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Embracing Intensity

Use your fire without getting burned.
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Now displaying: 2020
Jun 29, 2020

Are you living the life you love? For most of us, that’s a complicated question that demands an even more complicated answer. To live our best lives, we have to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative---but that’s easier said than done. Join us as we discuss it all with today’s guest.

Dr. Raquel Muller is a psychologist, mom empowerment coach, and speaker. She is the founder of Joyful Imperfection Counseling, LLC, and the creator of The Woman System. Dr. Raquel harnesses the power of cognitive, behavioral, and mindfulness strategies to empower women to transform negative self-talk, let go of self-doubt and guilt, banish burnout and overwhelm, cultivate a greater self-love, and reconnect with their own greatness so they can create lives that they love while making a positive impact in their families and the world.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Raquel is intensely passionate about supporting working moms in creating lives they love and letting go of the old notion of what a “good mom” should be
  • Why having hopes, dreams, and human needs---and honoring those does not make a bad mom
  • Raquel’s personal brand of intensity involves her radiant smile, boundless energy, and much passion
  • How Raquel grew up in Panama as a “good daughter and student” who enjoyed the spotlight, having a mic, and sharing a message
  • The cultural factors that affected Raquel as the oldest in her family who had many behavioral rules to follow
  • How Raquel knew she was expected to be an example for her younger siblings and a proper example for others who saw her in public
  • How her intensity got out of control during college when she lived away from home for the first time in a new culture that gave her more freedom
  • How she started her business and was forced to learn new skills, grow, and get in touch with her dreams
  • How she harnessed the power of her intensity by working with a coach and mentor around spiritual awareness, learning how to frame her fire and power to be more
  • The personal habits that have helped Raquel are gratitude practice, meditation, listing daily wins, and having a vision for her life
  • Good advice Raquel received was to listen to and honor her desires
  • Books that Raquel recommends: The Science of Getting Rich by W. D. Wattles and The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks
  • The empowerment that comes from investing in your growth
  • How Raquel helps mompreneurs with big dreams by teaching them to listen to their desires, create a vision for their lives, and be great role models for their children
  • Raquel’s favorite quote by Howard Thurman: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
  • Parting advice from Raquel: “Create your vision and go for your dreams. Find the thing that brings you alive, and go do it.”

Resources:

Find Raquel’s website:  Joyful Imperfection Counseling

Email Raquel:  dr@doctorraquelmuller.com 

Find Raquel’s Facebook group: Redefining Supermom

The Science of Getting Rich by W. D. Wattles and

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

 

 

Jun 22, 2020

I've been behind on my workbooks and lessons as I wrapped up my school year, and now I'm catching up! This month's theme is on Creatively Meeting Your Own Needs and in this episode I'd like to talk a little about the concept of Emotional Liberation as described through Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication. 

In this episode:

  • Why NVC can be a useful tool for self-exploration. 
  • When NVC is not always applicable. 
  • 4 Responses to negative or uncomfortable feedback or experiences.
  • Taking ownership of our feelings to meet our own needs and the needs of others. 

Links:

Embracing Intensity Community

RSVP for our next group call!

Free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Decolonizing Nonviolent Communication Book

Jun 15, 2020

I’m glad I’ve gotten to know today’s guest on the show. We’ve been following each other on Instagram, and I recently discovered that we’re in the same Facebook group. We’ve bonded over our work and service with twice-exceptional individuals, and we have much more in common, too. I’m excited to introduce you to her!

Boontarika Sripom is a therapy-influenced life coach for gifted and creative people. Her background includes school counseling, working in special education, and community mental health. As a life coach and sensitive person, she uses psychology and typology systems like Myers Briggs and enneagrams to help people empower themselves and reach their potential. Her favorite clients are creatives, gamers, and sensitive people who feel misunderstood. Boonie makes online content on Quora and YouTube. On Mixer, she streams video gaming while chatting with fellow gamers.

Show Highlights:

  • How Boonie is intensely passionate about championing causes like world hunger, her connection to nature, art, kids with special needs, and video game culture
  • Boonie’s connection to mental health advocacy and how she connects gamers and the geek community to therapists through the non-profit, Anxiety Gaming
  • Boonie’s personal brand of intensity is to challenge “normal” and to pair with a greater cause
  • Why Boonie believes that “injustice for one is injustice for all”
  • How Boonie is messy and scattered at home but portrays a different picture in public
  • How Boonie has an insatiable need to learn
  • Growing up, Boonie misunderstood social cues, didn’t have many friends, and was naive and trusted people too much
  • Why Boonie’s collectivist upbringing taught her that showing emotional pain is sign of weakness; she learned to be strong and push through any pain
  • In Boonie’s first year of college, Boonie’s friend committed suicide, leaving her with PTSD; this experience intensified her mistrust that anyone could help her
  • How she sought connection in emotionally-abusive relationships and kept losing herself and staying silent
  • How Boonie’s intensity got out of control with her insatiable need to learn, and her compulsion to buy books and hoard them
  • Why she had to honor her childhood playfulness and the needs that weren’t met
  • How Boonie uses her fire for good in speaking, questioning things, uplifting others, and constructing spaces for connection
  • A habit that helps Boonie harness the power of her intensity is to know the right people who accept and embrace her
  • How she helps others with their archetypes and how they seek and process information
  • Final words of advice from Boonie: “Everything you need is already there. Reclaim your voice and your identity.”

