Talent Development Resources» Talent Development Resources – the psychology of creativity, personal growth, gifted/talented adults

Excitabilities – Our Teeming Brains

2009-11-09T05:51:01Z

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 to me are about the experience.

Stephen King has said: “I’ve taken off two months, three months at a time, and, by the end, I get really squirrelly. My night life, my dream life, gets extremely populated and crazed. It’s as though something in there is running all the time.”

Amanda Bynes, talking about going to college, commented, “I have such a busy mind and it’s really hard for me to do one thing at a time. … It’s hard for me to sit still.”

Sandra Bullock recently commented, “I am a big ball of high energy and organization and structure. I’m controlling, and I want everything orderly, and I need lists. My mind goes a mile a minute.” [The photo of Bullock in the video is from her new movie The Blind Side.]

These OEs or Excitabilities are considered to occur in five areas: psychomotor, intellectual, imaginational, emotional and sensual. Many writers and educators consider the concept to be particularly relevant for gifted and talented people.

The title for this post (and video) is partly a reference to the book My Teeming Brain: Creativity in Creative Writers, by Jane Piirto, Ph.D., who notes in her article Themes in the Lives of Successful U.S. Adult Creative Writers, that her book title comes from the poet Keats who knew the experience well, writing in a sonnet about his “fears that I may cease to be / before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain…”

See more in my post: Pumping our teeming brain.

Giftedness consultant Lesley Sword describes Overexcitabilities as “an abundance of physical, sensual, creative, intellectual and emotional energy that can result in creative endeavours as well as advanced emotional and ethical development in adulthood. Overexcitabilities feed, enrich, empower and amplify talent.”

From her article Overexcitabilities in Gifted Children.

overexcitability , excitability , Dabrowski, gifted adult personality, psychology of giftedness, high ability, high aptitude

Brian Tracy on Cultivating Self-Esteem

2009-11-07T04:47:45Z

Personal growth and achievement leader Brian Tracy writes about the importance of positive self-regard :

“Your self-esteem is probably the most important part of your personality. It precedes and predicts your performance in almost everything you do.

“It is the energy source or the reactor core of your personality, and how much self-esteem you have determines your levels of vitality, enthusiasm and personal magnetism. People with high self-esteem are more positive, more likable and more effective in every part of their lives.

“Everything that you do or say or think will affect your self-esteem. Your job, therefore, is to keep your self-esteem high and positive on a continuing basis.”

From his article Cultivating Your Self-Esteem

Photo: “Part of me suspects that I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” John Lennon

Also see more Self concept / self esteem articles

building self confidence, self esteem confidence, confidence building, building self esteem, building identity, search for your true self

Our potential for evil and creativity

2009-11-06T06:30:54Z

Psychologist Rollo May explains the classic Greek conception of the “daimonic” or darker side of our being (unlike the demonic, which is merely destructive) is “as much concerned with creativity as with negative reactions.

“The daimonic model considers both creativity on one side, and anger and rage on the other side, as coming from the same source. That is, constructiveness and destructiveness have the same source in human personality. The source is simply human potential.”

[From his foreword to psychologist Stephen A. Diamond's book "Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity," psychologist

What reminded me of May's quotes (from my interview with Dr. Diamond: The Psychology of Creativity: redeeming our inner demons) is a post by creativity researcher James C. Kaufman on his Psychology Today blog, in which he points out that creativity and intellect are not simply "pure" and only virtuous. He asks :

"Is Hannibal Lecter creative? Was Adolf Hitler creative? How about Ted Bundy, Voldemort, Charles Manson, Vito Corleone, Jesse James, Lizzie Borden, or that guy who used to pick on you in the sixth grade?

"If creativity is seen as having an inherent moral component to it, then these people cannot be creative.

"If to be a creative person is to be a good person, then it's hard to argue that Josef Stalin or John Wilkes Booth were particularly creative.

"Indeed, Robert Sternberg has written about how both Stalin and Hitler still have followers today, showing that their ideas have 'lived on' and borne the test of time - one hallmark for determining if someone is 'Big C.' It is the lack of morality needed for lasting creativity that has led Sternberg to argue for the equal importance of wisdom."

Dr. Kaufman adds that he has a book "coming out this year or next called The Dark Side of Creativity. It has lots of essays exploring these topics... The idea of the dark side of creativity is still being explored empirically, but the concept is an interesting contrast to most approaches.

"When discussing mental illness and creativity, the 'creativity' part is often assumed to be good - indeed, some of the evolutionary work argues that creativity is the reason why mental illness persists; being imaginative is supposedly enough of an advantage to outweigh the detriments of mental illness. Yet malevolent creativity (and emotional intelligence) can be harmful and evil in their own right.

