environment where growth and healing become possible.  Her favorite thing is diving into deep spaces with people and opening up the doors to discovery, insight, and connection.  

Anna can also be found posting on YouTube and Substack — and is available for free discovery calls and one-on-one coaching sessions.   

Since recording this episode, Anna has transitioned to doing most of her work directly with clients via one-on-one Zoom sessions and is also developing supportive content on her YouTube channel and website.  You can find out more information about her and her work at www.thresholdshiftcoaching.com.

Follow along on Anna’s journey:

Website:  www.thresholdshiftcoaching.com 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thresholdshiftcoach

Substack: https://substack.com/@thresholdshiftcoach

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About Kimberly:

Kimberly Marshall is an ICF-certified Energy and Intuition coach for highly sensitive people (HSPs) and host of The Happy HSP Podcast. After 20 years in the publishing industry working for companies like Time Inc., Monster.com, and W. W. Norton, she left her corporate career to pursue work that better suited her HSP needs. She now helps HSPs reconnect with their intuition, energy, and soul’s purpose so they can live gentle, heart-centered lives in alignment with who they truly are.

Through her work, Kimberly hopes to shed more light on the reality of living with high sensitivity and inspire more HSPs to embrace their empathetic, loving, and gentle natures.

• Hosted/produced by Kimberly Marshall

• Edited by Fonzie Try Media

• Artwork by Tara Corola