Quiet

“Introverts may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while they wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.”

“The highly sensitive tend to be philosophical or spiritual in their orientation, rather then materialistic or hedonistic. They dislike small talk. They often describe themselves as creative or intuitive. They dream vividly, and can often recall their dreams the next day. They love music, nature, art, physical beauty. They feel exceptionally strong emotions- sometimes acute bouts of joy, but also sorrow, melancholy and fear. Highly sensitive people also process information about their environments – both physical and emotional- unusually deeply. They tend to notice subtleties that others miss- another person’s shift in mood, say, or a lightbulb burning a torch too brightly.”

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Managed to finish this book while in Chiangmai. An interesting and identifying read. Started off wondering if this would be a book which “make excuses” for “anti-social” people, or a book which dismisses extroverts as the lesser species, fighting for more people to “be” introverted as the right way to go. But it did none of that. She simply asserts that everyone, as different individuals, have our own strengths and weaknesses, and uses concrete research data to advise on we should play to them. Our neurological make-up also plays an important role on determining our personalities. More than trying to out-do each other, we all need each other to do well, mentally, physically and emotionally.

And Susan Cain really amazed me with this talk at TED – It’s only 19 minutes; Worth a watch as she summarizes her book wonderfully.