"If you don't believe this, then contact me for my highly classified plans to make a million dollars overnight. I'm only selling them for $50, in cash, sent to me care of this website."

From Gandhi, Bill Gates, and... Hannibal Lecter?: Creativity and Emotional Intelligence in all the Wrong Places, by James C. Kaufman.

His books include : The Psychology of Creative Writing and Creativity 101.

[Photo: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter - from The shadow self : page 2.]

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

Peter D. Kramer on normality and mental health

2009-11-06T01:40:00Z

Being exceptional is by definition to be out of the ordinary, not normal in some notable ways, and according to some common standards of behavior or values.

Processing information much faster, for example, or being able to generate many more creative and unusual ideas than most people, or being highly sensitive.

Looking in a direction other than the majority. All are abnormal.

But there is also the matter of mental health and classifying our ways of feeling or behaving as normal – or not.

In his stimulating article What Is Normal?, psychiatrist Peter D. Kramer notes, “Diagnostic labels are proliferating, and mental disorders seem to be annexing ever more territory.

“At the same time, many people with diagnosable conditions are forging their own original takes on what’s normal.

“I have been thinking a good deal about normality lately. It’s a concern in the medical world. The complaint is that doctors are abusing [their] privilege, to define the normal.

“Ordinary sadness, critics say, has been engulfed by depression. Boyishness stands in the shadow of attention deficits. Social phobia has engineered a hostile takeover of shyness.”

He points out there is “A spate of popular books that challenge what they believe is psychiatry’s narrowing of the normal — The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder by Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield, The Last Normal Child by Lawrence H. Diller, and Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness by Christopher Lane.

“The National Institute of Mental Health reports that in any given year, over a quarter of Americans—and over a lifetime, half of us—suffer a mental disorder.

“The fate of normality is very much in the balance.”

Continued in article What Is Normal?

Peter D. Kramer is author of many books including Listening to Prozac and Freud: Inventor of the Modern Mind.

mental health enhancing, mental health books, creativity and mental illness, talent and mental illness

Developing our talents: the Growth Mindset

2009-11-07T01:03:30Z

The growth mindset

In her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck explains how important attitude can be in developing our talents.

“This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts,” she writes.

“Although people may differ in every which way—in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments – everyone can change and grow through application and experience.

“Do people with this mindset believe that anyone can be anything, that anyone with proper motivation or education can become Einstein or Beethoven?

“No, but they believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable), that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.”

Exemplars of creative achievement

She notes that the idea of “inherent” genius is to a great extent a myth.

“Did you know that Darwin and Tolstoy were considered ordinary children? That Ben Hogan, one of the greatest golfers of all time, was completely uncoordinated and graceless as a child?

“That the photographer Cindy Sherman [photo], who has been on virtually every list of the most important artists of the 20th century, failed her first photography course?

“That Geraldine Page, one of our greatest actresses, was advised to give it up for lack of talent?

“You can see how the belief that cherished qualities can be developed creates a passion for learning. Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?”

Book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

[Also available for the Kindle reader.]

Book site: mindsetonline.com

This video (by Coert Visser) includes brief quotes by Dweck, plus a number of authors, educators and other people on attitudes and mindset related to personal excellence and achievement.

mindset and achievement, mindset and ability, developing talent, attitude and talent development

Where do ideas come from? Malcolm Gladwell reads from his book

2009-10-30T19:40:09Z

This is an excerpt from the audio book What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell, including some of his experiences and anecdotes on finding creative inspiration and ideas.

From the Publisher’s Summary at Audible.com:

“With his #1 best sellers, The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell has reached millions of readers. And now the very best and most famous of his New Yorker pieces are collected in a brilliant and provocative anthology.

“Among the pieces: his investigation into why there are so many different kinds of mustard but only one kind of ketchup; a surprising assessment of what makes for a safer automobile; a look at how we hire when we can’t tell who’s right for the job; a dissection of Ivy League admissions and who gets in; the saga of the quest to invent the perfect cookie…”

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

Personal development: Tama J. Kieves on doing more with joy

2009-11-03T02:46:45Z

Tama J. Kieves, an honors graduate of Harvard Law School, left her law practice with a large corporate law firm to write and lead workshops as a life/work and creativity coach. She writes:

Yes, it’s easier to assume doom. We fit in.

We’d probably even be seen as thoughtful, prophetic, and on the money.

But fitting in is the booby prize. It’s not the point of this life.

We’re here to claim our divine potential, raise the bar, break through old beliefs and prejudices, and allow the Creative Force of Love and Intelligence to have its reckless, abundant, glorious way with us.

Our happiness can save the planet. Our laughter can coax the trees to grow, the rains to fall, and the stars to shine.

We can do more good with joy than we could ever do with pain. We are here to tap our own magnificent innate powers, shine, boogie, rock on and show each other what’s possible in this lifetime.

