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When Perfectionism, Anxiety, Empathy, and Expectations Collide — Gifted in Portugal
Some thoughts from Ricardo of Portugal: “All my life I was driven, motivated, sensitive, intense, and hyperactive. I always cried easily with music, a memory, a movie or a person or animal suffering. I have always searched for beauty in my life and I always felt different, emotionally and cognitively. I always liked the positive […]
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What Do Gifted Teens Say About Their Struggles?
The gifted adolescents that I have known grapple with existential depression, anxiety, loneliness, perfectionism, sensitivities, empathy, misdiagnoses, bullying, and serious frustrations with the school system. Here is “one” teen’s voice synthesized from the many that I have met over the years. All people will benefit when we take the time to understand our gifted children. […]
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Tips for Aging Well When You Have a Rainforest Mind (And Overexcitable Hair)
I am in my sixties. That sounds OLD to me. AARP. Medicare. Senior discounts. Golf. Geezerville. But I don’t feel OLD. In fact, other than some possible hidden creeping potential decrepitude (!), I think 60-something is kind of fine. Pretty great, actually. You, too, can have a pretty-great-actually time into your 60s and beyond. Here’s […]
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New Book Coming Soon! More Guidance for Your Overthinking, Sensitive, Curious, Gifted Self
My next book is almost here! What? A new book? What’s it about? you might ask. Well. This one came from you. You have asked that my blog to be turned into a book. You have wanted my posts to be organized by topic. You have needed more specific suggestions on how to deepen your understanding […]
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Managing Your Young Gifted Child’s (And Your) Emotional Intensity
You would think that a super smart person would be cool, calm, and collected. Capable of handling emotion when it infrequently and inconveniently trickled out. Analytically above the fray. Lost in thought about bosons, quarks, and string theory. Logical. Not particularly emotionally expressive. You would think. But the gifted children and grownups that I know, […]
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Gifted Children and Adults — Why Are They So Misunderstood?
A gifted child is: The four year old who says the car is not red, it’s crimson. The five-year-old who is lonely because the other kids don’t understand the complex worlds and creatures she invents. The six-year-old who explains the difference between a laceration and a contusion. The seven-year-old who chooses Rembrandt as the person […]
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The Dark Night of the Soul — How Psychotherapy Can Help You Through
I know about the Dark Night. I’ve been through my own. More than once. Now I join my counseling clients in their Dark Nights. I go with them because I know the territory. I have flashlights and provisions. It doesn’t scare me like it used to. And I know what comes after the Dark Night […]
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Some of My Best Friends Are Introverted, Sensitive, Introspective, Smart, Empathetic, Overthinking Perfectionists
Have I told you that I love people who are all of these things? Introverted, highly sensitive, introspective, super smart, and empathetic? I also love “overthinking” perfectionists who obsess about creating a better world through raising the consciousness of humans, healing the dysfunction in their families and communities, parenting compassionate children, or finding loving-kindness in […]