Neurodivergent or Neuro-observant? - Examining Neurodivergent Tendencies Through a Different Lens
A comprehensive look at neurodivergence, including spiritual and energetic perspectives, and why this might be the next level of consciousness for humanity.
As a follow-up to my post about Coming Out as Autistic, I really wanted to dive into my views on where “neurodivergence” comes from - not only from an energetic/spiritual perspective, but correlating it to other symptoms/syndromes/disorders within psychology. This is going to be a comprehensive (meaning all-inclusive) yet informal meta-analysis of everything I know about psychology, spirituality, and being human (anecdotal/personal evidence) in order to explain what I believe neurodivergence is.
As a mandatory disclaimer, I am not a mental health professional (though I consider myself a “pro” at understanding the human experience).
Warning: This is going to be a long one, so grab a snack, a drink, go to the bathroom, and get comfy (this is mostly for you neurodivergents that will forget/put off doing all of those things once you start something).
Neurodivergent or Neuro-observant?
Besides the fact that I like how those two terms sound together as a title for this post, I thought I would start there because I’m already overwhelmed by how I’m going to be able to organize all of my ideas, and this is a good enough starting point as any to get into everything.
The idea behind this title is that one of the most prevalent and pervasive themes/characteristics of neurodivergence is a difference in information processing. I don’t just mean sensory information (sight, sound, touch, etc.), but information/knowledge in general. I think most people might associate neurodivergence with a deficiency/delay in processing information, when in reality neurodivergent folk are just taking in more information and therefore need more time to organize it as it comes in. Meaning, instead of their brain filtering out irrelevant/useless information and just sending manageable chunks of relevant information for them to use and store in their prefrontal cortex, a neurodivergent will take in all of the information and their brain will automatically try to see how it’s all connected without compartmentalizing it.
And not only do they absorb more information, but they are hyper-aware/conscious of how they are perceiving and using that information - hence the neuro-observance/self-awareness/metacognitive aspect that I alluded to within the title. So while a neurotypical person can focus on a task or idea and not let other stimuli or people’s attention distract them from their task, a neurodivergent is sensing everything while trying to get something done and simultaneously observing themselves, their own cognitive processes and performance, and (if theres someone else involved) what the other person is experiencing.
For example, if I’m having a conversation with someone, anything I experience is grabbing my attention equally while the other person is talking (and even while I’m talking). So all sights, sounds, tactile sensations, internal bodily sensations, emotions, and internal thoughts are simultaneously vying for my attention just as much as the actual words/conversation. That’s why, if I really want to make sure I am present for a conversation, you will see me staring at the floor or at nothing in particular in the distance. I might also physical “stim” (twirl my hair, tap my foot, rub my leg, sway back and forth, etc.) in order to provide my body with a predictable tactile sensation so other ones are less distracting. This is all how I try to control my senses so that more of my brain processing can be given to the words you’re saying.
But if I cannot tune out other stimuli…forget it. The next thing I know my nervous system is a mess because I’ve now tuned out some of the conversation and then I have to make the choice to either ask you to repeat yourself (possibly multiple times), or to continue the conversation while using logic to fill in the blanks, which only increases the mental load I already had. And the whole time that I’m managing external and internal stimuli, I am watching your facial expressions and body language to make sure I am mirroring you and giving you acceptable cues back so that you are comfortable and know that I am interested in what you’re saying. And then to top it all off, even if I managed to keep it all together and I know you walked away from the conversation satisfied and understood, I then have to process the whole experience and judge myself on how I came off, what I said, if you actually understood me correctly, etc.
I can probably go on and on about the intricacies of what I experience during a simple conversation, but I think you get the idea. It’s a lot. (Also, a note about needing routine, predictability, sameness, and other similar special needs within autistic individuals…I think of those tendencies as coping mechanisms. By organizing and controlling external stimuli and having certain things stay the same, I am able to use my energy towards adjusting to all the things that I cannot control. It’s a comfort and convenience thing that helps me stay regulated.)
