positive disintegration

Ever felt like a square peg in a round hole? Maybe it's not you, maybe it's your giftedness. I, Nadja, once wrestled with this notion, but through my journey of self-discovery, I've come to embrace my giftedness and ADHD, viewing them as unique strengths rather than limitations. Join me on this exciting journey of Gifted Unleashed, where we talk about personal experiences of how we navigate the world as gifted and 2e individuals.

The Gifted Unleashed podcast is not just about me and my guests sharing our stories. It's a platform for all of us to connect, support, and be our authentic selves. I'm thrilled to announce the relaunch of our space, where we'll explore thought-provoking topics that challenge stereotypes and stigma surrounding giftedness and twice exceptionality. Here's a little teaser for you: the upcoming episodes include an intriguing conversation with Julie Skolnick about her book "Gifted and Distractable". So, gear up for some insightful dialogues that promise to inspire and enlighten your perspectives about giftedness.

https://www.mytrudesign.com

Would you like to work with me 1:1 as your gifted and 2e coach? Please send me an email at hello@giftedunleashe.com or find more information about my coaching offer on my website giftedunleashe.com/coaching

https://www.giftedunleashed.com

Grappling with her daughter's trans identification was but one step in Stoic Mom's positive disintegration, leading her to truly sort out her values intellectually and grapple emotionally with what it truly means for an individual to live up to her unique potential. In this episode, she continues a conversation she's been having with Jessie on her own podcast, the Stoic Mom project, exploring Jessie's notion of "the paradox of weirdness" and the new counterculture, the meaning of virtue, the problems with mental health diagnosis as identity, and the role of gender in our culture.

• StoicMom Project Podcast: Butterflies Becoming
• StoicMom Project Podcast: "You're a Wizard, Harry" - A Conversation for the Abstract-Intense
• StoicMom Project Podcast: Perceiving a Higher Path - Jessie Mannisto Interviews StoicMom
• StoicMom's personal life philsophy (paywalled)
• Weirdos of the World, Unite: Jessie and Eliza Mondegreen chat about weirdness, confidence, and gender with Benjamin Boyce
• stoicmom.substack.com: see tab for member community
• Theme music from TELL YOUR STORY music by ikson™

Julian Adorney is fighting our toxic political culture, both by striving to understand polarizing issues intellectually and with nuance, and also by confronting the deep and challenging emotions that are at the root of some of our most hostile rifts.  We explore the role of community, mentorship, and faith (or at least some kind of "north star"), the process of sorting out what we value and why, and follow a tangent toward mental health.

• @Julian_Liberty on Twitter
• Julian's articles at the Foundation for Economic Education
• Braver Angels, the depolarization org at whose conference Jessie and Julian met
• Monica Guzman's book, I Never Though of It That Way (sponsored link)
• Theme music from TELL YOUR STORY music by ikson™
• Header by Pete Lindforth from Pixabay

What goes into making your voice sound good, and what does the nervous system have to do with it? Voice coach and author Laura Stavinoha talks about the challenge of transmuting overexcitability into talent, a process she learned first from experience.  Laura and Jessie discuss what really makes an effective speaker and how to overcome some challenges facing intense people who want to use their voices more skillfully.

Show Notes

• Read Laura's articles in Third Factor Magazine
• Check out Laura's book, Voice: A Multifaceted Approach to Self-Growth and Vocal Empowerment (sponsored Amazon link)
• Theme music from TELL YOUR STORY music by ikson™.

Would you believe that a socialist organization used to be a champion of free speech?  That combined with belonging and purpose grounded in ideas, was what inspired Jessie to sign up back in 2013. But when a new wave of members brought a different set of values, she had to figure out what she really valued—and make a difficult choice.

