William Allen
Bill Allen currently lives in Lutz, Florida. He previously lived in Bend, Oregon. He is a certified hypnotist and brain training coach at BrainPilots.com. He believes that male sensitivity is not so rare, but it can be confounding for most males living in a culture of masculine insensitivity which teaches boys and men to disconnect from their feelings and emotions. His intent is to use this blog to chronicle his personal journey and share it with others.
William Allen is an author with a writer’s heart and researcher’s mind. After getting a degree in Psychology with an eye on doing psychology research, he recalibrated for a career in Information Technology. He found himself in a thirty-year career as an Information Technology manager at Wells Fargo who enjoyed managing highly intelligent, often difficult staff, many of whom were highly sensitive. He was awarded a prestigious Corporate Management Excellence award for his empathetic management style.
He retired early from his corporate job to found his Hypno-coaching and neurofeedback brain training business, BrainPilots, in Bend, Oregon. While in Bend, he co-organized the area’s first Introvert/Highly Sensitive Person discussion group. In late 2016, he began his blog, The Sensitive Man, about his experiences as a highly sensitive man. The blog became the genesis of his book, Confessions of a Sensitive Man. He feels that HSP males need to take their keen insights and intuition and make them public. He would like to shed more light on highly sensitive males and the much-needed role they need to take in our society.
In this episode, Bill and I discuss the evolution and function of the Highly Sensitive Personality Trait. A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a term used to describe the group of people who process information deeply – this includes emotions, thoughts and sensory stimuli. Like any personality trait, there are both advantages and disadvantages and exist as a spectrum. High sensitivity is often associated with creativity, empathy, and insight but also tends to mean they are more prone to being overwhelmed by stressors and sensory input. Being an HSP isn’t a bad thing, and William is on a mission to spread the word and help educate people.
As Bill explains, HSPs are often misunderstood in our modern times, and HSPs often feel undervalued, overlooked, or rejected by society – this can lead to feelings of aloneness, estrangement, and needing to ‘hide’ their true selves. This tends to be especially true of highly sensitive men who do not conform to normative standards of ‘ideal’ masculinity. William wants to change the way we think of what it means to be a man in today’s world. He argues that we should start to re-examine the values we attribute to ideal men and open the conversation to include the strengths of sensitivity, intuition, and insight.
Get A Copy of William Allen’s Books:
Confessions of a Sensitive Man: An Unconventional Defense of Sensitive Men
“Confessions of a Sensitive Man” was written for every man or boy that was told that they are too emotional. Masculinity isn’t defined by how much you feel, sense or experience emotionally. Twenty percent of the male population is highly sensitive, and this book is a starting point for them to become self-validated.
In many ways, this book was written by my older self for my younger self. It is with that hope that I offer this book to younger highly sensitive boys and men.
On Being a Sensitive Man: Success Strategies for Harnessing Your Highly Sensing Nature
On Being a Sensitive Man is the follow-up companion volume to Confessions of a Sensitive Man. It was written to provide strategies and tools for highly sensitive men to help them navigate their lives. The book discusses correct mindset, how to expand the comfort zone, dealing with change and strong emotions, right livelihood, calm the mind, and move towards self-acceptance. The book concludes with how highly sensitive men can be an impactful force in helping to change the role men can play in a troubled and complex world.
The book encourages Highly Sensitive Males to stand up for their sensitivity and the gifts associated with the trait. By developing a healthy mindset, HSP (highly sensitive person) men can exert influence in a world that is often insensitive to the needs of others. When HSP males can confidently accept the trait, they can walk with a correct flow for their nature. Learning to expand, not abandon, the HSP comfort zone will enable sensitive men to grow personally and socially. Recognizing that change is a necessary prerequisite for life helps HSP males boldly move forward.
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