Our Sensitivities Connect Us in Joyful Ways!
Guest Blog by Carol Roesler, Co-Author with Julie Bjelland, LMFT of the book series for sensitive children: “The Adventures of Niko the Highly Sensitive Dog”
Featuring Aurora, the Highly Sensitive Rabbit, created by Dr. Judith Orloff
Learn more about Aurora in Dr. Orloff's new children’s book for sensitive little ones called “The Highly Sensitive Rabbit”
Travel back again to peaceful Sunflower Farm in this special blog post sharing how Niko, Juju, Buttercup and Blueberry celebrate the joy & connection of finding a new sensitive friend. Learn along with them about a wonderful cottontail rabbit named Aurora!
As Niko the Highly Sensitive Dog and his best friend Juju arrive to spend the afternoon relaxing at peaceful Sunflower Farm, they hear their pal Blueberry come running up the hill with his big blue feet, panting with excitement!
“Hey you guys! It’s so exciting - Buttercup has a new sensitive friend! She has a pen pal named Aurora. Aurora has really soft fur and a fluffy round white tail! Like a cotton ball! I saw a picture of her. She loves lookin' at the moon - just like Buttercup does! They write letters to each other about it! And guess what else?!"
Niko and Juju smiled as their blue-footed booby bird pal Blueberry caught his breath. With a huge grin he added joyfully, “Aurora lives inside dessert!!” Blueberry loved desserts of all kinds.
Niko wagged his tail happily at the fun news. He loved making sensitive new friends! He was glad to hear about their calf friend Buttercup having a new sensitive penpal friend named Aurora. But he wondered, tilting his head, "how can she live inside dessert?!"
Buttercup the Calf laughed softly as she arrived up the hill with a book tucked under her arm. “Blueberry got his words a little mixed up. Aurora is my cottontail bunny friend who lives in the DESERT. She lives in a different climate and area of the world than we do - it is called The Sonoran Desert. It’s not delicious dessert that we eat, but the desert is a wonderful thing too. It is full of special flowers and plants that thrive there in the dry air - like cactus that bloom magical flowers at night under the full moon and soft green leaves that smell good called sage.”
Juju looked thoughtful for a moment and shared “that’s really neat that your friend Aurora can live in a different place with different weather and flowers that we don’t have here at Sunflower Farm - but she still loves the moon just like you do. When you both look up at the night sky, it’s the same moon for both of you!”
That made Buttercup’s heart feel warm thinking about herself and her new cottontail bunny friend Aurora both looking up at the same magical moon. “Yes, Aurora said she loves looking up at the moon all by herself sometimes and taking in all its wonder. And sometimes she invites a friend to look at it with her.”
Blueberry smiled another big grin and asked “what kinda cool animal friends does she have in the desert?”
Buttercup told her friends about her most recent letter from Aurora that shared the joy she gets from all the varied kinds of animals that live in the desert and especially being friends with The Javalena - the wild boor with a good heart.
Niko wagged his tail again. It made him feel joyful inside to think of Buttercup and her cottontail bunny friend Aurora both getting joy from the moon and sharing things they like about it in fun letters to each other. He got his own joy from sharing his ball with Blueberry - he asked Juju to throw it for them. Niko and Blueberry bounded happily down the soft grassy hill together after the ball. Blueberry did one of his signature summersaults through the daisies to make Niko laugh.
Back at the top of the hill, Juju lay on her back to look up at the clouds rolling by in the blue sky. That always brought her joy to see the expansive sky above and the clouds moving by in different fun shapes. It felt quiet and peaceful to just be near her friend Buttercup the Calf while she read her new book under the shade of a nearby tree.
Buttercup found joy from getting lost in her favorite books for hours - they were her friends too. And now she smiled softly to herself, thinking about the next letter she would write to her sensitive rabbit pen-pal Aurora in The Sonoran Desert. She would tell her that she just saw a cloud roll by that looked exactly like a cottontail bunny!
The End
If you would like to share more joyful and heartwarming adventures with these sensitive characters with your own sensitive children, here’s how:
Podcast Episode: Embracing Sensitivity: A Conversation with Dr. Judith Orloff
Judith Orloff, M.D., is a psychiatrist, an empath, and a New York Times best-selling author who is a champion of highly sensitive children and adults. She is also on the UCLA Department of Psychiatry Clinical Faculty. Dr. Orloff is the author of The Genius of Empathy, The Empath’s Survival Guide, and her new children’s book The Highly Sensitive Rabbit, which helps sensitive kids embrace their empathic gifts as a strength. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting-edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality and passionately believes in the power of integrating this wisdom for total wellness
If you would like to experience the joy of listening to Dr. Orloff share her wisdom about her work with HSPs worldwide and have a chance to share about what her book “The Highly Sensitive Rabbit” meant to your family, please join us live in The Sensitive Empowerment Community for a live podcast recording of “The Sensitive and Neurodivergent Podcast" on Wednesday November 5th at 11am Pacific Standard Time. Join here!
Carol Roesler is co-author of 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! Get the book at juliebjelland.com/childrens-books
Travel back again to peaceful Sunflower Farm in this special blog post sharing how Niko, Juju, Buttercup and Blueberry celebrate the joy & connection of finding a new sensitive friend.