Resources:

Boonie’s website:  Organized Messes

Find Boontarika Sripom on YouTube, Instagram, and Quora

 

Jun 9, 2020

I’ve been sitting with the best way to use my platform to share and support Black voices with the understanding that a lot of folks are exhausted right now and don’t need me jumping in their inbox. So instead of business as usual, I decided to share information about some podcasts with Black voices and highlight them. Starting with  a short clip with permission from Arianna Bradford of last week’s NYAM Project Podcast on Thoughts from a Black Mom. 

Below you will find links for podcasts and youtube channels you can listen to and support using their own descriptions from their pages. If they have a Patreon, I also included that link so you can also financially support them if you'd like. 

Alexandra Loves - Website and Podcast - Youtube Channel - Support her on Patreon

Helping you create what you want by being exactly who you are. Now offering Black Mentor Sessions designed to hold a space, help clear imbalances, and provide solution based guidance for those white people who want to work with her.

Arianna Bradford - The NYAM Project - Support her on Patreon

A weekly podcast consisting of anecdotes and interviews from everyday mothers and experts alike, highlighting real motherhood and questioning what we think we know about parenting and motherhood.

Andréa Ranae Johnson - A Call to Serve Podcast - Andréa Ranae’s Website - Support her on Patreon

If you have a vision for change in your communities or our world (or maybe you just know that a different reality is possible) and you want to show up, contribute, serve or generally live the kind of life that leaves this planet better than you found it – you’re in the right place.

Colin E Seale - thinkLaw Podcast  - thinkLaw Website

Critical Thinking is the most essential 21st century skill but it is still a luxury good. Only 1 out of 10 educators teach critical thinking, and this educator usually only teaches at elite schools or to the most elite students.

Gary Ware - Gary Ware on Youtube - Breakthrough Play Website

Helping you improve your business, relationships, and life…with play

Jaiden Love - Jaiden Love on Youtube - Held and Heard Website

Bringing More Love into the World By Teaching the Essentials of Gender Identity & Support.

Leesa Renée Hall - Leesa’s Website - Podcasts featuring Leesa - Support her on Patreon

Exploring Bias One Field Trip at a Time. On her Patreon she is creating Inner Field Trips™ with writing prompts to help you unpack your biases around racism, in a supportive  environment.

Phyllis G. Williams & LaTricia Smith - Living the Principles Podcast

A podcast committed to relevant conversations about strengthening the Black Community.

René Brooks - Black Girl, Lost Keys Blog - Podcasts featuring René - Support her on Patreon

A blog that empowers black women with ADHD and shows them how to live well with the disorder.

Sharon Burton - Spark Your Creative Podcast

Spark Your Creative is a  company under the SJB Creative Ventures, LLC that  focuses on creativity coaching…for individuals initially who want to discover or reclaim their creative gifts.  

Zaakirah Nayyar - Living Legacy Podcast 

The Living Legacy Podcast features women of purpose sharing stories of resilience.

Jun 1, 2020

This week instead of sharing a new episode, I am participating in a Podcast Blackout protesting the deaths of the Black people slain by police violence or victims of hate crimes. I will share some links and resources below if you would like to do more work around anti-racism and don't know where to begin.

(This list is missing MANY names)

  • Trayvon Martin age 17 2012
  • Tamir Rice age 12 2014
  • Eric Garner 2014
  • Sandra Bland age 28 2015
  • Freddie Gray age 25 2015
  • Alton Sterling age 37 2016
  • Philando Castile age 32 2016
  • Botham Jean age 26 2018
  • Atatiana Jefferso age 28 2019
  • Ahmaud Arbery age 25 2020
  • Doug Lewis age 39 2020
  • Breonna Taylor age 26 2020
  • George Floyd age 46 2020

Resources:

I have compiled and organized resources on this Pinterest page according to themes I’ve observed online in this Responding to White Supremacy Pinterest Board, feel free to send me other resources or topics to include.

A good start is to learn how to apologize when you inevitably do something wrong, this video from Franchesca Ramsey on Getting Called Out: How to Apologize is a good start.

Then read this article, White people, stop asking us to educate you about racism to understand why it is our responsibility as white people to educate ourselves and then pay BIPOC educators who specialize in this area to go deeper.

Educate yourself on being a better ally, some of these posts are a good start, and reading some of these books would be even better, and better yet pay anti racism educators for their trainings.