Show Notes

• The Austin Chronicle story: "Learning the Hard Way That Police and Democratic Socialists Rarely Mix," October 13, 2017
• Sadly, though not mentioned in the podcast, Danny died in October 2022.  Here is an obituary posted on the blog of a DSA caucus whose founders included many who were sympathetic to Danny at the time (including Jessie).
• The book we're discussing on September 17. 2023 is This Star Shall Abide by Sylvia Engdahl (also published as Heritage of the Star).  You can get it here or as part of a trilogy. (Please note that these are sponsored links.)
• If you'd like to read more about the book first, here's an article about it from an early issue of Third Factor Magazine.
• Theme music from TELL YOUR STORY music by ikson™.

Overexcitability is often the concept that draws people to the theory of positive disintegration—and that's a shame, because if you get stuck there, you'll miss what the theory is really saying.  In this pilot episode, Third Factor's founder and editor in chief draws on Kazimierz Dabrowski's original writings to explain what overexcitability is and why, though it often is a bad thing, it doesn't necessarily have to be.  Spoiler alert: it's all about this thing called multilevelness, which Jessie explains to set the trajectory for this new podcast.

Show Notes:

• Elaine Aron’s blog that mentions Dabrowski's concept of OE
• Third Factor's Introduction to Dabrowski's Levels and Dynamisms 
• Download all Dabrowski's books and relevant articles, including Michael Piechowski's papers on Levels I and II, at positivedisintegration.com.
• Theme music from TELL YOUR STORY music by ikson™.
• Header image by kinkate from Pixabay.

As two quirky, strong-minded women who have built our careers on the edges of consciousness, Jessie and I compare notes on our personal and professional experiences with giftedness and sensitivity. What are the unique challenges neurodivergent youth must overcome? How do “abstract-intense” people learn to own our eccentricities while building on our strengths? And how can an over-excitable nervous system lend itself toward a healthy passion for protecting one’s principles?

Jessie Mannisto is the founder and editor in chief of Third Factor, a magazine and community for creative, free-thinking individuals trying to chart their unique paths through life. It's grounded in Kazimierz Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration, which emphasizes the process of sorting out one's authentic values and living with increasing integrity. Formerly a leadership analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency and Google Policy Fellow, Jessie chose to pursue self-employment as an editor and analyst to allow her maximum flexibility for her entrepreneurial and creative work. www.thirdfactor.org

Twitter: @ThirdFactorMag and @jlmannisto

In this interview I mentioned three books: A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the Twenty-First Century by Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein; The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt; and Hold On To Your Kids by Gabor Maté and Gordon Neufeld. All of these, as well as many other excellent books, are now available on my website at sometherapist.com/bookshop.

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Show notes & transcript provided with the help of SwellAI.

Special thanks to Joey Pecoraro for our theme song, “Half Awake,” used with gratitude and permission.

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Have a question for me? Looking to go deeper and discuss these ideas with other listeners? Join my Locals community! Members get to ask questions I will respond to in exclusive, members-only livestreams, post questions for upcoming guests to answer, plus other perks TBD.

Dr. Sarabeth Berk is the leading expert on hybrid professional identity, and a hybrid professional herself. She was featured in Forbes, and is a TEDx speaker, author of More Than My Title, and recipient of a Colorado Inno on Fire award for her innovative work. Her hybrid title is Creative Disruptor because she works at the intersection of being an artist, researcher, educator, and designer.

