In his book How To Be an Adult, David Richo refers to assertiveness as “owning your own power.” This is so important because one of the best things we can do to increase our energy is to increase our sense of power and reduce our feelings of powerlessness. The most crucial way to do this is by getting clear on what we want and asking for it.
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Today’s guest made quite an impression on me when I found him on TikTok. His specialty is self-regulation, and he has found inspiring ways to teach his techniques to teachers and parents. Join us to learn more.
Chazz Lewis, aka “Mr. Chazz,” is a preschool teacher who currently focuses his talents on teaching teachers to teach. He’s a mentor and motivational speaker who also hosts the podcast, Mr. Chazz’s Leadership, Parenting, and Teaching.
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Website coming soon at Mr. Chazz
Find Mr. Chazz: TikTok: mrchazzmrchazz
Instagram: Mr Chazz Mr Chazz
Facebook: mrchazzmrchazz
This week's episode is brief, with a quick update about my quarantine, exposure to Covid and awaiting our test results.
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Today’s show brings inspiration and joy from my guest and her story. She’s doing great things in the world of gifted adults, bringing them together by highlighting their unique qualities. Join us to learn more!
Nadja Cereghetti is the host of the Unleash Monday podcast for gifted adults. Based in Switzerland, Nadja has a passion for learning new things, talking to people, science, and all things Marie Kondo. I’m thrilled to have discovered her podcast and to introduce her to you today!
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Connect with Nadja and find her podcast
Find out more about our EI community and events
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
The Book of Joy by the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
I wasn’t sure what to talk about for today’s podcast when I happened upon Paula Prober’s newest blog post, Can Gifted Kids Become Ungifted Adults? Hint: No but, read the full post for her take.
This got me thinking how I’ve observed as I’ve followed more neurodiverse folks on social media that people will often refer to their own giftedness in past tense and in quotes like “I was a ‘gifted’ kid,” as if giftedness was not something that still affected them now as an adult. I got to speak with Nadja Cereghetti, host of a new podcast for gifted adults called Unleash Monday, and we talked a lot about how a lot of gifted adults either don’t know they are gifted or no longer think they are.
In this episode:
We often confuse giftedness with achievement, or executive functioning skills.
Highly gifted folks don’t always fit the standard achievement picture because their thinking is outside the typical box.
Acknowledging our giftedness allows us to connect with our strengths and values to figure out what achievement really looks like for us.
Finding ways to support us in our executive functioning and self regulation skills can help us harness our energy in a positive direction.
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In today’s show, I introduce you to a good friend who has been an anchor for me in creating a community over the last ten years, both in-person and online. Join us!
Lana Quackenbush has been part of my Ignite Your Power program for several years, and she frequently joined the monthly Embracing Intensity guest calls last year. I’ve seen from the beginning of our relationship what an amazing person she is and how she’s learning to own the uniqueness of who she is. Lana and I both love helping people find connections in the common experiences of intensity, giftedness, twice-exceptionality, and creativity.
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Resources:
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
Find Lana on Instagram: ThatLanaLady
We are celebrating our 4th anniversary, 101K downloads! At this rate, I’ll make 200K in ½ the time! Keep sharing and listening so the message of Embracing Intensity can spread to those who need it!
For this week’s special episode, I asked audience and community members to share “What does Embracing Intensity mean to me?” I left it deliberately open ended, and got a wonderful variety of answers ranging from the meaning of the phrase, to the importance of the community.
In this episode:
Links:
Tiffany's Lucy in the Sky: Therapy with a Pen
Get your free Harnessing the Power of Your Intensity Workbook!
As this show airs, we’re reaching two important milestones. We hit the 100K downloads mark, which is thrilling in itself. We also are approaching the fourth anniversary of the Embracing Intensity podcast, which means we’ve been at this for quite a while now! Reach out to me at Aurora Remember and let me know what “embracing intensity” means to you. We will feature these in our upcoming anniversary show next week! For now, enjoy another informative show with my inspiring guest who I've been a fan of for quite some time.
