Jennifer Harvey Sallin, MA, LLPC, NCC is a psychologist specializing in high intelligence and climate psychology. She is the founder of www.intergifted.com and I Heart Earth. InterGifted raises awareness about giftedness in adulthood and provides self-development resources and community for gifted adults. I Heart Earth provides psychologically-informed resources for conscious climate & ecological engagement. Jennifer trains therapists & coaches who support the gifted population, and mentors gifted leaders who are working in the gifted, climate and ecological realms. She lives in Switzerland and works with clients internationally (in English, French and Italian).

The Stages of Adult Giftedness Discovery & How Gifted Coaching Can Help

The discovery that you’re gifted as an adult has personal and social implications that are known to create some measure of chaos in your self-understanding and in your understanding of the world, until you learn to integrate your gifted mind fully into your life. In my experience as a psychologist and coach, I have witnessed a fairly predictable pattern that follows the discovery of one’s giftedness. It includes some of the famous stages of grief from researcher Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, as well as some key aspects of giftedness researcher Kazimierz Dabrowksi’s Levels of Positive Disintegration.

profound giftedness

High, Exceptional & Profound Giftedness

Giftedness is averaged to make up well less than 5% of the general population, and within that small number, there are subclassifications: mild, moderate, high, exceptional and profound giftedness. Relatively little has been written about the later three of these, with the unfortunate result that the net is cast wide in the existing literature on giftedness. With various levels and concepts of “giftedness” often grouped together into a one-size-fits-all description, the highly, exceptionally and profoundly gifted are misrepresented in important ways. We all know that a mild or moderately gifted person can feel a strong sense of being an “alien” in a group of non-gifted people; so too can a highly, exceptionally or profoundly gifted person feel a strong sense of being an “alien” in a group of mild or moderately gifted people (the same is true between profoundly and highly gifted too, and so on). This article clarifies these differences and why they are important to know about.

values

Discovering Your Highest Values

If I ask you how a bicycle works, you probably will say yes; but if I ask you for a precise explanation of exactly how all of the bicycle’s parts work together, you may have to think longer, and might even need to consult an actual bicycle in order to answer the question competently. It is similar with our values: we think we know what we value in life, but when it comes to fully understanding our highest values, and living by them consistently, we aren’t so sure anymore. Sometimes, we need to consciously examine our most authentic values, and like with the bicycle, observe them closely to fully understand how they work. This article holds a favorite values exercises that I regularly do with clients in coaching.

slowing down

Slowing Down to Speed Up: Hurrying vs. Observing

Sometimes hurrying up is to our advantage in life – when we’re running to catch a train, when we’re faced with an important deadline, or when we’re joyfully accomplishing a personal challenge. However, hurrying, beyond a certain point, becomes self-destructive. As a constant way of being, it is not sustainable. It is a “yang” energy in our lives which must be balanced out by the “yin” of slowing down, if it is to be effective and valuable. It is a “doing” micro-energy that can only have meaning and value in the context of a “being” meta-energy. Clients are often initially disappointed to learn this, because they arrive at the coaching process in a race to reach their goals, and are often impatient to move forward. But it is the wonderful yin meta-energy that gives their goals context; and to see this, they first must slow down and observe.

Vivere con Intensità: Il significato dell’iperdotazione secondo Dabrowski

Kazimierz Dabrowski è stato uno psichiatra, uno psicologo e un medico polacco, e si dice “Il Padre della ricerca sulla iperdotazione”. Era un pensatore acuto che vedeva l’esperienza dell’iperdotazione come molto più di una misura dell’intelligenza; è invece un’esperienza e un processo multi-dimensionale, complessa e variabile. Il termine «multi-dimensionale» si riferisce al fatto che nella concezione di Dabrowski, l’perdotazione è un’intensa esperienza globale piuttosto che una semplice esperienza intellettuale.

personality

Personality Preferences: Extraversion, Introversion and Authentic Action

Have you ever wondered why at times your creativity and productivity seem to flow, and other times you can’t think straight and produce mediocre work? Why at times you are happy to be with people, and other times you are fed up with their presence? In reality, each of us has a preferred way of approaching and ordering activities and tasks, and if we plan according to our preferences – when and with whom and how we collaborate, solve problems, make decisions, and brainstorm, for example – we naturally find effectiveness and joy. The trick is knowing our preferences in the first place! Let’s learn about them together…