Comments on: Being self-protective in a normal world

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:56:29 +0000

It’s also sad that giftedness should be seen as something to “deal with.” As if it were some sort of problem instead of a good thing to have exceptional qualities and abilities.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:53:44 +0000

What would really be helpful for me would be more articles like this, articles that explain non-gifted behavior to the gifted. There are tons of articles and books out there for helping “normals” inderstand the gifted, but non the other way around!
I find myself comstantly flummoxed by people’s behvaior, and I think if I understood it better life might be a little easier for me.

By: Christopher J. Coulson

Christopher J. Coulson — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:17:48 +0000

Thanks Vania. You raise a good point about solutions in real life as being a worthwhile subject for study and publishing. There’s obviously an opportunity there. And you seem to write rather well . . . ;o)

By: Vania

Vania — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:47:36 +0000

This is one of the few articles I’ve come across after 2.5 days of scouring the internet that provides some real suggestions as to how to DEAL WITH giftedness. Thank you. Upon my discovery of my ‘condition’ (lol) I was at first happy to be ‘normal’ albeit exceptional, then dejected that my many struggles were not just bumps in the road but rather a lifetime of hurdles, and finally heartbroken that the lack of knowledge and understanding for giftedness has irrevocably destroyed my most valued family relationships. In fact, I am sure that I am still seen as a complete and utter disappointment to those who raised and watched me grow up. It’s ironic that most articles/books only tell the gifted what it means to be gifted. But if we’re gifted, shouldn’t authors realize that we’d understand the ‘definition’ and implications before the first chapter is done, and that they should really move on to various solutions and ways of managing giftedness in our real life situations? Thank you again!!

By: Christopher J. Coulson

Christopher J. Coulson — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:04:21 +0000

Hi Kevin, I’m delighted it was useful to you. It’s exactly the kind of purpose The Gifted Way is intended for. Christopher

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 18:03:05 +0000

I stumbled across this posting while searching for an image of the bell curve — studying for a statistics class in my MBA cirriculum. I’ve been supervising a team of high school educated employees in my company, and I continue to have conflicts with them. I haven’t been able to help them improve and it has frustrated me to no end. They don’t seem to understand me, and I know I don’t understand them. This has culminated in a recent meeting with my boss to discuss my inability to relate. I’m a fairly self-aware INTJ, and I consider myself on the front end of the bell curve intellectually. Reading this post has helped me to accept my inability to impact the results of my team and will help me set more realistic expectations for the future. Thank you!

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 01:37:52 +0000

Thanks so much, I was looking specifically for a post on this subject! IMO our nature as herd animals makes this condition especially confusing and difficult. The majority are dumb and unaware of it, but if they deem YOU deviant they withhold social capital from you. And since people need support and recognition, shunning can often be worse than death. I just keep reminding myself to seek out those few places that value merit over popularity and to remember Kurosawa’s quip that “in a mad world only the mad are sane”. Perhaps one has to fake being one of the madmen now and then.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:17:40 +0000

Thank you for this post! I am so glad I am not alone in constantly being shocked and saddened by the stupidity around me. The problem with stupidity is that it either leads to evil or actually helps evil, in my mind.
For instance, abusers are stupid. They do not ahve the emotional intelligence to realize that they are taking out their problems on other people, and that doing so does not help. And is evil, of course.
And people who fall for greedy politicians’s lies are stupid too. They end up voting against the common interest and against their own insterest too, in most cases! And they never seem to catch on! Meanwhile they hate and blame whoever they are told to hate and blame, and they never seem to catch on. This is also partly low EQ, I believe. If they toook at look at themselves and asked themselves why they need to hate somebody, they would figure out that they are insecure and feel “less than”,
So it’s a combination of IQ and EQ that so often is lacking. I get so frustrated because it seems so obvious to me! I can’t understand why more people don’t examine their own thinking and their own motives. It seems to me like they are just not trying, and I feel so angry and frustrated!
The world could be such a better place if people would only do these things.