Seth Perler’s life’s work has been dedicated to helping kids overcome executive functioning challenges so they can have great futures despite our outdated educational systems. Seth’s mission is to help compassionate and proactive parents, educators, and others who care about kids. He wants to give honest, practical, and unconventional approaches to helping complicated, struggling students without BS or misinformation. He wants to teach the world about executive function, which is at the root of student struggles. Seth’s vision is a day when we don’t need executive functioning coaches because education is wildly successful at empowering all students with everything they need to have happy, healthy, and successful lives.
Show Highlights:
Why Seth is intensely passionate about helping struggling students and changing educators to understand these kids better
How Seth grew up as a curious, free-spirited kid who loved animals and nature but never fit into “the box” in school
How Seth was labeled as a lazy, irresponsible failure--and his “fire was squelched”
How Seth became a teacher of gifted kids but soon became frustrated with the system
How Seth’s personal brand of intensity loves nature and the environment and feels the suffering of other people, animals, and plants
Why Seth hates to see kids struggle to be understood
How Seth is intense with his sensory experiences and emotions
How kids’ feelings are invalidated by cultural factors that teach them that acknowledging their feelings is not OK
Why Seth had a hopeless and cynical attitude as a kid, knowing he was “not like the other kids”
How Seth learned to escape by going into social settings to avoid being alone
Why Seth felt trapped by his “darkness”
How Seth lived in his problem until he found the tools to step into the solution
How Seth uses his fire for good by teaching what he most needs to learn and using what he has struggled with to help others
How Seth harnesses the power of his intensity through meditation, the #1 way he understands himself
Seth’s advice to those who don’t think they can meditate
How Seth helps kids learn to shine through new mindsets, systems, and routines
Seth’s advice:
Focus on helping others with a heart and spirit of service
Meditate and have times of stillness
Learn to journal
Get in touch with your story to know what is BS and what is truth
Resources:
Connect with Seth: Seth Perler and Executive Function Summit
Find Seth on YouTube and his podcast, Learn Smarter.
As I approach the 4th anniversary of the Embracing Intensity Podcast, I find myself and the podcast approaching a bunch of milestones in a short time! The biggest one being that I'm rapidly approaching the 100K download mark!
In this episode:
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Contact me to send a recording for our anniversary episode by answering "What does Embracing Intensity mean to me?"
For many people, discovering their giftedness can open many doors, but when it becomes the center of our identity it can close many as well. In this episode, I share my observations over the years in gifted communities on the journey to self-understanding.
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It’s always great to have a good friend visit with me on the show. Join me as I introduce you to my friend, Erika. She’s a ball of energy who focuses on positivity, generosity, and finding workable solutions to everyday problems. Join us!
Erika Laws is a recovering networker, positive thinker, and sales enthusiast. She loves people, self-development, and manifesting. Her goal is to be happy no matter what the circumstances and to put her own “oxygen mask” on before helping others. She has lots of life lived and lessons learned.
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Find Erika on Facebook: Erika Laws or Impactful Sales Solutions
If you’re in the Vancouver, WA, area, go see Erika at Mattress Firm on Mill Plain Boulevard!
For many years I thought I needed more self control to help develop health habits that would help my chronic pain and fatigue, but I eventually came to realize that I was focusing on the wrong thing. Instead of self control, I needed to focus on self-regulation. Self control is about forcing yourself, while self-regulation is about helping yourself.
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Today’s show is about swimming against the current and going against the flow. Listen to learn more about focusing on what feels good at the gut level.
Matt Zinman is a personal success trainer whose varied experiences as an entrepreneur, athlete, single parent, caretaker, consultant, and nonprofit founder drive him to be a difference-maker. His insights about self-discovery, relationships, mindfulness, and life enrichment led him to write Z-Isms: Insights to Live By and fulfill his goal to positively impact as many people as possible. In addition, Matt is CEO of The Internship Institute, which he established in 2007 to bridge the gap between education, active duty, and employment.
