More about Your MenPathic Traits

Just as Spider-Man’s pre-cognitive spidey senses’ tingled when he sensed villainous or threatening behavior, so it is for MenPaths.

More a feature of our empathic side, MenPath’s often experience similar pre-cognitive signals that alert us to a threat or something that has historically triggered a negative reaction within.

It might be a sudden fogginess in our thinking or a state of hypervigilance that sends a chill down our spine (both of which I’ve experienced).

They may also manifest as a pre-cognitive knowing that I call hyper-sensory-perception or HySP (the more complicated explanation by neuroscientists is that mirror neurons are more sensitive in MenPaths than in our brethren).

“Yes, I knew that already”

Hyper-sensory perception (HySP) embodies just one of our menpathic superpowers. As the list below illustrates, empathic and HSP men aren’t always like the stereotypical Type-A aggressive male.

We tend to be more Type-M (as in MenPathic), a lot quieter, and more reserved than our more aggressive counterparts.

Dr. Elaine Aron, author of the seminal book The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive When the World Overwhelms You, perfectly characterizes the menpathic male with this memorable mnemonic, D-O-E-S.

Menpathics exhibit or experience all of these in various degrees:

• DEPTH OF PROCESSING - We overthink everything compared to others. We think deeply about even the most mundane things. We process details while not always being in command of them.

• OVER-STIMULATION - We tend to become overstimulated by excessive noise, some crowd settings, uncomfortable clothing, light, negative energies, scents, etc.

• EMOTIONAL REACTIVITY - Empathy might be one of our superpowers. Still, it doesn’t feel that way sometimes, especially when we absorb the bad moods of our boss, spouse, a gesticulating driver on the freeway, or when we’re hangry.

• SENSITIVE TO SUBTLETIES - We don’t miss much and key into life’s minutia most of the time, even tuning into smells and sounds others aren’t aware of.

My former Southern California co-workers would laugh each time I came out of my office and asked if anyone smelled cigarette smoke. Apparently, I was the only one who ever smelled it. 🙄

Although we appear to have an ESP-like ability, HySP is more readily explained by neuroscientists as the cumulative effects of our unique nervous systems perceiving and interpreting data that non-empaths aren’t aware of and comparing it to what we’ve observed in the past.

Our uniquely evolved neurobiological and behavioral systems perceive the most minute visual and verbal cues, such as changes in body language, emotional states, and other micro-observations that others miss.

Despite how it works, we menpaths experience a sense of knowing about the motivations, intentions, and feelings of others most all the time.

MenPaths are Different, and That’s a Good Thing

Here are some ways that menpaths differ from our non-empathic and HSP brothers:

• We are highly sensitive individuals

• We absorb other people’s emotions

• Many of us are introverted

• We are highly intuitive

• We need alone time to recover from over-stimulation

• We have highly-tuned senses

• We absorb negative energy like a sponge

• We know things before others do

• We’re sensitive to scents or music and often associate them with past memories or experiences

• We can be very uncomfortable in social situations and require solo time when we reach our social limits

• We can see right through most people, especially bullshitters

• We react to narcissists, and Type-A’s like Superman did to Kryptonite

You’re made of heroic stuff

Who needs to leap over tall buildings when there’s so much good we can do just by being ourselves?

Though we identify with and feel the physical and emotional side effects of our unique traits, if we choose to shift our focus from inward to outward, from how we feel to how we can help others feel better, we can use our empathic nature to deeply listen, intuitively understand the concerns of others.

“This might seem difficult at first, but with a focus on serving others we find more comfort within our empathic and HSP lives.”

As Dr. Aron explains, it’s by re-framing our negative experiences that we can turn them into positive leverage points for greater contribution.

Given this is possible, why would we want to spend our lives wallowing in the negative side-effects of our empathic and HSP nature when there is so much awesome power inside us just waiting to be celebrated and expressed?

Click here to learn about transcending your limitations and embracing your superpowers…