Are you a gifted adult? if so, are you putting your intellectual gifts to good use? Today we're super thrilled to be talking to Alexis P. Morgan. Alexis fills her time and earns her keep as a writer, artist, and troublemaking socialite. She does all of this as the proprietress of her blog, Death, Sex, and Taxes. Alexis is a truly remarkable person who has really shared so much of herself in her work, and in her powerful writing about her navigations as a gifted adult. Listen in today to find out what Alexis has to share about finding balance, as a gifted adult.

Black, leftist, and glorious, twenty-seven-year-old Alexis lives each day in the spirit of her devotion to truth, justice, and liberation. She particularly enjoys taking an ax to capitalism and oppressive fuckshit. She also loves spinning and telling tales about the universe and its many wonders. And oversharing about her own ongoing inner monologues. Listen in to find out what Alexis has to say about dealing with the challenges of having an overactive brain and really intense emotions. 

Show highlights:

• Alex explains how her recent diagnosis of relapsing, remitting multiple sclerosis has affected her.
• Alexis talks about her recent, bold decision to become trained as a professional dominatrix.
• Inspiring social change through her writing.
• Alexis initially started writing as a way of dealing with growing up in a toxic environment.
• Her really difficult time in school.
• How writing helped her to cope with her intensely active mind.
• Being morbidly intense at the age of six.
• Living in a state of hyper-arousal.
• Realizing that there are many different ways to use one's gifts.
• Alexis's interest in power dynamics.
• We live in a culture that's very antagonistic towards neurodiversity.
• Alexis sees herself as a culturally conditioned introvert in some ways.
• Intensity does not imply irrationality.
• Alexis uses her fire as a catalyzing force, rather than a destructive one.
• Alex speaks about her first exposure to the world of kink and sex-positive.
• How Alexis manages to relax.

Your Power Word Challenge for 2019:

Starting this week, we are going to go through a variety of exploration questions to discover the word for you to embody in 2019.

Links and resources:

Alexis's website: Death Sex And Taxes

Alexis on Facebook: Alexis P. Morgan

Book: Your Rainforest Mind by Paula Plover 

Your Rainforest Mind is one of my all-time favorite books for gifted adults, and we had the privilege of having author, Paula Prober, join us for a group call to discuss her book! In this episode, we share highlights from the conversation and inspiration for other rainforest minded people!

We explore questions including:

• What are novel strategies to deal with the "fried circuits" of over-excitability outside of the standard "good self care?"
• How do you approach communicating your excitable nature in groups or conversations where you are afraid you might come off as dominating or "too much."
• How do you self-motivate when you don't have external forces pushing you forward?
• Feeling the suffering of the world and responsibility to fix it.
• How do you deal with the perfectionism that often comes with giftedness?

Links:

Find Your Power Word for 2019

Is your personality way too big for most people to handle? And do you find yourself sometimes trying to become smaller than you really are? Today we're super excited to have Arianna Bradford join us on the show! Arianna is an intensely passionate portrait photographer who specializes in senior portraits and boudoir photography. In addition to this, she's the founder and lead editor of the Not Your Average Mom (NYAM) Project, which is dedicated to celebrating strong women outside of the role of motherhood. Arianna really loves to talk and to express the ideas that she has going on in her head. She often found herself trying to curb the amount of talking she did when she was in high school, but it seldom worked for longer than ten minutes. Listen in today to find out what Arianna has to share about her passion and her fire.

Arianna was raised in a small town in Florida and spent the first twenty years of her life there. She thought that she would never leave. Due to unexpected circumstances, however, she moved to Texas and stayed there for about six years. During that time, she met her husband and they had two children, Miles and Charlie. Arianna, her husband, and their two young children now live in Happy Valley, Oregon. When she's not busy writing something or photographing people, Arianna enjoys reading, playing video games, or trying to sleep. Listen in today to find out more about Arianna and her brand of intensity.

Show highlights:

• During the time that she was living in Texas, her desire to capture images of her small son rekindled Arianna's interest in photography.
• Arianna loved the creative direction portion of photography when she started taking photos again, towards the end of 2014.
• The hard part of photography for Arianna then was that there was not a lot of money to be made from it in Austen.
• Discovering that she has a passion for working one-on-one with people, as a photographer- especially with women.
• Arianna's main focus is on helping women realize their own individual power and strength.
• What growing up was like for Arianna.
• Arianna was raised to think past what people would tell her.
• Being raised in a household with the attitude that you may as well be straightforward because people are going to judge you anyway.
• It took Arianna a long time to realize that sometimes it wasn't her chasing people away. It was their own prejudices and problems that did that.
• Arianna had to really try to curb her talking at high school, but it seldom worked for longer than ten minutes.
• Wanting to be smaller than she was.
• Most people believe that they need to be liked by as many people as possible.
• An anxious moment that Arianna had back in college when she was struggling socially.
• An incident that caused her anxiety and OCD to get out of control.
• Arianna believes that all emotions, even negative ones, can be channeled into something positive.
• She has made some of her greatest things in times of intense anger or sadness.
• The NYAM project was born of intense anger in Arianna.
• There are people who really identify with Arianna's writing.
• Art has really helped Arianna with harnessing the power of her intensity.
• Working hard on communication and trying to understand where other people are coming from.
• Remember that there's nothing wrong with being firey. People don't have to love you and it's okay for your fire to warm some people more than others.

Books mentioned on the show:

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Links:

Arianna's photography website: Arianna Bradford Sign up to get their newsletter.

The NYAM Project website: NYAM 

Instagram: The NYAM Project

Aurora will be starting a challenge on her Express Your Power page, to walk you through different self-exploration questions. These can assist you in coming up with your power word, which is the word that you would like to embody in 2019.

Aurora will also share inspirations from other participants and there will be a daily raffle too, where you could win a power word pendant and a custom essential oil blend for the theme of the day. You can find this at Express Your Power page

It's been a while since I've done a solo episode, between my new schedule and our group call speaker recordings. This week, I'd like to share a bit about what we have coming down the pike in the Embracing Intensity Community! 

Highlights:

• Share your questions for Author Paula Prober for next week's group call and book study with the author of Your Rainforest Mind on Sat. 11/10 at 10:00 AM Pacific - and don't forget to get your copy of her book!
• Portland, Oregon Metro area folks, mark your calendar for an amazing in-person event hosted by Rukshana Triem
• Our lineup of amazing talks coming up in our monthly group calls! Calls are always open and recordings will be shared to those on the call and Patrons on Patreon. 
• How can I make my weekly Patreon post more valuable to you?
• Launching of my Xpress Your Power store with 50% off Aromatherapy Necklaces. 
• Lots of great upcoming interviews so keep your eyes and ears out!

Links:

XPress Your Power Store

Patreon Community