The main point I’m trying to make is that I am so hyper-aware and observant of what I am experiencing and what other people are experiencing that it leaves very little room for the actual conversation or task at hand. That’s why even when I’m not talking to someone else, but I am doing something near them, especially if we are co-habitating, I am self-conscious and will find it very difficult to fully indulge in whatever I’m trying to do. Even if you’re a loved one and you don’t do or say anything to make me feel like I need to adjust myself for you, I will do it anyway and will not relax until I am alone and I know my existence isn’t affecting you. Essentially, perceiving someone else’s discomfort is harder to accept than any discomfort it takes for me to make them comfortable.
Okay, but what does this all mean? Neurologically speaking, the gray matter/subconscious part of the brain in a neurodivergent person has a more complex network of synapses that fire more frequently than a neurotypical person. So while a physical stimulus might trigger just a couple of synapses in a neurotypical person, that same stimulus can trigger 100 times more synapses in a neurodivergent (totally just speculating that number).
Spiritually/energetically speaking, that means the neurodivergent’s Crown chakra is extremely active and open. That accounts for how perceptive and self-aware they are, how they are able to see the connection between everything (all the time), and why it’s hard to compartmentalize information and experiences. I would say this also explains why pattern recognition comes very easily to neurodivergents…they are able to see the big picture, as well as details, so it’s easier for them to pick up on how seemingly unrelated things fit together - kind of like when you’re building a puzzle and you need to be able to see how individual pieces make up a larger image.
Speaking of chakras/spirituality, I might as well get to the next point - the Heart.
Empaths, People-Pleasers, Highly Sensitive Persons…Oh My!
Besides a very active and open Crown chakra, neurodivergent folk also struggle because of their very open Heart chakras. Having an open Heart chakra makes you extremely empathetic towards other people’s emotions, even to the point of experiencing them as your own. For example, if you’re near someone that’s sad as an “empath”, even without talking to them you might suddenly feel sad and not realize you were totally fine before you were around that person. The absorption of other’s emotions is so instantaneous and happening on an energetic plane that it takes years of practice to be able to discern when an empath is experiencing their own emotion versus someone else’s (they don’t just feel other’s emotions…once the emotion is felt it triggers the subconscious thoughts within the empath and will bring up their own personal thoughts/experiences…so they think the emotion originated within them, and it might stay with them long after they left the presence of the other person).
An active Heart chakra will also make any emotions that come up feel much more intense. And without proper guidance (especially as a child), trying to process such strong emotions can be debilitating. And not only is it debilitating - resulting in meltdowns, shutdowns, disassociation, etc. - it is usually the cause of a lot of emotional trauma. Imagine being a child and being hyper-aware of everyone’s emotions, trying to make sure everyone around you is happy, while trying to process your own feelings, and navigating the world with extra sensory needs (probably with zero support - especially if you’re a millenial or older)…it’s no wonder it is almost guaranteed that a neurodivergent person will deal with depression, anxiety, and Complex PTSD as an adult. They essentially grew up with completely open Hearts in a society that devalues, shames, and takes advantage of things like emotions, vulnerability, and compassion.
That being said, I’m surprised the correlation between people-pleasers, empaths, HSPs and neurodivergent folk is not more widely discussed, as well as the comorbidity of anxiety, depression, and CPTSD amongst all of those labels. To me it is very obvious that all of those terms are describing the same kind of person…which brings me to my more “woo-woo” theories about neurodivergence.
Buckle in.
The Relationship Between Starseeds, Light Workers, and Neurodivergents
So up until this point I have kept the more outlandish spiritual concepts/terms out of my writing because I don’t want to turn people off from the things I have to say. However, most of this post is diving into uncharted territory, so why hold back now? I said I was going to start unmasking when I came out as autistic, so this is part of that process. These views are part of who I am.
I’m not going to get into the history and theories of what Starseeds and Light Workers are because that is all stuff you can find somewhere else. But I do want to add these archetypes to the growing mix-bag of correlations to neurodivergence, so I will give you the bare minimum of what these terms mean.