Then take action, these two posts are a good start: Want to do better, but aren’t sure where to start? Start here and 75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice.

May 25, 2020

Today’s guest is someone I met through The Gifted Homeschooler Forum for which we both write. Through her experiences and those of her children, she’s become a champion for parents of “quirky children who don’t fit the mold.”

Kathleen Humble is an ADHD mom in Melbourne, Australia. She writes at Yellow Readis about gifted and twice-exceptional homeschooling. Her book, Gifted Myths, is available at The Gifted Homeschooler Forum Press. She’s been published in Victorian Writer, The Mighty, and Otherways magazine, and she was the recipient of the 2018 Writers Victoria Write-Ability Fellowship. In between writing and homeschooling her kids, Kathleen loves reading, sewing, and big cups of tea.

Show Highlights:

  • As a long-time homeschooling mom of two twice-exceptional children, Kathleen is intensely passionate about helping parents with quirky children who don’t fit into the mold
  • As a twice-exceptional person with ADHD, Kathleen can focus intensely on something to the point of not remembering to do anything else
  • Growing up, she had trouble controlling her passions, but her intensity turned inward as she resorted to reading
  • Being small and good at things made Kathleen an easy target for bullies in school
  • One of the cultural factors that affected her intensity was learning that in Australia, standing out from others is not a great thing that’s not appreciated
  • How intensity became an asset for Kathleen through performance and writing
  • How Kathleen toned down and tuned out her intensity in high school when she deliberately stopped learning
  • How Kathleen observed in school the behaviors that invited bullying
  • Why Kathleen has to work against her intensity all the time
  • How Kathleen learned to do “the pause,” a technique to physically break the intensity
  • How Kathleen loves helping others, answering questions, exploring things, and empowering others
  • How Kathleen harnesses the power of her intensity through “the pause,” medication, and therapy
  • Kathleen’s system of “touch once” to keep track of tasks and remember names
  • The best advice Kathleen ever received: “I’m OK. It’s going to be OK. Being you is OK. Being intense is OK.”
  • Books that Kathleen recommends: Foundation by Isaac Asimov and NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman
  • How Kathleen helps others use their fire for good by writing on her blog and people find the information they need

Resources:

Find Kathleen: Yellow Readis

Facebook: Yellow Readis

Twitter: @Yellow Readis

Pinterest: Yellow Readis

Gifted Myths by Kathleen Humble

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

NeuroTribes by Stever Silberman

 

May 18, 2020

Last week someone on Twitter tagged me in a post asking if I was familiar with the concept of over-excitability. It made me realize that many who follow my work around twice-exceptionality aren’t familiar with my early work which is founded on the concept of excitability. Excitability is the foundation of my work on the Embracing Intensity Podcast and Community.

Five years ago, I asked my community to help me come up with things that many of us had in common being highly excitable. I made an animated post on Buzzfeed, but I thought it was a good time to revisit the origins of my blog, and I finally figured out how to add GIFs to my own blog so I decided to revisit this post with animation on the blog, and share it here on the Podcast!

Highlights:

  • 25 things only a highly excitable person would understand.
  • Why Excitability can be your greatest power.
  • How you can harness the power of your excitability. 

Links:

25 Things Only a Highly Excitable Person Would Understand (Animated)

Free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Join the Embracing Intensity Community

May 11, 2020

Today’s show is a different one. I’m interviewing a 12-year-old with ADHD who is easily distracted. He hopes you will be, too.

It’s an extra special privilege to interview my son, Z. Jay Baxter, who just released an activity book for his 12th birthday. It’s called The Notebook of Mass Distraction: Boredom Busters for Busy Brains. He has also started a YouTube channel and would love for you to follow him there.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Jay is intensely passionate about his time with friends
  • Why chaos and destruction are Jay’s personal brand of intensity
  • How Jay tends to get hyper-focused on something he’s interested in
  • Why Jay needed to hide in his jacket during recess at school during a particularly rough time
  • How Jay’s intensity got out of control in a situation at school three years ago
  • How Jay uses his fire for good in hyper-focusing on one goal
  • How medications and friends help Jay harness the power of his intensity for good
  • How piano music and Harry Potter help Jay sleep
  • Good advice that Jay has received: “Just because you hear something doesn’t mean it’s true.”
  • Books recommended by Jay: the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
  • Jay’s Notebook of Mass Distraction and the responses he’s received to it (there will be more!)
  • Final words from Jay: “Remember, we all need a bit of validation in our lives. Don’t compare yourself to others. Compare yourself to you.”

Resources:

Jay's Workshop Of Wonder

 Find Jay’s Workshop of Wonder on YouTube!

 

May 4, 2020

When we get caught up in our own thoughts, it can interfere with our ability to see things clearly. This week on Embracing Intensity I talk about types of thoughts that disrupt our objective observations.

In this episode: 

  • Thoughts are how we make sense of the world around us.
  • Judgements, labels and expectations reinforce our existing view. 
  • Blame and all or nothing thinking places emphasis on being right or wrong. 