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Find Matt and his tools and resources: www.z-isms.com
Find Z-Isms on www.amazon.com.
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
We suffer not from lack, but from paralyzing abundance. Our vast array of interests make it difficult to choose just one thing and give it the attention to detail our idealistic standards feel it deserves. But Kazimierz Dabrowski says that dissatisfaction with oneself is actually a crucial step toward positive personality development. It is only useful though if it can be directed toward achieving your personal ideal through conscious action.
In this episode of Embracing Intensity, we’ll explore ways simplify your life so you have time to channel your energy in a positive direction.
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"Disruption in your life is an opportunity to play and it's helping you disrupt yourself on purpose as a way to bring out that curiosity and wonder when you're in a rut."
We wrapped up our Summer Camp Scavenger Hunt in the Embracing Intensity Community with a talk from Gary Ware on Finding Your Way Back to the Playground.
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Resources:
Executive Functioning Summit - Affiliate Link
Today’s show features a guest who approaches every day with creativity and humor. She’s a financial expert who embraces her intensity and has the answer to your money questions.
Lisa Brumm and I met a few years ago when she spoke at an event. She is an active member of my online community, so we regularly connect and meet at local networking events around the Portland area. Lisa’s company, My Financial Girlfriend, has offices in Portland and Los Angeles. Lisa offers a shame-free zone to help women with all areas of their finances and leave them with a newfound sense of hope and relief about money and life.
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Find My Financial Girlfriend on Facebook and LinkedIn
Email: lisa@myfinancialgirlfriend.com
I've been thinking a lot about play lately, but also feeling bad talking about play when there's so much going on in the world right now. In my interview last week with Jeff Harry, he reminded us that "there's nothing wrong with having multiple emotions at the same time," and that play can be used to help deal with challenging things and conversations.
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In the global pandemic, and everything else going on in the world today, there is every reason to be unhappy. Who decided that we grownups have to act our age and put playtime behind us? There are many benefits of playing like a kid, even through hard times--maybe especially in difficult times. So, when is the last time you played like a kid?
Jeff Harry shows individuals and companies how to tap into their true selves to feel their happiest and most fulfilled--all by playing. Jeff has worked with Google, Microsoft, Southwest Airlines, Adobe, the NFL, Amazon, and Facebook, helping their staff infuse more play into the day-to-day.
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Find JeffHarryPlays on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter
The Power Manual by Cyndi Suarez
This week I had planned to talk about gifted kid burnout and how many of them may actually be twice-exceptional, but it was hot today and my brain was kind of mush so I decided to share part of my lesson on positive coping skills instead!
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Cosette “CoCo” Leary loves to live out loud. She’s a jubilant speaker, professional coach, author, and educator. CoCo has overcome a childhood of poverty and abuse, raised four children through hard work and painful decisions, and has gone from surviving on welfare benefits to earning her university degree in Public Administration, graduating with highest honors and serving as a staff member in both a senatorial and congressional office. Ms. Leary pulled herself out of poverty to show others how to do the same. She exists to breathe life back into improving communities, rekindling relationships across economic class lines, and empowering women.
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From Welfare to The White House
Find CoCo on Instagram: @welfare2whitehouse
From Welfare to the White House by Cosette Leary
I've seen some conversations recently about how being a Highly Sensitive Person can overlap with characteristics of specific disabilities & neurodiversities such as ADHD or Autism. There was some discussion of whether identifying as HSP might prevent or delay seeking a deeper underlying diagnosis and it got me thinking about how other traits such as multi potentiality and giftedness might also interfere with getting diagnosis and treatment.
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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.
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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
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.
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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.
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Boonie’s website: Organized Messes
Find Boontarika Sripom on YouTube, Instagram, and Quora
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
Jaiden Love - Jaiden Love on Youtube - Held and Heard Website
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