Sabijn Arts is a registered psychologist and intuition coach specialising in HSP and is the creator of the From Head to Heart method for HSP.
Sabijn supports HSP & Empath Executives, Entrepreneurs and personal growth loving HSPs to overcome their HSP struggles, trust their intuition, believe in themselves and express their soul in life and work. She does this through private coaching, retreats and the Online From Head to Heart Journey.
Sabijn is highly sensitive, an empath and introvert herself too.
Considered a thought leader in the field of HSP, her work has been featured in Carolina Bont’s best selling book ‘Hoogsensitiviteit als Kracht (Highsensitivity as Strength)’ and Alexandra Heering’s, ‘Single Geluk (Single Happiness)’.
Sabijn has been interviewed for national publications including, Sante, Margriet, Libelle, Ouder en kind and Onkruid on a range of topics including intuition, self care, practises of gratitude, the power of vision boards, tips on raising hsp kids and much more.
💝 Key Takeaways
- What is intuition and why is intuition a strength of HSPs?
- What are the first steps in connecting with your intuition when you’re just learning about it?
- How can you trust and follow your intuition more?
- How to use your intuition as an HSP entrepreneur?
📚 Resources Mentioned
From Head to Heart Method for HSPs
🔗 Where You Can Find Sabijn
Website: https://www.sabijnarts.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabijnarts/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drs-sabijn-arts-061a329/
🌹 Rose’s Resources
[FREE] UpLevel Your Business Mindset Hypnosis
[FREE] Facebook Community for HSP Entrepreneurs
📖 (Imperfect) Transcript
We use Descript to provide this transcript which isn’t always perfect but wonderful all the same. (affiliate link 😃)
[00:00:00] Rose: Hey, it’s Rose and welcome to another episode of The Sensitive CEO Show.
And in today’s episode, it’s my absolute pleasure to introduce you to Sabijn Arts. Sabijn is a registered psychologist and intuition coach specialising in HSP. She’s the creator of the from-Head to Heart method, specifically for highly sensitive people.
Welcome, Sabijn. It’s wonderful to talk to you today.
[00:00:29] Sabijn: Yes, lovely to connect with you, Rose. Thank you.
[00:00:34] Rose: And I would love you to introduce yourself. I know I did a very short intro, but I’d love for you to introduce yourself and let the audience know whom you work with and a bit of your background, please.
[00:00:49] Sabijn: Wonderful. Yes. So my name is Sabijn Arts, and I live in the Amsterdam area in the Netherlands. I’ve been working as a psychologist since 2000. And from the start working with highly sensitive people, first with kids and parents and, later on in my journey, with adults. And now, I mainly work with HSP executives, leaders, and entrepreneurs, very much on alignment.
So bringing them back to who they are and sharing from that. So really, their innate—intention for life to reconnect them with that. And, what I see in that journey, and that’s also from that experience, is why I created the Head to Heart program. Because I saw that a lot of HSP entrepreneurs and executives, they want to live their potential, but because they struggle with their sensitivity, they’re kind of feeling stuck or not living like they would like to live or doing what they would love to do, feeling held back by insecurity or just the stress and demands of everyday life. And when they learn to really get clear on, Oh, this is how my sensitivity works, and this is what I need, and this is the kind of lifestyle I need.
And it’s much easier to step into the empowerment and the qualities of what you’re here to do and to share. And then I always get goosebumps when people get into that zone.
So, that’s what I most love to do. And in that, it’s all about also connecting, of course, with the heart space, with intuition.
So, I do the coaching and also in workshops or training. So different forms, but in essence, the same, the same concept or the same themes.
[00:02:59] Rose: Right. And I know that one of your big things is intuition and helping people with their intuition and developing it and discovering it.
Can you share with everyone listening today what would be the first steps to connect with their intuition if it’s something that they’re new to?
[00:03:22] Sabijn: It’s a nice question. I think it’s really important. Firstly, I think, to understand what exactly intuition is. When I work with people in the workshops, they’re usually like, Oh, is this intuition too?