Links:

Embracing Intensity Community

Embracing Intensity Store

Support Embracing Intensity on Patreon

Aurora Remember on YouTube

Jay's Workshop of Wonder on YouTube

 

Apr 27, 2020

We all love that coworker who is filled with positive energy that spills over to everyone they touch. Certain people have a knack for celebrating the wins of others, and even though we all might want to be that person, it takes a specific mindset that most of us lack. It’s an incredible benefit when this person ends up in the field of education, where they can spend their days impacting the lives of students in positive ways.

Amy Campbell is a friend and colleague in my school district. As the 2020 Washington State Teacher of the Year, she is clearly gifted and intense, but she has now become a public figure who is a fierce advocate for her special education students.

Show Highlights:

  • How Amy is intensely passionate about celebrating human success with her special education students who are moderately to profoundly impacted by their disabilities
  • Amy’s personal brand of intensity involves profound anxiety around celebrations and wanting others to enjoy life to the fullest
  • How her intensity made her feel different
  • Culturally speaking, Amy had a lot of privilege as a white, middle-class woman who was uninhibited
  • How she’s had to tone down her energy level that is more than most people, and how she “feels like the wrong person” at many times
  • How we feel too intense in many leadership and gender roles
  • How Amy uses her fire for good in having a positive presupposition about things and seeing her students with disabilities as assets and cause for celebration
  • How Amy is a fierce advocate for inclusion
  • How Amy harnesses the power of her intensity by understanding herself and having time for reflection
  • How personal habits of organization and running help Amy
  • How distance learning has affected Amy and the importance of her need for celebrations
  • The best advice for Amy came from her principal, who told her that she should lead adults in the same ways she leads kids
  • A recommended book: Fostering Resilient Learners by Kristin Souers
  • Why Amy’s favorite part of her job is the way she believes that every person needs space for voice and choice’
  • How Amy loves helping students learn to communicate their needs and wants
  • Parting advice from Amy: “You are enough. You are amazing. You are great. Look for the joy in this world and have a positive disposition. If you can share that joy, then you’re doing good in the world.”

Resources:

Find Amy on Facebook or Twitter (@the_mrscampbell)

Check Amy out on YouTube

Fostering Resilient Learners by Kristin Souers

 

 

Apr 20, 2020

The last few weeks I dove deep into creative projects including updating a whole bunch of new shirts in my Threadless store, creating 8 new youtube animation videos, launching a workbook and helping my son launch his new activity book, the Notebook of Mass Distraction: Boredom Busters for Busy Brains. 

In this episode:

  • Takeaways from letting myself dive deep into creativity mode.
  • The importance of accessible content. 
  • How you can support continued accessible content. 

Links:

Support my work on Patreon

Embracing Intensity Store

Jenelle Wooodlief's Self Care Revolution Community

Arianna Bradford's NYAM Project Podcast

Embracing Intensity Community

Apr 13, 2020

These last few weeks have been super intense. For those of us who are sensitive, we’ve either wanted to escape into a hole to heal or dive deep into creative projects, which is what I’ve been doing. I hope you’ve found the things that help you cope best in this time of uncertainty. My guest today has wisdom and insights that can help!

AmyLee Westervelt, of Gratitude & Glamour, is a life and business coach for empaths and highly sensitive people. We connected through a mutual friend, and I’m excited to introduce you to her today.

Show Highlights:

  • Get to know AmyLee, a mom of five kids under eight years of age, who grew up in Boston and now lives in Savannah, Georgia
  • Why AmyLee is passionate about helping people empower themselves to change their lives
  • AmyLee’s personal brand of intensity is to put a lot of “oomph” in everything she does, always cultivating a deep connection with others
  • Why AmyLee felt like a “little dancing bear” as a girl who was paraded around by a narcissistic parent
  • Growing up in Boston, Amy was always different and always asked “too many questions”
  • How AmyLee had to tone herself down and tune herself out from overanalyzing everything and being too dramatic
  • How empaths overthink everything why someone does something
  • How AmyLee tries to parent her kids according to each child’s energy instead of their gender
  • When AmyLee’s intensity is out of control if she feels wronged by someone
  • How AmyLee uses her fire for good and believes deeply in the abilities of people to be resilient
  • How AmyLee had to reign in her ego and imposter syndrome to harness the power of her intensity
  • The habits that help AmyLee are meditation, the motherhood experience and seeing life through her kids’ eyes, and being creative in crafting life’s experiences
  • The best advice came from a life coach, who said, “If it’s not a hell yes, then it’s a NO.”
  • Books that have helped AmyLee: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein
  • How AmyLee works as a life and business coach for empaths and highly sensitive people, teaching them to navigate, create healthy boundaries, and practice radical self-care

Resources:

Gratitude And Glamour

Gratitude And Glamour  Find AmyLee’s free ebook, The Empath Elixir

Find AmyLee Westervelt on Facebook

Visit The Unstoppable Empaths System for information on AmyLee’s new course, The Unstoppable Empath System

Find additional resources: Embracing Intensity Store and Embracing Intensity

 

 

Apr 7, 2020

This week on Embracing Intensity I discuss what I'm doing for self care in the chaos, and share some additional resources.

