Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver

Life’s A BicycleHow to Balance Your CSIGY LIFE Like You Balance A BIKE!

Presented to

Colorado Association for Gifted & Talented

October 18, 2010

By Sharon M. Barnes, MSSW, LCSW

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Life’s A Bicycle:

How to Balance

Complexity

Sensitivity

Intensity

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What's a CSIGY?Creative

Sensitive

Intense, Introverted

Gifted

YOU!

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Creative, ComplexCreativity is not necessarily artistic; it has many faces

Do you have many ideas or see possibilities everywhere?

Do you think outside the box?

Is originality or uniqueness important to you?

Do you invent things, or have ideas to do so?

Does your life feel like a desert if you're not using your creativity?

Do you have many interests?

Do you sometimes feel driven by your creativity?

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SensitiveDo you notice things that many others don't?

Are you sensitive to light, sound, touch, textures?

Do you have heightened senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing ,sight?

Are you sometimes emotionally sensitive, too?

Are you highly empathic or compassionate (unless you're off balance internally)?

Do you feel deeply the wounds of injustice and human suffering—yours or others'?

Do others sometimes tell you that you're TOO sensitive?

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IntenseDo you feel things more deeply than most?

Are you deeply moved by music, art, nature, etc?

Does your body react more than most people’s?

Do others tell you often that you over-react?

Do you need a high level of stimulation at times?

Do you get over-stimulated easily?

Does it seem that you have only two gears – off and high speed ahead?

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IntrovertedDo you need frequent solitude?

Do you often have 'delayed intelligence'?

Do your bests ideas come when you're alone?

Do you get energized by solitary pursuits?

Do you often get drained & exhausted by being around people?

75/25

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GiftedAre you a complex person?

Do you think quickly, often on several tracks at once?

Do you have a well developed but unusual sense of humor?

Do you set very high standards for yourself?

Do you have a pervasive, persistent curiosity?

Do you have a high level of energy?

Do you have a strong 'need to know' that's not easily satisfied?

Are honesty, integrity, authenticity very important to you-more so than many people?

“Giftedness is a greater awareness, a greater sensitivity, and a greater ability to understand and transform perceptions into intellectual and emotional experience.” (Dr. Annemarie Roeper)

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Balancing Your CSIGY Lifeis Like Balancing a Bike!Balancing a Bike & Balancing a CSIGY Life

• Are both mind-body skills

• Both require dynamic--not static--balance

Dynamic Balance

o Accommodates shifts in body, mind & emotions

o Responds to changes in weather & traffic

o Flexes when the road or path varies

o Adjusts to continual movement

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To Balance a Bike and Our Lives We Need to

Tune in

Tune up

Take off

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What happens when your bike/life is out of balance?

You may get wobbly

You may grind to a halt

You may fall

You may work harder for the same or even lesser results

?

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Imbalance Creates StressShort Term Effects of Stress

Increased concentration

Increased endorphins block pain

Second wind

Increased fuel & oxygen

Increased energy & strength

Decreased allergic reactions

Blood diverted to muscles

Digestion slows/stops

Blood sugar drops

Decreased sex drive

Increased white & red blood cells

Faster blood clotting

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Imbalance Creates StressLong Term Effects of Stress

Increased error rate

Decreased endorphins/ increased sensitivity to pain

Weigh changes

Shaky nerves

Intolerance to heat or cold

Impaired immune system

Increased chance of high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and aneurysms

Blood sugar drops

Increased damage to lungs from air pollution & smoke

Increased digestive problems

Increased incidence of diabetes & hypoglycemia

Increased fatty deposits

Decreased sex drive, increased sexual dysfunction

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But. . .What I don’t know can’t hurt me!

Three Little Monkeys

See No Evil

Hear No Evil

Speak No Evil

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Nine Magical MonkeysSee what you see.

Hear what you hear.

Feel what you feel.

Know what you know.

Think your own thoughts.

Say what you need to say.

Do what you need to do.

Be where you are.

Be who you (really) are.

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Remember Pete’s Dragon

Life lessons for us:

Ignore a dragon to grow a dragon

To tame a dragon, name the dragon

Remember Pete’s Dragon

Name YOUR dragon . . .

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Signs of CSIGY Imbalance

How Do We Know When We’re Out of Balance?Irritability/over-reactions

Anxiety/Depression

Fatigue

Inability to concentrate

Dis-ease

Sleep disruption/changes

Appetite/eating/weight changes

Overwhelming emotions

Life crisis or chaos

Decreased sex drive

Increased in mistakes or accidents

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Prime Times for CSIGYImbalances to Occur

Marriage

Divorce

Change of job

Change of residence

Change of family size

Illness

Death

Loss of Job

Financial difficulties

Life transitions

Hunger, fatigue, boredom

Leg-lifting experiences

In abnormal circumstances, abnormal feelings are normal (Bryan)

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How to Know When Your Bike/Life is Out of Balance:Three ways to check for the source of trouble when your bike/life is out of balance:

Stop

Look

Listen

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What do you find when you stop, look, listen?How are you feeling today?