So just to get a clearer frame of what intuitive perception is. And I like the definition in the Oxford dictionary. Like, okay, it’s the ability to understand something instinctively without a need for conscious reasoning. And, of course, we use our minds in everyday life. We use reasoning.
But your intuitive guidance is a direct, spontaneous, clear way of perceiving. So too, when you make that a little bit more practical, we use our senses, the sensory information your intuition communicates via that. So you can use your physical or feeling channel, your auditory channel, the inner knowing, and all the sensory entrances for perceiving. This is also how your intuition communicates with you. And, to look at it via a bit of a broader concept like that, people think, Oh, okay, I can perceive from this whole area, from inside of my being, but also the information that I perceive. So, for example, a thought could also be an intuitive impression or something you see or feel.
And it’s more about learning to differentiate between what is this, when it is intuition and when isn’t it. So to get in tune with the energy vibration of it. Then I think what might be nice to share for highly sensitive people, it’s a big strength. And that is because our nervous and energy systems are more attuned to subtleties.
And, by that, it’s easier for us to perceive the subtle vibration of intuition. Like intuition is a high vibrational energy. So like our body is a lower vibration. We perceive it as solid. When you look at lights, there are certain frequencies of light we can perceive, but we can’t perceive infrared, not ultraviolet.
And it’s the same with intuition. It’s a high vibration. So to be able to perceive that, you have to be attuned to this more subtle. This is a quality of highly sensitive people, and we use it already. We use a lot, like people say, Okay, when I walk into a room, and I notice the ambience, but that is clear, that’s a clear, intuitive impression.
And I don’t realise, Oh, is this intuition okay?
[00:06:13] Rose: I guess we take it for granted too; it’s just something that we, as HSPs, have grown up with. We’re used to it, and we just take for granted that it’s normal.
[00:06:24] Sabijn: So true. Very true. I see this all the time. And also with the creatives who are very, often very visually oriented.
They get these visuals all the time. Also, entrepreneurs, you know, have this idea, or they see in their mind’s eye where they want to go, and they’re real visionary and they, when they, we start on, their intuitive journey. They might not even realise, Oh, this is my clear visual channel coming up again and again.
So it’s nice to reconnect with that and get to know yourself. And then it’s much easier to start to recognise, ah, this is my intuition at work here.
[00:07:15] Rose: And you mentioned that it’s getting in our heart space. Is it always our heart space where intuition comes from, or is it different for different people?
[00:07:27] Sabijn: Yes, it’s very different for different people. So I always, when I help people connect with their intuition, it’s all about finding your way. Learn to get to know yourself and connect with how you perceive information. And so when you’re very analytically oriented, you might get these very clear ideas, for example.
And for someone else, it might be in the gut. And for someone else, it might be that I get only signals from my environment, like a conversation, something I hear, or something I see in nature. So, so that’s, that’s what nice to explore and to play with. Okay, how does my intuition communicate with me?
And we have all been using it. And so what can help there is, for example, to look back at decisions you made in your life, decisions in which you felt like, okay, that was such a great decision I made there. And also maybe a decision in hindsight in which you felt like, Okay, this didn’t lead me in the right direction or made me unhappy, or I lost energy there.
And just see what led you to this decision, what channels you used, or how this information or decision kicked in for you.
Just take a moment to write down a few of those situations, and everybody who does that without needing to decide firsthand is this intuition or not; it’s just about how you make decisions. And usually, when you look back at it like that, then you start to connect with, okay, and that was my intuition kicking in and here I didn’t listen.
So you start to realise, okay, this is a yes, this is a no, and where does that resonate in my body?
[00:09:35] Rose: And so I’m guessing when you practice this, and when you listen to those signs, you get better and better, trusting yourself. Is that right?
[00:09:49] Sabijn: Yes, that is very much right.