Highlights:

  • Avoiding contaminated time.
  • Staying connected.
  • Finding time for what energizes you.
  • Supporting self-care community

Links:

Gifted AND: A Story about Twice-Exceptionality - Animation of Colin Seale's story

Embracing Intensity Store

Notebook of Mass Distraction

Jenelle Woodlief's Radical Self Care Community Fundraiser

Mar 30, 2020

My guest today is doing great things in the field of education. I’ve come across his work in the gifted and twice exceptional circles, and I knew he would be a valuable guest on the show. I’m happy to have connected with him around his work in teaching critical thinking skills.

Colin Seale was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where struggles in his upbringing gave birth to his passion for educational equity. Tracked early into talented and gifted programs, Colin was afforded opportunities his neighborhood peers were not. Colin uses lessons from his experience as a math teacher, later as an attorney, and now a keynote speaker, along with his work as a contributor to Forbes, The 74, and Education Post. He’s the author of Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking Skills to All Students. Colin founded thinkLaw, a multi-award-winning organization to help educators leverage inquiry-based educational instruction and strategies to close the critical thinking gap and ensure that they teach and reach all students, regardless of race, zip code, or what side of the poverty line they are born into. When he’s not serving as the world’s most fervent critical thinking advocate, Colin proudly serves as the world’s greatest entertainer to his two young children, and as a loving husband to his wife, Carrie.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Colin is intensely passionate about wanting to fix things for people and help them find solutions
  • Colin’s personal brand of intensity revolves around his strategy about “how we get there” regarding critical thinking
  • In his growing up years, Colin heard many “he’s gifted, but” statements, but not many “he’s gifted, and” statements
  • How Colin was labeled for his intense behaviors instead of being supported
  • How we’ve created a culture where conformity is the expectation, but many kids don’t fit these standards
  • Cultural factors around Colin’s intensity include his family heritage of Caribbean immigrants from Barbados and their British tendencies, which teach passivity and non-confrontation
  • The urge and commitment to end generational poverty through education
  • How Colin had to tone down and tune himself out in third grade when he was labeled as “extra”
  • How Colin dealt with setbacks and disappointments by overcompensating
  • Why Colin is committed to galvanizing educators to run on “high” and equipping them with the “how” of helping kids unlock their critical thinking potential
  • Colin’s book is available for pre-order now on Amazon; it comes out on April 30
  • How Colin helps harness the power of his intensity by learning to be authentic within himself
  • The importance of giving people permission and courage to be who they are
  • The need to be intentional in helping kids learn entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Colin’s professional and personal habits in using his fire for good include weekly one-hour innovation meetings with his team and taking a moment to press “pause” for times of creativity and innovation
  • How Colin helps others stop focusing on what they want to do, but on how they want their professional lives to look, feel, and be managed
  • Parting words from Colin: “We shouldn’t talk about an ADHD diagnosis or being intense or extra as a defect. If we could transition in education from thinking about what’s best for ALL kids to thinking about what’s best for EACH kid, then we can help each child achieve excellence, however that is defined for them.”

Resources:

Think Law

The latest Embracing Intensity workbook on Balancing Your Time and Energy is available in the Embracing Intensity Community. Our live group call on this topic is scheduled for Saturday, April 11, at 10:00 am Pacific.

Check out the Embracing Intensity Facebook page for upcoming events!

Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students by Colin Seale

 

 

Mar 23, 2020

With all the unexpected changes this last week, a lot of us are finding ourselves working from home. This is definitely a challenge for me because I'm used to having the structure of work schedules and deadlines to keep me on track. I decided to explore how to create my own structure in times of chaos on my blog, Youtube and the Embracing Intensity Podcast.

Highlights:

  • Taking care of your body.
  • Identifying your "big rocks."
  • Creating accountability.
  • Creating separate spaces for work and rest.
  • Building new rituals & routines.
  • Giving yourself grace.

Links:

Blog post on Finding Structure in Times of Chaos  

Embracing Intensity Community and Accountability Group

Mar 16, 2020

I connected with today’s guest on Facebook, and then we met in person at a conference last September. We have so much in common! We are joint members in several communities, we’ve moved from working with children to working with more adults, and we’ve both been busy in the past year refining what we want to do and how we want to help people.