Of course there is suffering and pain in the world.

But these are the places where we, the members of humanity, haven’t gotten it right yet. Why would we make these the standard of reality, if it’s not a reality we wish to create?

From her article Life Can Be Fantastic: Your Joy is Your Power.

She is author of Trusting the Journey of Creating the Work You Love, which was chosen as a Finalist for the national Nautilus Book Award, along with the Dalai Lama’s The Art of Happiness.

personal growth development, personal development, life change, change your life, personal growth and attitude

Relieving anxiety: Slow down, you do too much

2009-10-28T04:10:28Z

Trying to keep too many projects going at once – doing too much multitasking – is not only likely to decrease our real productivity, but also increase stress and anxiety.

As Laurie A. Sheppard writes in her article Curse of the Creatives: “If you feel driven, yet overwhelmed by the many diverse life goals you’re having difficulty completing, you’ve likely caught the ‘curse of the creatives.’ Your drivenness is caused by your self-expectation that you should do it all.”

From my post: Multitasking – or optimal performance

People with multiple talents and high ability may regularly feel this kind of pressure to “do it all.” But it’s worth paying attention to the toll it may be taking, and take better care of ourselves.

In his article Managing Your Persistent Fears and Anxieties, Stanley Popovich advises taking some simple steps, such as: “When facing a current or upcoming task that overwhelms you with a lot of anxiety, the first thing you can do is to divide the task into a series of smaller steps. Completing these smaller tasks one at a time will make the stress more manageable and increases your chances of success.

“Sometimes we get stressed out when everything happens all at once.”

managing anxiety, relieving anxiety, managing fear, relieving fear, multitasking and anxiety

Developing creativity – SARK on living a juicy creative life

2009-10-31T18:34:36Z

Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, better known as SARK to millions of fans worldwide, is a writer and visual artist who “encourages and inspires women of all ages to become “succulent.” She defines this as transcending past pains and feeling the freedom of full self-expression.” [From summary of her book Succulent Wild Woman.]

Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way, thinks “Sark’s gentle and effervescent work is a festive, creative catalyst that throws open a wide and generous gate.”

SARK says, “Remember to delight yourself first, then others can be truly delighted. This was my mantra when I published my first book in 1990, and still holds true. When we focus on the song of our soul and heart, then others will be touched similarly.”

“Marney Makridakis is a creative fountain, and her Artella site just vibrates with joyfull creative expression. She recently interviewed me, and I am so inspired by her and what she creates!” –SARK

This is a clip of Marney’s interview with SARK – in which she talks about her “stupid name” – as she thought at the time – an inspiration from Henry Miller, her mentor, appearing to her in a dream.

For her books and many products, visit Planet SARK.

Also see the post Enhancing creativity – a video interview with Sark

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

Any more chocolate than my limit is an anxiety cause. Jen Crippen

2009-10-25T23:43:59Z

From article Confession: Anxiety Cause Revealed, by Jen Crippen.

Why is it that when we know our limit on something and if we go beyond that, we’ll feel like “junk”?

For example, I experience many food sensitivities. I can indulge in a TINY bit of dark chocolate. Key word: TINY (two 1? X 1? squares). Any more than that it is the OPPOSITE of anxiety therapy! It is an anxiety cause.

However, I know when I should stop. Then, I go back for a few pieces more. “Just a few more tiny squares, I’ll be fine.” Those few pieces take me from feeling grounded to jittery, racy, and anxious.

Talent Development Resources» Talent Development Resources – the psychology of creativity, personal growth, gifted/talented adults

Excitabilities – Our Teeming Brains

overexcitability , excitability , Dabrowski, gifted adult personality, psychology of giftedness, high ability, high aptitude

Brian Tracy on Cultivating Self-Esteem

building self confidence, self esteem confidence, confidence building, building self esteem, building identity, search for your true self

Our potential for evil and creativity

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

Peter D. Kramer on normality and mental health

mental health enhancing, mental health books, creativity and mental illness, talent and mental illness

Developing our talents: the Growth Mindset

mindset and achievement, mindset and ability, developing talent, attitude and talent development

Where do ideas come from? Malcolm Gladwell reads from his book

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

Personal development: Tama J. Kieves on doing more with joy

personal growth development, personal development, life change, change your life, personal growth and attitude

Relieving anxiety: Slow down, you do too much

managing anxiety, relieving anxiety, managing fear, relieving fear, multitasking and anxiety

Developing creativity – SARK on living a juicy creative life

developing creativity, creative potential, creative personality type, creative experience characteristics, psychology of creativity, creative mind

Any more chocolate than my limit is an anxiety cause. Jen Crippen

anxiety and sensitivity, anxiety and personal growth, food sensitivity and anxiety