I struggled a lot with that, and I think a lot Highly sensitives struggle with trusting themselves.
[00:09:57] Rose: Yes. That’s a big thing for us, isn’t it?
So I’d love you to share your journey if you are up for it Sabijn.
[00:10:08] Sabijn: Of course. I think I think there, I always, as a child, have been connected to guidance, like inner know.
But not in a conscious way. Of course, when I was young and very sensitive to my environment, like an angry teacher or just, you know, an ambience that was off. So when a teacher got angry with another child, I was the one at home still feeling that anger and not feeling, Okay. It could just linger on and on.
And, also had this sense of adjusting myself and not daring to assert myself, especially in my young adulthood; that was, I had a lot of struggles and just the journey of life to lose myself in situations and relationships, jobs, . . And when I look back, my guidance was always there, but I didn’t trust it.
I didn’t trust my feeling impressions, like, Okay, this is what I feel, and I can act on this. I’d never learned like so many of us, and maybe doubting your signals because. This is also what I see a lot for HSP is that when growing up, they see something and express it, and then the environment says, No, no, no, no.
I’m okay. And then, you start to doubt, Okay, but I feel something different. And you start to doubt your own, your guidance. So, because we are naturally attuned to our environment, it is, in essence, also a bit more difficult to choose you because we feel the consequences, so it takes a bit more time, and we can all learn that.
But it’s really like when you get into the habit of doing that. Everything shifts, but it was, so I think my main struggle then was getting more confident, listening to myself and daring to choose me. And in that way, also maybe disappoint others. Disappointing a manager or disappointing a boyfriend or,
[00:12:30] Rose: So puttingyourself first?
[00:12:32] Sabijn: Exactly. . That’s a great summary. .
[00:12:38] Rose: I’m laughing because I’ve been on the same journey as you. Right. And I wonder how many people are listening. I’d love to hear. Well, it’s the same as growing up feeling other people should be put first. And I wasn’t until I was probably in my mid-forties, I started thinking, Oh, hang on, I can put myself first. And that was foreign to me. And it felt awkward, to be honest. And it took practice, but I’m quite good at it now. I’ve had many years, but it was so, it was so foreign. Isn’t that funny? It’s just, I guess, the way that we were brought up or the way that society expected of us. It’s, fascinating.
[00:13:29] Sabijn: Yes, I resonate with what you say, like what is expected, and we’re sensitive to norms. So it usually takes quite some time, and all the pain surrounding that. I think that is, you know, this misalignment. My mission is to get people into that alignment again because it’s so painful to be out of misalignment.
So, and what you share is like, it’s so uncomfortable at the start. Like, okay, I’m, you know, choosing me now and then.
[00:14:08] Rose: It’s interesting, isn’t it, I’ve heard this a lot of times, that the way that we talk to ourselves, we’d never talk to a friend or a superior or anyone, the way we talk to ourselves and we get away with so much what we say and how we treat ourselves.
So putting ourselves first is hard. It is like a muscle building it up
[00:14:33] Sabijn: Exactly. . I think I was already also tuning into what you were gonna ask, wanted to ask. Is, you know, this natural, Being aware of the environment, this natural openness and alertness that we also have in the positive sense of experiencing the beauty and experiencing joy and all the beautiful subtleties and aesthetics in life.
But what we need to learn is to make it a habit too. During the day, bring our attention back into our centre, into your own body. So that’s a very simple thing you can practice during the day. Check-in with yourself and see where my attention is now, and just see if you can.
When you sit in a meeting or are with a friend, see if you can sit a little bit backwards, even place a hand on your belly, just centre back into yourself. And that can be a really easy step just to connect with what you are experiencing.
[00:15:40] Rose: I love that. That’s such good advice.
Brilliant. So, because this is a Sensitive CEO Show, I think a lot of the audience are HSP entrepreneurs. How would you suggest they use their intuition to help in their entrepreneurial journeys?
[00:16:03] Sabijn: I think when you are an entrepreneur, you are already using it because it’s not for nothing that you started your own business.
