Thanks for sharing your article, Deborah. One of the aspects of giftedness that I have continually struggled with is dealing with comments from others regarding them perceiving me as being highly intelligent (e.g., being some kind of outlier because I self-learn material from pure math books for fun). When this does occur, my increased awareness of the relativity of giftedness, the great diversity of impressive talent that exists within the gifted community, my limitations, and my uncertainty about high intelligence/giftedness (e.g., does being gifted according to some human intelligence scale translate to being gifted on a universal/multiversal scale? How does one determine where he or she falls on a reality wide scale of intelligence? Where do humans fall on the intelligence and moral /ethical development scales of different sentient lifeforms?), motivates me to immediately downplay or dismiss such notions and to attribute any unusual ability of mine to effort, interest, luck, etc.
That said, reading this article also reminded me of your article about giftedness and humility. IMO, it can be very challenging to acknowledge one's limitations via honest introspection and humility, but it can also be very easy to downplay or deny one's strengths/gifts due to the various negative connotations that seem to come with the giftedness label. Hence, IMO, it is very important for gifted individuals to challenge themselves to find creative and humble ways to acknowledge those strengths that make them unique and beautiful rather than giving in to the temptation to fit in and avoid offending others via denying key aspects of their identity.
Yes to this: it is very important for gifted individuals to challenge themselves to find creative and humble ways to acknowledge those strengths that make them unique and beautiful rather than giving in to the temptation to fit in and avoid offending others via denying key aspects of their identity.
Thanks for sharing your article, Deborah. One of the aspects of giftedness that I have continually struggled with is dealing with comments from others regarding them perceiving me as being highly intelligent (e.g., being some kind of outlier because I self-learn material from pure math books for fun). When this does occur, my increased awareness of the relativity of giftedness, the great diversity of impressive talent that exists within the gifted community, my limitations, and my uncertainty about high intelligence/giftedness (e.g., does being gifted according to some human intelligence scale translate to being gifted on a universal/multiversal scale? How does one determine where he or she falls on a reality wide scale of intelligence? Where do humans fall on the intelligence and moral /ethical development scales of different sentient lifeforms?), motivates me to immediately downplay or dismiss such notions and to attribute any unusual ability of mine to effort, interest, luck, etc.
That said, reading this article also reminded me of your article about giftedness and humility. IMO, it can be very challenging to acknowledge one's limitations via honest introspection and humility, but it can also be very easy to downplay or deny one's strengths/gifts due to the various negative connotations that seem to come with the giftedness label. Hence, IMO, it is very important for gifted individuals to challenge themselves to find creative and humble ways to acknowledge those strengths that make them unique and beautiful rather than giving in to the temptation to fit in and avoid offending others via denying key aspects of their identity.
Yes to this: it is very important for gifted individuals to challenge themselves to find creative and humble ways to acknowledge those strengths that make them unique and beautiful rather than giving in to the temptation to fit in and avoid offending others via denying key aspects of their identity.