Molli Osburn is better known as “Molli the Math Rebel,” formerly “Molli the Math Lady.” She is an author, public speaker, and transformational coach. As a former math teacher and tutor since 2006, Molli is the author of Beyond Math Anxiety: 99 Insights (and a Calculation’s Not One!) She specializes in spreading awareness of the widespread problem of math anxiety and its deeper cousin, math shame. Recently, she started exploring the connection between math shame and money shame, especially among women. She’s been sober since January 2019, and that progress is a vitally important part of her journey. In her spare time, Molli enjoys hiking, traveling, crafts, and gluten-free baking.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Molli is intense about math, but also about helping people understand the social aspects of math anxiety and math shame
  • How Molli wants to help people find social and emotional solutions
  • How Molli is passionate about everything and obsesses over little details
  • Why math anxiety is not an academic problem with an academic solution
  • Molli’s experience in growing up as a math, science, and STEM person with social anxiety
  • How negative feelings and attitudes are passed down through generations
  • How Molli’s passion extends to eradicating sexism and gender bias in math, science, and STEM
  • Molli’s experience in growing up with Jewish AND Catholic parents---the best and worst of both worlds
  • How Molli had to tone herself down and tune herself out because she was too intense and passionate about everything
  • How Molli’s intensity got out of control when she wasn’t clear about her message
  • The difference in math anxiety and math shame
  • How Molli got sober a little over one year ago
  • The connection between math shame and money shame, especially for women
  • How Molli educates people about math anxiety and math shame, helping them connect through stories
  • Molli’s struggles with mental health
  • Why a morning routine is vital for Molli’s mental health; it includes tech-free time, essential oils, coffee, and morning journaling
  • Books that have helped Molli: The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and Judgment Detox and Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein
  • How Molli helps others with their goals, thoughts, and feelings in healing their wounds and transforming their stories to empower them

Resources:

Molli The Math Rebel (website in progress)

Beyond Math Anxiety Book

Find Molli the Math Rebel on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

 Judgment Detox by Gabrielle Bernstein

 Super Attractor by Gabrielle Bernstein

 

Mar 9, 2020

Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? This week I explore a question brought up in our Embracing Intensity Community around Carol Dweck's Mindset theory and how it relates to gifted and twice exceptional individuals. 

Highlights:

  • The limitations of growth vs. fixed mindset and how it relates to innate ability.
  • How gifted and twice exceptional individuals can benefit from aspects of growth mindset.
  • Exploring mindset theory in relation to Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration. 

Links:

Embracing Intensity Community

Bookstore

Threadless Apparel & Accessory Shop

Mar 2, 2020

Those who have been affected by trauma are the people who truly understand the extent of the big emotions that come with trauma. It’s refreshing when someone uses their background of self-doubt and shame to help others heal. Such is the story of today’s amazing guest, so join us to learn more!

Rayah Dickerson hosts the podcast, Depth of Echoes, which is a mental health podcast that is a wonderful resource for the mental health community. Rayah is the anxious, semi-depressed wife of a guy with schizoaffective PTSD, and she’s a trauma-informed mom, ally, researcher, writer, activist, and national speaker. I was privileged to be on her show this week as Rayah interviewed me; now I’m returning the favor. She was recently diagnosed with ADHD, which is a common experience for many creatives.

Show Highlights:

  • How Rayah is intensely passionate about learning, evolving, and finding the best ways to heal from the trauma that we face every day
  • Rayah’s husband’s mental crisis which happened 3-4 years ago and awakened Rayah to a huge need
  • Rayah’s personal brand of intensity, which is shown in love as she figures out how to heal each person
  • Rayah’s recent ADHD diagnosis and how it manifests itself
  • The common thread through many people with ADHD and how they can help each other
  • The importance of using a planner
  • How Rayah’s experiences in childhood created a lot of internal shame, manifested in sarcasm and making her afraid to get help
  • How Rayah was affected by her religious background, which included many rules for women
  • The shame Rayah felt when she was told to calm down and be likable and pleasant
  • How Rayah’s intensity is out of control in dealing with her oldest son, who also has experienced trauma
  • How Rayah shares with people around her and tries to utilize the benefits of community
  • How to learn useful coping techniques from people in marginalized communities
  • Rayah’s personal habits that help her deal with her intensity
  • The best advice Rayah received was from a nurse who told her to be an advocate in the mental health community to help others
  • Books that helped Rayah: Surviving Schizophrenia by E. Fuller Torrey MD, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk MD, and True Inclusion by Brandan Robertson
  • How Rayah helps others by giving them permission to talk about their issues
  • How Rayah helps people see that life with mental illness can still be beautiful
  • Parting words from Rayah: “You can change your internal dialogue, improve, and heal.”

Resources:

Depth Of Echoes 

Find Rayah and Depth of Echoes on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Patreon, and YouTube

 

 

 

Feb 25, 2020

This week on Embracing Intensity, I'm sharing an excerpt from this months lesson in the Ignite Your Power series - From Mental Chaos to Clarity and Connection. You can find the whole lesson in the Embracing Intensity Community or find a copy of the workbook in our Embracing Intensity Book Store.