Tool: Daily TNT

Tool: Creative Handwork:

Make a container for your emotions, so your body does not have to contain them

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Why Release Emotions?All body cells have memory, not just the brain

Too much pressure in a pressure cooker make an explosion

Too much tire pressure causes blow outs

What you feel, you can heal (Gray)

What you resist, persists

Chaos allowed to progress leads to order

Positive disintegration leads to a higher level of development

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Emotions are Like WavesCome in different sizes & intensities

Come from various directions

Affect you more if you fight them

Come without your permission

Leave as surely as they come

Can be great fun when you learn to let go and ride them

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Tune Up:The Art of Bicycle Maintenance

Remember the Flight Attendants’ Secret Formula

How to Tune Up:

Check

Clean

Lubricate

Adjust

Replace or Repair

Repair Shop

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3 Things CSIGYS can DO to Restore Balance

Breathe (8-4-7) x 4– Relaxation Response

Give thanks

Stretch

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Balancing Complexity, Sensitivity & Intensity

Holmes-Rahe Stress Test Results – 80% with high stress scores soon had major illness

– 20% who didn’t get sick had high levels of:

• Perspective

• Autonomy

• Connectedness

• Tone (Marjorie Blanchard)

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Take Off!It’s about the Journey . . . AND the Destination

Get Started. . . Explore new territory…How?

Stay on Track

One Pedal at a Time

Pace Yourself

Pedal, pedal, pedal

Finish

Celebrate

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Exploring New Territory: Hands-on Learning

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we developed them.” (Einstein )

Einstein used Combinatory Play to break new ground

– His new ideas came through images during playful times

– The harder work was translating them into words (Hadamard)

Our hands know what our frontal lobes do not (Allen)

Carl Jung developed Active Imagination

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Creative Exploration I

Making something with our hands that represents the challenges or dilemmas we face:

Bridges mind and body and spirit

Bridges “right’ and “left” brain/ uses the whole brain

Bridges conscious and conscious mind

Promotes soulfulness and spirituality

Helps us learn beyond mere thinking

Is practice for exploration in new territory

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Creative Exploration II

Bypasses the inner censor to access deeper awareness and higher creativity

Utilizes Inductive Reasoning

Improves problem-solving skills

Increases imagination– “Imagination is more Important than facts/knowledge”

(Einstein)

Does not require unusual artistic ability or creativity

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Creative Exploration IIICreating = High Level Learning (Bloom's Taxonomy)

Ancient Wisdom-Chinese proverb

– Tell me and I'll Forget

– Show me and I'll remember

– Involve me and I'll understand

Three Steps to Completion:

1. Create

2. Contemplate

3. Crystallize

Creating

Evaluating

Analyzing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

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When Adversity Strikes:

EEEEK Your Way thru Tough Times:

Experience

Explore

Express

Embrace

Kreate

Making something that represents your experience heals you

Contemplating what you have made sets you free

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I. CreateThere is no right or wrong approach to use

You may use or alter any item any way you wish

Pay attention to what attracts you or jumps out at you

Prepare with deep breathing & relaxation

See with third eye; listen with inner ear

Proceed with action: make something that represents or symbolizes the image(s) or sound(s) that you perceive

You are the judge of what and when is “enough”

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II. Contemplate

Stop, look & listen

What colors, shapes & textures do you see?

Give it a voice: What does it say to you?

Activate Your Imagination:– Have an imaginary conversation with your creation

– Focus this conversation on the current dilemma

– Follow the conversation (in your imagination) wherever it leads you

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III. CrystallizeWhat does this demonstrate about – What you need to Tune In, Tune Up & Take off?

– What you can do to help your students/children balance their complexity, sensitivity & intensity?

– Whatever else came up for you?

Make a record: write or draw what you have perceived.

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How to Balance Complexity, Sensitivity, & Intensity:It’s about the Journey . . . AND the Destination

Get started exploring new territory

Stay on Track

One Pedal at a Time

Pace Yourself

Pedal, pedal, pedal

Finish

Celebrate

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Life’s a BicycleEvery time You SEE a bike or RIDE one, Remember —

To Balance Your CSIGY LIFE

Just Like You Balance a BIKE

All You have to do, is:

Tune In

Tune Up

Take off

Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver

Life’s A BicycleThank you for

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