Through groundbreaking research, Sarabeth developed a one-of-a-kind approach that takes personal branding and career development to a whole new level. Today, she helps professionals discover and articulate their hybrid professional identity and unique value in the workforce. As a result, her clients feel more seen, empowered and confident, and teams recognize each other as more than their job titles, valuing the critical yet different roles of experts, generalists, and hybrids in the workforce.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• What is your professional identity? This is different from your job title!
• There are three different types of worker identities: 
  • Singularity: Single professional identity
  • Multiplicity: Having many different but separate professional identities
  • Hybrid: Having intersections of different professional identities which form a new identity (as a result from reintegration via Debrowski’s positive disintegration)
• Having a hybrid career personality is common in gifted people
• It takes a bit of work to identify your primary set of identities vs. your non primary identities (secondary and tertiary identities)
• Vann Diagrams help to visualize and understand the intersectionalities of your hybrid professional identity
• You have the permission to have a hybrid professional identity!
• We go through multiple cycles of (career) identities throughout our lives: Phases of explorations followed by achievements of a certain identity.
• a/r/t (artist, researcher, teacher)
• Hybridity is a choice and it is developmental.
• Work is like a three legged stool: 
  • 1. Knowing your passion 
  • 2. Your purpose, why you do what you do 
  • 3. Your identity, who are you when you fallow your passion and purpose.
• You need to make sense of yourself first! No one is going to make sense for you. Especially in the gifted space. 
• Prefixes:
  • Intra discipline = single
  • Cross  and multi disciplinary = separate
  • Inter (between) and trans (beyond) disciplinary = hybridity

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Learn more about Sarabeth Berk and her work: morethanmytitle.com | TEDx Talk

Connect on Instagram: @morethanmytitle | LinkedIn

Venn Diagram

Learn more about Dabrowski’s theories: Episode 33

Join the Unleash Monday Community

UnleashMonday.com

Would you like to work with me 1:1 as your gifted and 2e coach? Please send me an email at hello@giftedunleashe.com or find more information about my coaching offer on my website giftedunleashe.com/coaching

https://www.giftedunleashed.com

As a psychologist, trainer, assessor, writer and advocate, Jennifer Harvey Sallin is dedicated to raising awareness about adult giftedness and twice-/multi-exceptionality (2e/me) and meaningfully supporting gifted/2e/me people in their personal and social development. She has specialized in supporting gifted adults for the last decade, and in 2015, she created InterGifted to allow gifted people to socially engage in meaningful ways and to personally develop in community. Learn more about why Jen here.

Jen has developed a holistic model of giftedness that is particularly useful for gifted adults in their giftedness (re)discovery, integration and personal and professional development. She uses this model in providing qualitative assessments to gifted adults, as well as in training professional therapists, coaches and other helping professionals to better support their gifted clients.

Jen has created an initiative for reconnecting with the Earth during this time of global & ecological crisis: I Heart Earth.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• An IQ test measures something but it does not test for the full range of giftedness.
• There is no consensus to the answer of the question of what intelligence is.
• Gifted people usually are more intense than non gifted people. However, there is a distinction between complexity (giftedness) and intensity (OEs).
• Understanding your own giftedness profile and potential twice-exceptionalities helps you understand yourself better and helps supports you in your self developmental journey.
• Trauma can cause a developmental issues such as shutting down certain parts of your intelligence and playing up for example emotional intelligence in a role as a caretaker.
• Gifted people have gifted needs and if they don’t get met, life doesn’t feel fulfilled.
• For a qualitative assessment you need to be in a mental state where you are able to work on yourself in the realm of self-development.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

InterGifted.com and Jen’s model on giftedness, article on High, Exceptional & Profound Giftedness

Learn more and schedule an assessment with InterGifted

Jen’s Gifted Trauma Podcast and the previous episode with Jen at Unleash Monday

Courses for coaches and therapists at InterGifted

Overexcitabilities (OEs)

Different models on giftedness

Difference between OEs & giftedness article

Let’s talk 2e adult conf

Would you like to work with me 1:1 as your gifted and 2e coach? Please send me an email at hello@giftedunleashe.com or find more information about my coaching offer on my website giftedunleashe.com/coaching

