>Also see the High Ability site.
In her post “to my surprise…” on her site Temporary Reality, “neighbor” writes about the experience of growing up gifted that many of us can relate to. Here is an excerpt [published here by permission]:
When I was little I was labelled Gifted. God, it sounds so bad to just up and say that. [...]
“I was at dance school doing about 35 hours practice a week until I was 14. Then ballet started to grate – the whole idea of trying to attain perfection started to ruin the experience.” Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”)
What’s so bad about perfection? Isn’t it what we all strive for? In her interview, excerpted [...]
Embracing our identity as gifted and talented is not easy for many of us to do. Why is this so tough? What beliefs about giftedness get in our way? In his article, How to Charm Gifted Adults into Admitting Giftedness: Their Own and Somebody Else’s, excerpted below, Willem Kuipers discusses the challenge of [...]
Scott Barry Kaufman notes, “Although their unusual abilities compel considerable attention, there are fewer than 100 known prodigious savants living at the present time.”
He interviews one of these extraordinary people for his Beautiful Minds blog. Here is an excerpt:
Daniel Tammet: I don’t think it serves very much to label someone. IQ is a very good [...]
Even people with exceptional talents can feel insecure and struggle with developing healthy self-esteem.
Meryl Streep, for example, has said, “I have varying degrees of confidence and self-loathing…. You can have a perfectly horrible day where you doubt your talent… Or that you’re boring and they’re going to find out that you don’t know what you’re [...]
Darold Treffert, MD explains, “Savant Syndrome is a rare, but spectacular, condition in which persons with various developmental disabilities, including Autistic Disorder, have astonishing islands of ability or brilliance that stand in stark, markedly incongruous contrast to the over-all handicap.” From his article The Savant Syndrome: Islands of Genius.
Daniel Tammet , as one example, is [...]
J.K. Rowling has described herself as a girl as “short, squat, very thick glasses — that’s why Harry wears glasses.
“I was shy. I was a mixture of insecurities and very bossy to my sister, but quite quiet with strangers. Very bookish. Terrible at school. That whole thing about Harry being able to fly so well [...]
Mia Wasikowska portrayed troubled, suicidal teen gymnast Sophie in the outstanding HBO psychotherapy drama series “In Treatment.”
Her work made Sophie one of the most powerful, conflicted and emotionally complex teen characters I have seen. She was both fascinating and wrenching in her distraught intensity.
In a magazine interview about her lead role in TIm Burton’s new [...]
As part of her recovery from a water-skiing accident and brain surgery, actor and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg was evaluated with MRI scans, which can involve weird mechanical noises up to the intensity of a jet plane taking off.
Her new album, developed with Beck, is titled “IRM” – derived from the French for MRI. Follow the [...]
In her Creativity Portal article, You’re Not Mad, You’re Creative, Orna Ross invites us to rid ourselves of self-blame and criticism stemming from misunderstanding our creative abilities. With the help of an insightful self-test, we can revision our past and present experiences, and recognize, nurture and protect our gifts that may otherwise seem disruptive and [...]
It can be a delicate balancing act to actively pursue excellence without getting stymied by the often distorting idea that if it isn’t perfect, it isn’t right, so throw it out. Or at least beat yourself up because you didn’t achieve it. But is there value in the pursuit?
As Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D. notes [...]
You can hoard creative work, keeping it hidden from others, and some people do just that – writing a novel, for example, that remains for years in a closet. But most creators need to risk criticism and rejection to get their project seen or realized. A screenplay doesn’t become a movie by staying secret.
Stephen King [...]
Art can be insulated and considered as precious – something only official artists do. In her book “Revolution From Within” Gloria Steinem notes that “most art in the world does not have a capital ‘A,’ but is a way of turning everyday objects into personal expressions.”
Steinem encourages creating images or objects as a way to [...]
By guest author Errol Michael Henry.
Potential makes reference to future possibilities for success — but offers no cast–iron guarantees concerning achievement.
Secondly, the inclusion of the word latent infers that there is power available that has yet to be released. That is why people who are (allegedly) very talented have a greater likelihood of leaving this [...]
His films are always satisfying and exciting on multiple levels, and I’m looking forward to Tim Burton’s new project Alice in Wonderland. What are some of the aspects of his life and way of working that help him be so creative?
Costume designer Colleen Atwood also admires Burton as an artist, and explains: “He is able [...]
A critic once described the mind of Jonathan Miller as “a turmoil of sizzling wires, connecting drama with anthropology, literature with quantum physics, linguistics with genetic theory.”
From the PBS site of Bill Moyers Journal / Jonathan Miller
What caught my attention to write this post was the discord Dr. Miller has expressed about his choosing various [...]
A London Times article notes that Stacy Ann Ferguson and her group the Black Eyed Peas have had “a record-breaking consecutive 26 weeks at the top of the US singles chart.”
Here is more from the article :
Fergie could have gone to Harvard if she’d fancied it… straight As, the stint as president of her student [...]
In this news article, musician Norah Jones talks about being sensitive and dealing with reactions to her creative work.
Norah Jones’ sensitivity to criticism
The Week (theweek.com), November 12, 2009
Norah Jones still gets stung by jokes about her putting audiences to sleep, says Will Hodgkinson in Mojo.
“They call me ‘Snorah,’” says the 30-year-old Grammy winner. “But that [...]
Lea Michele (“Glee”): “For my last callback, I got into this terrible car accident pulling into the Fox lot, left my smoking car on Pico Boulevard, and ran into the audition with glass in my hair.”
Continued on The Inner Actor
From article There are choices! Making choices: a gifted case report, By Noks Nauta
Kitty did well in school, until seventh grade, when she began to experience academic and social problems; she retreated into herself and for a long time didn’t like going to school.
After graduation, Kitty started looking for a fulltime job. She saw an ad [...]
From article Giftedness in the work environment, By Noks Nauta, Sieuwke Ronner.
“Gifted individuals possess many more creative possibilities than the averagely gifted person.
“To make use of their innovative ideas and to implement them, however, an effective interaction between gifted individuals and their work environment is essential.
“It is possible for gifted individuals to make a contribution [...]
Most people experience strong feelings occasionally, unless they are depressed. But for some, their emotional reactions are especially intense.
Psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski (1902 – 1980) developed a theory of personality that is often used to understand gifted children and adults.
One of his ideas is Emotional Overexcitability (or Excitability), which can include intense feelings, extremes of complex [...]
Excerpt from The Gifted Adult: A Revolutionary Guide for Liberating Everyday Genius, by Mary-Elaine Jacobsen.
To feel like an outsider, to constantly pressure yourself to hold back your gifts in order to fit in or avoid disapproval, to erroneously believe that you are overly sensitive, compulsively perfectionistic, and blindly driven, to live without knowing the basic [...]
What are Excitabilities?
One of the key concepts of Polish psychiatrist and psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski, MD, PhD (1902 – 1980) is that individuals with strong “overexcitabilities” are good candidates for higher level development.
In this video are quotes by writer Stephen King, and actors Amanda Bynes and Sandra Bullock about having “teeming brains” – comments that seem [...]
Psychomotor Overexcitability is a “surplus of energy, pressure for action, restlessness, impulsive actions, competitiveness, sleeplessness.”
Michael Jackson exemplified a number of these qualities as a singer and dancer.
See video on the High Ability site.
Many artists are eccentric, contrary, even offensive, subversive or transgressive.
Living on the edge in behavior and thinking, they are even expected to be “law-breakers” or at least “envelope-pushers.” And divergent thinking and action can fuel creativity and even positive social change.
But there is also the issue of morality and out of bounds, “bad” behavior that [...]