A Starseed is a term to describe a soul that has lived many lifetimes in other star systems (usually more evolved ones) and chose to incarnate on earth in order to help humanity evolve/elevate their frequency. Similarly, a Light Worker is a more general term to describe any soul (usually an “older” soul) that is on Earth to also help humanity. Light Workers can include souls that lived as shamans, healers, sages, teachers, oracles, and any other label used to describe someone that is highly intuitive and connected to the world of Spirit. What both of these categories of people (Starseeds and Light Workers) have in common with each other and with neurodivergent folk, is that in everyday life they tend to “stick out”, be misunderstood, feel like an outsider, have a hard time functioning in today’s system/society, do not adhere to social norms, and are even upsetting to the more neurotypical person. This is because they see through the veil of illusions put in place and upheld by neurotypical/lower-level consciousness souls, and will have a hard time filtering themselves and what they say. They tend to cut to the core of who people are and will mirror back truths that not everyone wants to see/accept at the time. But by doing so they subconsciously open up people to higher levels of consciousness/perspectives, eventually leading to the overall evolution of humanity.
And I know that last paragraph might seem like neurodivergent people, Light Workers, and Starseeds are “superior”, but it’s just a matter of how connected they are to Spirit, Source, the Universe and the fact that they want more and more souls to experience that connection. There is no hierarchy in the dimensions that they come from, and they view every soul as equally important, valuable, and Divine. You can think of these older souls as parents who just want their children to grow, thrive, and be happy. They know that being connected to Spirit will ultimately lead to infinite joy and fulfillment, so they do what they can to guide people back to Spirit/to their authentic nature.
Neurodivergence and Authenticity
Speaking of which, Authenticity is said to have a higher frequency/vibration than both Love and Gratitude (previously thought to be the ultimate goal in vibration). And I bring this up because the other tell-tale descriptor of a neurodivergent (in my experience) is their inability to be inauthentic and to understand other people’s inauthenticity. For me, I found it very difficult to pick up on sarcasm because I communicate very sincerely. Of course I figured it out eventually (though I’m still terrible at delivering it), but throughout most of my childhood sarcasm would go straight over my head. It’s like I couldn’t perceive it. And not only that, but I found it almost impossible to lie. As I got older I was able to discern when it was useful to withhold or skew information for the purposes of protecting myself, but to this day it is very unnatural for me not to be sincere and honest with everything I say (and even though I mask, masking doesn’t include giving false information - it’s mostly about manipulating my physical and verbal expressions).
Therefore it took me a very long time (most of my life) to even understand and fathom that other people do not function this way. I kind of just thought everyone was at least trying to be sincere and honest. I didn’t realize there are people that consciously manipulate other people by pretending to have/share genuine emotions. Along similar lines, one of my biggest “weaknesses” is that I tend to give everyone the benefit of a doubt, which has allowed so many people to take advantage of me…leading to even more traumas...
But anyway! My point is that I believe neurodivergent folk are here on Earth because they are meant to help the rest of society get back in touch with their Hearts and connect to their Divine Authenticity. And I believe those with lower-functioning ASDs are even more connected to Spirit and disconnected to their egos, making everyone around them/those that care for them question what it really means to be a human and to love. Meaning, just because someone might be non-verbal doesn’t mean they don’t have the same emotional capacity/ability to give and receive love (if not more so) than someone that can express their love verbally. There are plenty of stories of how parents with autistic children ended up being healed emotionally by having to re-evaluate their old and narrow concepts and expectations they had for their children, and what it really means to love someone unconditionally.
Neurodivergence, the Nervous System, and Intuition
One of the last points I want to make about neurodivergent folk is how in-tune they are with their nervous systems and how that effects their lives. At the beginning of this post I talked about sensory needs/sensitivities and how much harder that makes it to function in this overstimulating society, but now I want to talk about the plus side/advantages to those same sensitivities. When given a more holistic framework and tools to manage those sensitivities, what was once debilitating can become a super power. In essence, I believe the more in-touch we are with our nervous system the easier it is to tap into our intuitive/psychic abilities.