https://www.giftedunleashed.com

Christiane Wells, PhD, LSW, is the Director of Qualitative Research at the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development. She studies the lived experience of giftedness and emotional development through the lens of Dąbrowski’s theory of positive disintegration and critical psychology. She has investigated the history of Dąbrowski’s constructs and their evolution and also studies Polish in order to read his original works. Her background in qualitative methods includes using text and content analysis techniques to examine and evaluate data and bodies of literature. Chris is also a therapist in private practice with gifted and twice-exceptional adults.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• The DSM does not cover giftedness. You might not get a diagnosis which answers all your questions and covers all your needs.
• The word gifted is not only a word important for children’s education. Giftedness does not end after school. Gifted programs focus on the academic but not what it means to be gifted.
• The label gifted can be burdened with high expectations (can lead to gifted trauma).
• Gifted children not necessarily thrive academically.
• If you are an extreme outlier, being in a regular school can feel like torture! 
• Parents often learn through their children about their own giftedness and twice-exceptionality (2e).
• ADHD diagnosis could potentially be a sign of Overexcitabilities (OEs).
• You can be gifted outside of the stereotypes.
• Not all of Dabrowski's work has been translated yet.
• There needs to be respect for the inner experience of giftedness!
• Let’s Talk 2e adults’ conference is the first of it’s kind and completely free for the first 24 hours on November 1st, 2021 - you can purchase access forever, use my affiliate link

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Learn more from Chris by listening to her and Emma Nicholson’s podcast called Positive Disintegration

Subscribe to their Positive Disintegration Substack

Christianewells.com | Twitter | facebook group for parents of gifted and 2e kids

Chris as keynote speaker at the 15th Dabrowski Congress

Michael Piechowski | Book Living with Intensity

Reexamining Overexcitability: A Framework for Understanding Intense Experience by Michael Piechowski and Chris Wells PDF download

positivedisintegration.com |

Would you like to work with me 1:1 as your gifted and 2e coach? Please send me an email at hello@giftedunleashe.com or find more information about my coaching offer on my website giftedunleashe.com/coaching

https://www.giftedunleashed.com

Lotte van Lith is a lecturer, instructor and senior trainer on the psychology, practice and art of personal and creative development (amongst others at the School of Thinking at Free University of Brussels and the Buckminster College). In her own company, A Lot of Complexity, she guides intense and driven adolescents and adults in their personal and creative development and regularly organizes vivid seminars and courses on topics ranging from sense making and creative giftedness to emotional development. She often gives presentations and is known in the Netherlands and Belgium for her work with the theory of positive disintegration. In 2021, her book "Intens mens" is published.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Gifted people have difficulties working for someone else. They don’t like norms & rules, they need creative space
• Gifted children in a non-gifted setting struggle because they don’t receive the educational resources they
• Gifted children can get disillusioned at school.  Gifted children try to understand the environment instead of getting to know themselves and try to cope with the differences
• One big aspect of giftedness is the emotional wellbeing of gifted people . It's part of being human and very important for the creative & personal development
• Giftedness can be described as complex thoughts & thought processes, incl. complex emotions
• If gifted people are in an environment where they are not mirrored there are emotional & motivational consequences
• It is important to know about your own giftedness as you need context to understand your experience
• A coach specialized in giftedness is aware of the complexities and neurodiversity which means that this person probably did not receive adequate mirroring and thus may struggle with trying to understand what is happening inside and outside that person as a consequence of being different
• Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration (including the OEs), is about emotional and personality development
• Positive Disintegration comes with an existential crisis which creates the conditions to experience deeper values. It is an individual trajectory about psychological development
• People who are gifted,  tend to drive towards creativity, a potential to be creative, to think & to act creatively and to find creative solutions
• It's important to have a safe & brave space for gifted people to be vulnerable and to be able to challenged to be more
• Give yourself the opportunity to be just a little bit curious about who you are and what your experience entails

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Lotte van Lith’s website: lottevanlith.nl 

Instagram: @levenskunst_volgens_lotte

alotofcomplexity.com (English) and alotofcomplexity.nl (Dutch) 

positievedesintegratie.nl

Connect with Lotte on LinkedIn and facebook

Overexcitabilities by

Would you like to work with me 1:1 as your gifted and 2e coach? Please send me an email at hello@giftedunleashe.com or find more information about my coaching offer on my website giftedunleashe.com/coaching

https://www.giftedunleashed.com