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Embracing Intensity

Use your fire without getting burned.
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Now displaying: February, 2021
Feb 23, 2021

I’m excited to share our first guest call for the 2021 season in the Embracing Intensity Community with Brendan Mahan, of ADHD Essentials, on the Wall of Awful!

From Brendan’s website:

“Everyone fails. Some, like those with executive function challenges, fail more than others.

Each failure brings negative emotions – guilt, disappointment. These smaller emotions become stronger feelings of anxiety, shame and even loneliness if one is repeatedly rejected because of their errors. Each time these negative emotions are experienced, another brick is placed into that person’s Wall of Awful.

The Wall of Awful is the emotional barrier that prevents us from initiating tasks and taking the risks necessary to make reach our goals. It is the emotional consequence of having ADHD and it must be understood to be overcome.

Let me help you climb your Wall of Awful™.

Get the free e-book “5 Ways to Overcome The Wall of Awful” here!”

In this episode:

  • Who is Brendan?
  • What is the Wall of Awful?
  • How do we get past the Wall of Awful?
  • Brendan's perspective on ADHD
  • Being a leader and creating your own narratives around neurodiversity.

Links:

Brendan's Website

Embracing Intensity Community

Free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Feb 15, 2021

I found today’s guest in a most unusual place! It was on TikTok that I first noticed her work with gifted and twice-exceptional people, and I knew I had to get her on the show.

Dr. Kimberly Douglass is president and CEO of Remote Learning Solutions. She coaches neurodivergent PhDs/EdDs on the personal, social, and technical aspects of career and entrepreneurship. In addition to moving clients from deficit-based to strengths-based thinking, she helps PhDs/EdDs develop content across a range of subjects. She helps clients deliver content in the form of ebooks, online courses, workbooks, journals, workshops, and more. Dr. Douglass bases her coaching practice on five values: empathy, justice, love, neurodiversity, and purpose. She worked in higher education for over 17 years in various roles and earned a PhD in political science in 2009 and tenured in Information Sciences in 2016 at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Her teaching and scholarship have developed at the intersection of information science and political behavior.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Kimberly is intensely passionate about coaching and mentoring neurodivergent adults
  • How the same issues in our schools with kids are showing up for adults in the workplace
  • Why people are taught to believe in a fake meritocracy
  • How giftedness means different things for different people
  • How Kimberly’s personal brand of intensity is thinking about things in different ways, deep thoughts and issues that can turn into depression, and loving information and data
  • Growing up, Kimberly felt her intensity through acting goofy and humorous and always being presentable to white culture
  • The distinction between management and leadership
  • Cultural factors that affected Kimberly as she grew up in a black Baptist church, being told that she “shouldn’t speak up for herself,” and seeing Christianity as a tool of enslavement
  • How Kimberly had to tune herself out and tone herself down when she worked at a university with mean, accusatory people
  • Why she feels her intensity getting out of control when she feels dismissed or undervalued
  • What made Kimberly take a different look at herself and her son regarding giftedness
  • How she uses her fire for good in believing people
  • Habits that help Kimberly harness the power of her intensity are tools that organize her thoughts and life
  • How she helps others use their fire for good by trying to be neutral and helping people look for affirmation, values, principles, mission, and goals
  • Kimberly’s advice: “Take the risk. Find someone who will help you take the risk. Realize that not moving and standing still is also risky; it’s just risky in a different way.”

Resources:

Website:  Dr. Kimberly Douglass 

Facebook: Kimberly Douglass

TikTok: Dr. Kimberly Douglass

 

Feb 9, 2021

I've been hearing a lot more comments lately along the lines of "I relate to your work, but I'm not really gifted." In this episode of Embracing Intensity, I discuss why gifted folks might not recognize their own gifts and some resources to explore if you suspect you might be gifted. 

In this episode:

  • 5 Reasons gifted folks might not think they are really gifted.
  • My own experience and why I actually believed it despite underachievement.
  • 3 of my favorite books & resources to explore potential giftedness.

Links:

Your Rainforest Mind, Paula Prober

The Gifted Adult, Mary-Elaine Jacobsen PsyD

Searching For Meaning, James Webb

Embracing Intensity Community

Free Workbook on Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity

Feb 1, 2021

I’m excited to share today’s show with you. My guest has an interesting perspective as an obviously gifted person who has dyslexia. Her experience is fascinating, but there is so much more to her story and work. Join us!

Brenda Bryan is a kickass inspirational speaker and The Diviner of Human Potential. As a transformational coach and Mastermind facilitator, she supports women to unmask and nurture their genius, empowering them to live in the strength of their passion. Teaching through the Raise Your Voice Speaker’s Club, one-on-one workshops, and stages around the country, Brenda demonstrates authentic, warm-hearted humor with a deep wealth of knowledge of the importance of communication in feminine power. Brenda began working in her passion of building community and supporting women in the early 70s. Graduating with a degree in communications, she became active in the women’s movement. Through her activism, she acquired lasting skills in group processing, facilitation, and leadership. She facilitates ritual and teaches sacred art through drum-making and other creative works. For the past 45 years, Brenda has continued to build her toolkit to support women’s empowerment. Most recently, she was inspired to be the founder and CEO of It Must Be Said Productions, which is a platform for stories that need telling, a venue for social change. She believes the weaving together of creativity, innovation, and invention invites future visioning. 

Show Highlights:

  • Why Brenda is intensely passionate about feminism, helping women claim their place at the table, communication, ritual, and loving and nurturing ourselves
  • Why Brenda’s personal brand of intensity involves anger over injustices and inequalities in our social order and environment, along with radical self-care and a questioning of authority
  • Why Brenda wasn’t well-liked as she grew up because she would speak up and call people out
  • Her learning challenges included trouble with reading, spelling, and writing due to dyslexia and being told she wasn’t “smart enough”
  • How Brenda has seen positive outcomes from her journey with new possibilities as a  creative thinking problem solver
  • How bigotry and prejudice against gay relationships set a tone for how and where she expressed herself
  • How Brenda had to reinvent how she shows up and expresses herself in a “conscious becoming”
  • How her intensity gets out of control when it’s heightened in relationships when boundaries are violated, but she has learned to manage and direct her passion and anger
  • How Brenda uses her fire to help other women who are looking to become more
  • How Brenda harnesses the power of her intensity with consistency of thought as she evolves as a human who adventures and takes risks in becoming
  • How the personal habits of meditation, drumming, ritual, and spending time in nature help Brenda
  • The best advice she ever received is two-part: “Stand up when you fall down,” and “There are no mistakes, only opportunities to learn.”
  • Books that have influenced Brenda: Learning to Heal Yourself by Louise Hay, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
  • How Brenda helps others by loving people where they are and helping them go where they want to go
  • Parting words from Brenda: “Embrace your intensity. There is an infinite purpose in who you are and what you bring to the table.”

Resources:

Connect with Brenda:

www.brendarbryan.com

Email: brendarbryan@gmail.com

Phone: 503-728-8700

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