So trust that. So see and connect with, I always start with what’s already there because there’s always a lot. And connect with that so you can gain confidence from that. You don’t become an entrepreneur out of the blue. Huh? It takes courage. It takes an idea of what you want to bring and where you want to go, which is almost always connected with your guidance.
So, for your audience to realise, take a moment to be aware. Okay. How did I do that? And they will know then. Okay. I’m already kind of applying that. So you can learn from your own experience in the way you’ve already been using it. And then I think. Two more other things.
You’ve got the day-to-day decisions as an entrepreneur and kind of the bigger line, the bigger vision. For the bigger vision, I love to work and help people work with the vision boards or an intuitive journey to connect with what wants to be born and what’s the next step. For the next six months, next year, just to tune into, apart from your reflection and creativity, connect with the deeper layer and then visuals are a great way to kind of surpasse conditioning, doubts or patternings and really, also kind of maybe, let yourself be surprised by what comes up. So that’s a great way for, like, when you’re like, what’s the next phase or the next coming period on what I want to address. You can use a method like that, and there are plenty of examples of how you can do that.
But, when you want to make a vision board, try to make it from intuition. Like, have a meditation beforehand because otherwise, people get only onto the imagery, and the energy’s power is different. So when if anyone wants to know more about that, they can always send me an email.
But that the power of the vision board is really about the energy behind it, what sets it into motion. And then on a day-to-day basis, I think it’s, I mean, how many hours do we have?
I’ll try to highlight maybe two points here then, so I think the awareness of your own yes and no in decision making. It is key. So, for example, you want to decide, is this a program I want to join or is this someone I want to work with, or whom would I like to reach out to? Then it’s really helpful to know how you respond when it’s a no.
When you decide, Okay, I should not go there or do this. And when do you feel it’s a yes? So also, here you can look back at daily situations which light you up and which drain you and just see, okay, what, what do I experience then for me, for example, it’s like when it’s a no, I get drained or sometimes, when I want something and then when I get nervous, something is off, feeling in my belly, I know I need to listen like and something, then it’s like something I wish to happen, but it’s not right. And those are the most difficult for me to listen to, and then you have got your yeses like, okay, for me that’s, you know, really like this light bulb, light feeling like cheery. Yeah, this feels right or very peaceful. Still, I’m like a feeling being; for someone else, it might be different, like it’s just this imagery of yes or no.
[00:20:10] Sabijn: Or knowing a more neutral knowing. So to, get to know your language there helps make decisions.
And then the second point is the flow and resistance. Are you forcing things to happen when you, you know, using your willpower and wanting to make things happen in your business, and it’s not happening?
So. There needs to be a kind of this ebb and flow of your action and receiving action and receiving. And usually, when you’re connected to your intention and connection with your intuition, there is this flow going on. So, for example, I share my program with you, and I just trust you. It was a heartfelt sharing, not a sales sharing with you.
[00:21:04] Sabijn: You know, this is someone I’d like to connect with, and I’d like to broaden my international connection with colleagues in the field, and I trust that when it resonates, something will come back to me. And I kind of already knew that that would happen, but that’s my inner knowing.
That’s not even important for now. But when you are an entrepreneur, you can trust that when it’s really in this pure alignment. , then it’s impossible that something will not come back to you. It’s only when you’re out of alignment, so you can, when you’re trying to, wanting to make things happen, and it’s not happening, it’s not necessarily because you’re not doing what you’re supposed to be doing.
It’s not like your mission is off, but it might be how you address it. It needs a different form or direction, and you must be honest with yourself. Like, am I connecting with what works for me or am I pushing myself? And I think that’s the case for many HSP entrepreneurs too.
Like they think they need to do it a certain way. And then it’s not flowing, and they get burned out or, when they bring their attention back to themselves and listen, “ Okay, what is working for me? And I made these mistakes or I experienced everything. I’m sharing now.
