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Embracing Intensity

Use your fire without getting burned.
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Now displaying: August, 2021
Aug 30, 2021

Today’s show lets you listen to our recent group call with Jeff Harry of Rediscover Your Play. Jeff helps us with tips, insights, and interactive exercises to learn more about “Playing With Your Inner Critic.” Join us to learn more!

Jeff Harry is a Workplace Play Consultant, International Play Speaker, and Positive Psychology Play Coach. He helps individuals and companies navigate difficult conversations and address their most challenging issues using play and positive psychology. While we spend most of our time pretending to be important, serious grownups, it’s when we let go of that facade and just play that the real magic happens. Fully embracing your own nerdy genius gives you the power to make a difference and change lives. Jeff believes that we already have many of the answers we seek, and by simply unleashing our inner child, we can find our purpose and help to create a better world.

Show Highlights:

  • An interactive exercise to shed light on how we judge ourselves and need to allow more freedom in our mindset
  • The reasons we don’t play anymore are because the external noise and our internal negativity bias keep us from playing.
  • How leaning into our intuitive mind allows us to work with our inner critic
  • How our brain makes connections when in a flow state and allows creative actions
  • How to get in flow: relax, figure out what calms you down, quiet everything, and allow yourself to “get bored”
  • Your inner critic has a playlist; what does yours say?
  • How to identify what your inner critic says to you
  • How to identify what your inner critic sounds like and looks like, and why you need to give it a character name
  • How to empower your inner child by affirming the opposite of what your inner critic says
  • How you can create new neural pathways by using empowering language
  • How addressing your inner critic helps deal with the outer critics
  • How to spark your inner child
  • Why you need to allow feelings to flow through and go
  • How to ask, “What is driving my decision?”(The answer SHOULD be play, curiosity, and experimentation!)
  • What old BS story are you willing to let go?

Resources:

Rediscover Your Play

Aug 16, 2021

Today’s guest is truly a multipotentialite with interests spanning gender nonconformity, psychology, healthy eating, photography, and the creative arts. He has discovered ways to embrace his creativity and merge his talents to offer meaningful help to others in their struggles. Join us to learn more!

Greg Halpen is a food blogger and food photographer who created the food blog, Craving the Yum: Eating After Chemo. Chemotherapy can do a number on our palates, leaving our taste buds desensitized and frustrated about what to eat that actually tastes good. Greg gives chemotherapy patients the steps and practical tools to reimagine meals without compromising the YUM factor. Through his food blog, he shares the secrets to preparing meals that are simple, healthy, and extra.

Show Highlights:

  • Why Greg is intensely passionate about helping people navigate the frustrating and difficult waters of figuring out what to eat during and after chemo
  • How Greg’s personal brand of intensity covers multiple areas of creativity: music, theater, food blogging, and photography
  • How Greg’s childhood trauma spurred him into creative outlets as coping mechanisms
  • The difficulty for Greg in not having a support system to help him grow as a creative person
  • What Greg wishes he knew back then: “There are people in the world who WILL see you and get you.”
  • The cultural factors that affected Greg as a gay young man with confusing feelings that couldn’t be expressed and realized
  • How digging deep into learning about homophobia and hetero-normative thinking helped Greg cope
  • How Greg has had to purposely shrink himself down to be smaller because of his insecurity as a person
  • How men are affected by sexuality and gender issues very differently than women
  • Why Greg has felt out of control when he couldn’t harness his creativity amidst the chaos of life
  • How Greg uses his fire for good in being of service to others and helping people
  • How he learned the important lesson that he isn’t at the center of everything
  • How therapy, cooking, and helping others with food relationships have helped Greg harness his intensity
  • How Greg helps others use their fire by helping them to make small changes and understand “diet culture confusion”
  • Up next for Greg: writing a book (the free mini-version is available on his website now!)

Resources:

Craving The Yum 

 Get Greg’s FREE mini-cookbook, Eating After Chemo!

Visit our website to learn more about the Embracing Intensity community and events

Visit our new platform with resources and events for the 2E community

Aug 10, 2021

I didn't promote last week's episode very much because I got super deep into the rabbit hole on a new project that really. Kind of pulls together a lot of the little projects that I've been doing in this past year.

It's called 2E Connection, and it's a directory for twice exceptional folks to share, explore and find support!

In this episode:

  • What inspired me to create 2E Connection
  • A sneak peak at some of the content so far
  • How you can support keeping this free site accessible AND sustainable

Links:

2E Connection

Embracing Intensity Community

Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook

Aug 2, 2021

My guest today was diagnosed with ADHD and twice-exceptionality later in life. We have connected through TikTok and are learning a lot from each other. He demonstrates kind accountability in his TikTok posts and shows authenticity in his longer YouTube posts that I greatly appreciate. Join us to hear his unique perspective.

Sean Szolek-Van Valkenburgh grew up in Indiana surrounded by orchestral, classical, and contemporary music. His formal musical education began at age 7 when he started studying piano and performing in choral ensembles. As his musical education progressed, he noticed that he had the unusual gift of chromesthesia. Through TikTok, Sean avidly posts about being a professional musician and artist and connects with over 680,000 followers; he refers to them as “kings, queens, and monarchs.” He hopes to provide a safe, inclusive, and entertaining platform that prioritizes genuine content creation and critical thought.

Show Highlights:

  • What is chromesthesia? Multiple senses cross in the brain, making it possible to hear music and also see it in colors, textures, and patterns
  • How Sean uses TikTok to share music and chromesthesia
  • Why Sean is intensely passionate about educating and helping people see the world in different ways, especially the “lightbulb” moments of learning
  • How Sean’s personal brand of intensity cuts through to the truth and presents it to people, shining light on obscure areas in the legal system
  • As Sean grew up, he was very adamant about certain fixations, like dominoes and Jenga; his twice-exceptionality was masked by his ability to study and learn, but his ADHD was overlooked for a time
  • How his ADHD impacted the way he planned and self-regulated himself and caused imbalance in his mental health
  • How Sean was socially isolated with a few superficial friendships and focused on his hyperfixations
  • How Sean had to learn in college to apply himself to social constructs
  • The cultural factors that affected Sean as he and his sister were black twins adopted by white parents, and how this helped inform his cultural understanding
  • How Sean had to tone himself down as a counselor at a fine arts summer camp and learn how to expend his energy in appropriate ways
  • Why Sean depends on established routines and structures that work with his ADHD
  • How Sean has gotten out of control on social media in exposing the truth and presenting the facts, sometimes finding it difficult to strike a balance
  • How Sean uses his fire for good in helping people channel their fire into artistic expression in different ways
  • How Sean harnesses the power of his intensity through self-regulation and recognizing the power behind his personality and neurodivergence
  • How Sean recognized his twice-exceptionality
  • How Sean has learned to take time for himself and take mental inventory with introspection
  • Sean’s advice: “Be educated and aware when you speak about ADHD. Know your abilities and disabilities. It’s a long journey. Find your authentic self and work on defining yourself.”
  • How to ask for accommodations
  • What Sean is working on for the future

Resources:

Find Sean on Instagram:  @seanszolekvanvalkenburgh

Find Sean on Twitter:  @SeanSzolek

Find Sean on TikTok:  @seansvv 

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