In this lesson I share:

  • Why thoughts can be useful tools for understanding our experiences, but need to be examined so we can see more clearly.
  • Seven types of thoughts that can disrupt our clear thinking.
  • An overview of the full lesson found in the Embracing Intensity Community or in my workbook found in my new bookstore

Links:

Embracing Intensity Community

Online Bookstore

Feb 17, 2020

How much emphasis do you put on self-care? I’m talking about yourself, not what you might recommend to others. We fall victim to many myths that trick us into putting self-care on the back burner of our lives as we frantically run here and there. Today’s guest shares what she has learned through her focus on self-care and empowerment. Join us to learn more!

Jenelle Woodlief empowers women to redefine and embrace radical self-care, sharing deeply personal experience and wisdom. As a licensed massage therapist, she practices empowering bodywork aimed at restoring balance in the body. Thai massage is an incredible modality that incorporates effective massage with movement and stretching performed on a comfy floor mat. She educates and coaches clients on simple but powerful self-care techniques, empowering them to care for their bodies at home. And she does it all! She publishes her writing, speaks her truth, teaches Thai massage to groups and couples, builds community, fights inequality, and is building a self-care revolution! Join Jenelle in learning to love and care for yourself, and in turn, others. Jenelle is powerful, dynamic, engaging, and wise. I’m happy to introduce her to you today.

Show Highlights:

  • Jenelle is intensely passionate about being an entrepreneur and a recently divorced mom; she loves to help women redefine what self-care means
  • Her personal brand of intensity is rooted in authenticity and having the courage to show up messy in the world
  • The devastation of a sudden divorce
  • Jenelle’s story of growing up in “rebel fashion,” watching emotional abuse, physical abuse, and many inconsistencies in her family
  • How she was taught that women are supposed to be passive, but she knew she didn’t fit into that mold very well
  • In middle school and high school, Jenelle had to tone herself down to fit in with other kids; she learned to be more passive to have more friends
  • As a teen, her intensity got out of control when she exploded with anger because of what went on in her family
  • How Jenelle uses her fire for good: she shows up with passionate authenticity and connection with others, she prioritizes herself in many areas of life and engages with a group of women for change to be part of the solution
  • How Jenelle recognized that she is an introvert and needs to slow down and embrace and care for herself
  • How Jenelle prioritizes sleep, makes time and space for personal quiet time, and sets buffer times between clients
  • The best advice Jenelle ever received: to focus on caring for ourselves internally, so we can care for what’s happening around us; also, to observe and detach, and not feel the need to participate when things feel nasty
  • An influential book: The Conscious Parent by Shefali Tsabary
  • How Jenelle helps others by encouraging them to tune into what “lights them up”
  • Jenelle’s parting words: “We can’t share our fire and intensity unless we’re stoking our own fire. If we sit in chaos, then we give chaos---and that doesn’t help anyone.”

Resources:

Instagram: @jenelle.woodlief

Facebook: Step Into Your Power

 

 

Feb 10, 2020

Coming out of an educational conference it struck me how many sessions emphasized acceleration as the primary tool for supporting gifted students. As a gifted student who had both positive and negative experiences with my education, I have mixed feelings about this. While acceleration can be valuable for many gifted students, focusing on it exclusively can leave out a lot of twice exceptional and under achieving gifted folks, which can have lasting impacts on the experience of gifted adults.

In this episode:

  • Common traits of gifted students and how they may leave out twice exceptional and underachieving students.
  • How my experience both as a student and as a parent have shaped my view on how to support gifted and twice exceptional individuals.
  • Four things I believe are crucial in helping gifted and twice exceptional individuals meet their potential.

Links:

Embracing Intensity Community

Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Contact Me

Follow my new friend Eileen on Twitter!

Feb 3, 2020

When I first heard today’s guest speak at a live event, I knew that I had to have her on the podcast. Her story of growing up in the Philippines in less-than-ideal circumstances is a powerful one that she is eager to share. Let’s learn more about how connecting with other people’s stories can transform lives.