And so to get this alignment is out of flow. Just check in with yourself and see where you are forcing, what truly resonates with you, and see where it directs you then. And then you will notice that when you act, and the right people will show up, or you read something, you say, Yes, this course, this is what I’m looking for.
[00:23:00] Rose: I love everything you said; Sabijn resonates so much. I know when, when I’ve done things before, Which I, I like how you pulled yourself up when you said mistakes because it’s not mistakes. It’s learning. It’s a learning thing. And it’s learning from things that don’t work. And I did things like that in the past, and I often felt tight in my throat and my chest area, but I pushed through because I thought something was wrong with me. So I just pushed through, and it wasn’t until I realised, no, I’m swimming upstream. I’m not doing what gives me joy that makes me feel good, that resonates. And once I realised that, I started going with the flu and doing everything that gave me joy.
Just fell into place. Everything just felt right, and everything I put out there and create now feels good because it’s coming from my heart. I’m not pushing it. I’m not doing it the way someone else taught me because it might work for someone else, but it doesn’t; not everything works for everybody.
[00:24:15] Sabijn: Exactly. And you can feel that, right? I can feel that in the way you share. I just feel that you’re sharing, and you trust that whoever connects with that will show up, And I think that’s the new way that very much aligns with highly sensitive people. Just their innate sense of empathy and integrity and, just this pure vibration, and we so need that in the world,
[00:24:45] Rose: We do and I’m just so glad that there’s so many of us out there. I didn’t know that there were so many highly sensitive entrepreneurs, coaches, mentors, and therapists. I just think it’s amazing, and it’s being surrounded by like-minded people that just makes life so much easier and more fun.
[00:25:08] Sabijn: So true. And I also think when, when you talk about connecting with your intuition, it’s so important to connect with like-minded people. I had a chat yesterday with a dear friend, and we just, you know, we talked about that sometimes it can also be lonely, on a really deep level, because we perceive so many layers throughout the day, but also, you know, in connection to the bigger field.
So it’s so important to be able to share about that and connect on that level with others, and that can also very much help you understand yourself and your intuition and inspire and support each other. I believe that you know, we—the HSP and empath, entrepreneurs and executives. We have an essential part, I think, in this and also in this period of time to bring this different way of being into the world and this integration of the values that we find important. And that mostly they’re all heart-based values. There is profit, but always connected to purpose and that imbalance in the world at all levels.
In the environment, in relationships, in politics, and economics. We are wired in a natural way to, to kind of show a way forward. So I’m excited that more people claiming that and stepping into that.
[00:26:55] Rose: It’s a wonderful time, isn’t it? It really is.
Well, we’re coming up for a time, and before we wrap up, I have one more question I would love to ask you that I ask all of my guests, When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?
[00:27:15] Sabijn: So, that’s a great question; so in case, you know, when I’m severely overwhelmed, this happens to me too, right?
Even after having a lot of experience when I’m severely overwhelmed, I love a great massage that brings me back into myself. Or just being in bed with Netflix and the curtains closed? That’s, you know, at the end of the continuum and, at the start, it’s just like my daily, I try to incorporate these moments during the day, so I prevent being overwhelm.
So, that’s connecting with my intuition in the morning. Being in nature a lot. Having a coffee in a nice cafe. Just these regular breaks of being and connecting with myself, and when there’s light overstimulation, I think I just look for ways to clear a little bit of my workload or daily to-dos.
Just see what I can clear away from my schedule to create some space. I’m an introvert too, so it’s nice to create some solo time then, but of course, that’s different for everybody. But that helps me.
[00:28:43] Rose: I love it. Love it. Well, thank you so much, Sabijn. It’s been wonderful talking to you about intuition today and all the wonderful insights you’ve got to share with everyone.
And I’ll pop all your links into the show notes where people can find you and find your beautiful course. and thank you again.
[00:29:03] Sabijn: Thanks a lot, Rose, and it was lovely to connect with you. You too.