Guest Post

Our Sensitive Empowerment Community founder, Julie Bjelland, and I have been in a continuous state of joy since the publication of our first book in our new children's series, "The Adventures of Niko, the Highly Sensitive Dog." We are designing the entire series to support sensitive and neurodivergent children, their caregivers, and their teachers—and "joy" is an important word and ingredient in our process!  

My heart felt so happy when Julie recently shared how much she enjoyed our year-long journey to create our first book "because we stayed in our window of joy the whole time." I love the phrase she chose, "window of joy," so much that I wanted to share a little bit about what that means - so that you can create your own window of joy for whatever project you are dreaming up.

3 Ingredients for Joy!

1) Release the time pressure!  Nothing is worse for an HSP than feeling backed into a corner in any way.  We never want to let anyone down.  I know for myself that I cannot access my intuitive gifts and allow ideas to flow if I have to create something in a big hurry - especially the yucky, heavy feeling that someone is waiting for me to finish something, and I might disappoint them if it isn't done ASAP! Julie and I gave each other as much time as we needed to brainstorm ideas from the beginning.  She allowed space for me to write segments of story drafts and dialogue when I felt waves of creativity flowing - not under any "deadline" we imposed for ourselves.  When I would share drafts with her, it was always with the understanding that she would read through them and make changes or suggestions at her leisure whenever she felt it was the right time to enjoy our project.  We have done the same thing with our amazing HSP illustrator, Barbara Dessi, allowing her to take as long as she needs to give us the first sketches of the characters we ask her to draw.  It has felt delightful to all three of us to have time pass by and find fun gifts of creative bursts of writing or drawings arrive in each other's inboxes and feel each other in a natural flow state.

2) Take as many breaks as you need!  As we created book one in our series, we each took time off to care for ourselves.  Whenever one of us had an important life change going on (both Julie and I sold our homes and relocated to new cities during the process, as well as other important personal events going on for ourselves & our families), we took the time we needed and fully supported each other's self-care.  We gifted the same support to our illustrator when she needed family time or a creative break.  One thing I learned from Julie during a wonderful class she taught on how our HSP "super-computer brains" work is that an HSP doing "nothing" is not doing nothing!  A well-rested HSP can get into their own "creative flow state" and accomplish amazing things.  Many of us in our 50s or older were raised by parents who grew up in The Great Depression era, where their parenting message often was that resting was "lazy" or "unproductive."  This idea was well-meaning but is very counterproductive to a creative HSP soul.  Creativity feels joyful, and everything feels easier and more joyful when we are not feeling overwhelmed or burned out.  So give yourself full permission to rest - especially whenever your eyes glaze over, and you are staring into space feeling fuzzy.  That is my signal that I need a warm cup of tea and possibly a nap (but not at the same time!)

3)  Laughter!  Are you having fun while you are creating?  Are ideas flowing, and are you feeling joyful about what you are working on?  Julie and I are very serious about helping sensitive children. We carefully consider the storylines in our books, infusing them with characters thriving and embracing their common sensitive traits.  But we also do it in a very fun way!  Julie shares sweet stories with me from when she was little about the adorable animals she had on the farm where she grew up to inspire story ideas.  She sends me delightful photos or videos of her amazing dog Niko doing something fun at the beach or with his toys to give me ideas for nuances for Niko's character in our books.  I write bits of dialogue that make me smile and laugh and then send them to her to see if they make her smile, too! I try to craft our settings and characters interacting infused with whimsy in a way that will bring joy to our little readers and their parents.  Once, she sent me a video of baby goats jumping and playing in the hay so I could see what it felt like when she was a little girl, and my creativity was ignited, and I wrote a whole chapter (coming in Book Two) based around those adorable little goats! Our extroverted character Blueberry came directly from the joyful laughter my daughter and I had when she was researching their delightful mating dance with their happy blue feet!  When I took my happiest memories from my own childhood and how my favorite books were my best friends, our shy little calf Buttercup emerged.  Julie and I, sharing our life experiences in an open and happy way, have let these stories come to life.  Our goal is always to give many moments of joy to the whole family at story time and to feel joyful while we are creating!

I hope these ideas help you stay in your own "window of joy" while you and/or your collaborators shine your HSP light out into the world!  

To find out more about our joyful book series, go to www.SensitiveNiko.com

Carol Huckle co-authors the new children’s book series, The Adventures of Niko, the Highly Sensitive Dog, and co-hosts “Intuitive Parenting” events inside the Sensitive Empowerment Community to support caregivers of sensitive little ones.  As a volunteer Children’s Librarian leading pre-K through 5th-grade reading groups, she often wished for books with characters that reflected the unique traits of bright, sensitive children.  An introverted child, Carol’s favorite books were her best friends, inspiring the character Buttercup.  Buttercup’s passion for research was inspired by Carol’s daughter, whose literary explorations discovered the unique, joyful dance of the blue-footed booby.  This inspired the wonderfully extroverted character Blueberry.  Carol is thrilled to collaborate with Julie in creating characters that celebrate being their authentic, unique selves!

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Host of The HSP and Neurodivergent Blog

Julie Bjelland, LMFT, is a mom, licensed psychotherapist, and founder of Sensitive Empowerment. She specializes in supporting sensitive and neurodivergent individuals. Julie is dedicated to spreading awareness about the value of neurodivergence, fostering understanding and acceptance of differences, and teaching tools to reduce vulnerability to mental and physical health challenges. Recognizing the importance of early education and tools, her heartfelt children's book series featuring her sweet and sensitive dog, Niko, provides essential support to help children flourish. Autistic and sensitive, Julie drew inspiration from her experiences to create the character Juju. Explore her extensive resources at JulieBjelland.com.