Without repeating a lot of what I wrote about intuition in my other post (The Role of Intuition and How to Tune Into It), intuition relies heavily on being able to perceive very subtle changes and sensations in your body. Our bodies and our nervous system is how our Soul and Energetic Body communicates to our conscious mind. So if you are highly sensitive to both external and internal sensations/stimuli, you have a very strong potential for connecting to your intuitive abilities.
For example, I am quite sensitive to auditory stimuli. Not only do I pick up on very subtle sounds, but my nervous system is very attuned with auditory information. So that means I can easily manipulate my internal state (nerves and emotions) based on what sounds I surround myself with. “Coincidentally” one of my stronger psychic/intuitive abilities is my clairaudience - “clear hearing”. That means my Higher Self and other beings can communicate with me through music, words, sounds, etc. The same goes for my emotional sensitivities (me feeling my own emotions very strongly gives me the ability to recognize and tune into other people’s emotions on a very subtle level, which can also be called clairempathy). And most of all I am claircognizant, which means I can receive very complex, elusive, or abstract information without using my logical brain to dissect the information, which to me can be attributed to the highly active and complex neural network associated with neurodivergence. Yet without the spiritual/energetic framework of how intuitive abilities work, what I consider a “super power” is what other neurodivergent people consider a struggle or detriment.
Conclusion and Solution
Considering every point I made, my “conclusion” or theory about “neurodivergence” is that that is simply a term used to describe people that are highly-sensitive and intuitive. And they are highly sensitive and intuitive because they are old souls/light workers/Starseeds that have incarnated on Earth in order to help humanity evolve. And because they are here to elevate humanity and bring them back to Authenticity, they are equipped with very open and active Crown and Heart chakras, which allows them to not only connect to people as individuals at very deep emotional levels, but they are also able to see the bigger picture and truth of humanity and life in general. (And a trait I forgot to mention earlier is that these people will lack a strong ego, or sense of a separate self that is more important than another.)
However, because of their deeper knowing and connection to Spirit and the human experience/Heart, they struggle to function in a society that has yet to support and value these characteristics (and tends to only benefit competitive, egotistical, separation). Therefore they have accumulated many past-life and current-life traumas, resulting in anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and CPTSD. Consequently these people will tend to isolate, mask, or find unhealthy/destructive ways to self-medicate and adjust to living in this world. At the very least they will avoid socializing and expressing their truth or authentic self.
Furthermore, all of the characteristics and qualities I have described present themselves on a spectrum because every human being is completely unique and is born with their own genetic code. However, even though sensory needs, communication styles, and abilities will present themselves differently, they are still expressions of the same core. That being said, I believe anyone reading this was drawn to this post for a reason. You might not want to use any of these labels or might be turned off by some of the terms I used, but there’s a reason you made it to the end of this article. There is a part of you that resonates with the things I said.
That being my theory in a nutshell, my hope is that by putting myself and this perspective out there, anyone that resonates with my experiences, identifies as neurodivergent, or is currently struggling to understand how they fit into this world, will consider reframing why they are the way that they are and can find purpose in their experiences/struggles.
There are many more things I wish I could add, but I will have to let those things out over time and in different contexts.
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Side note: Obviously one of my “special interests” or “hyperfixations” as a neurodivergent includes spirituality/metaphysics/psychology/analyzing the human experience, and that’s why I cannot help but seem to over-explain and dive deeply into these subjects.
And a further side note about special interests within neurodivergent folk…it’s my theory that special interests (or the obsession of particular subjects) stem from many past-lives of experiences within that subject. For example, one of my longest-lasting special interests has been jewelry. From a very early age I have not been able to stop myself from obsessing over jewelry, I have had a very specific taste in jewelry, and I can’t explain where any of that came from in my childhood. I think that’s because I worked with jewelry in many capacities over many lifetimes, so it is something familiar and comforting that I am subconsciously drawn to that connects me to my unique Soul’s expression and purpose.
…Just something else to consider if you’re neurodivergent and have wondered where your special interests/hyperfixations come from.