Kareen Mills was born into a large family. The dream of coming to America was her escape from a not-so-healthy childhood. Her podcast, Being Motherhustler, is a tribute project to her mom and grandmother. Her podcast is ranked in the Top Ten at Entrepreneur.com’s list of 20 podcasts that will help you grown in 2020. Being Motherhustler was also named the #1 domestic violence podcast by Feedspot.com. Kareen was named one of the Class of 2018 Accomplished and Under 40 by the Vancouver Business Journal. She still maintains a day job, managing a $50 million bank branch. The reason Kareen is so passionate about financial wellness is because hers was nonexistent until she learned one of life’s tough lessons from financial ruin. This experience provides Kareen a platform to make a difference in people’s financial lives today. Kareen is a master networker who co-founded Game Changers Global Network, LLC, and The Woman’s Network. She is quickly growing her Motherhustler brand online and offline, and she holds space for the Motherhustlers and women through events, retreats, and group coaching programs. In addition to these endeavors, Kareen serves her husband and two sons as a wife and mother.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Kareen is intensely passionate about holding space for women in domestic violence
  • How Kareen grew up as a victim to Philippine culture, which teaches women to be enslaved to their husbands and never to leave--no matter what
  • How Kareen was able to heal through connection and her project to honor her mom and grandmother
  • How people carry their childhood struggles with them into adulthood and future success
  • How Kareen’s intensity translates into her love for collecting other people’s stories and intense thoughts and conversations
  • Kareen’s thoughts about nasty people and how she learns from them
  • How Kareen wants to know what happened to people to make them mean and nasty to learn their stories
  • Why it’s up to us to receive our intensity with either positivity or negativity
  • How becoming a mother helped Kareen understand better what her mother went through and why she did what she did
  • How Kareen gives grace to mean people because we never know what they go through behind closed doors
  • Why you have to ask people about their story, which is really their struggle
  • The cultural factors that affected Kareen growing up: her judgmental, Catholic background and the brand-conscious, materialistic culture
  • How Kareen had to suppress a lot of her intensity before she went through healing
  • How Kareen’s intensity has gotten out of control many times over little things
  • How Kareen uses her fire for good in holding space for women like her mother
  • How setting a routine, working out, reading, and writing things down help Kareen harness the power of her intensity
  • A favorite book to recommend: The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews
  • How Kareen helps others use their fire by encouraging them to tell their stories because that’s where your fire comes from
  • Kareen’s vision: mothering the world and teaching networking skills

Resources:

Find Kareen on social media: @kareenmills

 

Jan 28, 2020

I had the pleasure of interviewing Kareen Mills, who's interview I'm excited to share next week. As she shared her own story and the importance of listening to the stories of others, I really related to how stories are what connects us with others.

In this episode I discuss:

  • The power of story.
  • How fields as seemingly different as banking and education can be so similar. 
  • The significance of having both windows into other experiences and mirrors reflecting our own.
  • Bringing in more stories to share experiences of other gifted, creative and outside the box thinkers.

Links:

Join the Embracing Intensity Community

Support us on Patreon

Get your free Harnessing The Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Jan 20, 2020

In this first interview episode of 2020, we are continuing to discuss how our intensity can be our greatest source of power. Join me for an exciting conversation as today’s guest teaches us about sharing our gifts with the world.

Emily Roach is an international speaker, business coach, and professional “Biz BFF.” Through her online courses, live workshops, and intimate retreats, she empowers women business owners to play full-out, show up wholly as themselves, and create the business of their dreams. When she’s not teaching women how to rock their business and crush their goals, she’s camping around Oregon in her vintage school bus with her family of five.

Show Highlights:

  • How Emily is multi-passionate about many things, especially helping people unlock their potential and realize their capabilities
  • Emily’s personal brand of intensity, which is exemplified by the way she talks too fast and too loud as she strives always to be authentic
  • Growing up, Emily was an “odd duck” who was shy, expressive, and creative
  • How she worried about fitting in as a teen, but then decided she didn’t want to fit in
  • How she found a small group of friends later in her high school years
  • The moment in high school when everything “clicked” and she found complete freedom
  • The societal pressure to be a “good girl” and a people-pleaser
  • When Emily feels out of control with her big emotions, and it seems like she’s not connected
  • How Emily gives others permission to be themselves and loves to share her enthusiasm to pump others up
  • How Emily harnesses the power of her intensity by putting more structure in place, which, in turn, gives her more freedom
  • The benefits of structuring your time and schedule
  • How meditation, journaling, and being supported by other people help Emily with her big-intense emotions
  • The best advice Emily ever received: “Accept all the support you can.”
  • Books that have helped Emily the most: The Big Leap, Playing Big, and Alice in Wonderland
  • How Emily helps others use their fire by reflecting back their light and brilliance and seeing their wisdom, potential, and capability
  • Parting words from Emily: “People have told me that I’m too much when at times I feel like I’m not enough. It’s an impossible juggle. Know that you are exactly the right amount of much-ness.”

Resources:

Biz BFF

Find Emily on Instagram: @biz_bff

The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

Playing Big by Tara Mohr

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Overwhelmed by Brigid Schulte

 

 

Jan 13, 2020

This week on Embracing Intensity, I'm sharing the first lesson of my Ignite Your Power Course. In this lesson, we will observe our own powers, get clear on how to harness them and develop a “power toolkit” to help harness them more. You can find the full group discussion and other materials related to the lesson in the Embracing Intensity Community

You can also download a free workbook on Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity.

In this episode: 

  • Learn the 5 types of intensity and how they can be your greatest superpowers.

  • Explore how to harness them and keep them from getting out of control or suppressed.

  • Learn tips to channel each intensity in a positive direction.

  • Improve your self-regulation skills.

  • Create your own toolkit to get in your “power zone.”

Links:

Free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Embracing Intensity Community

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