Mistakes – Antidote to Perfectionism

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Contemplative Handwork, Creative Coping, Creative Healing, Creativity, Gifted, Jungian psychology, Perfectionism

Mistakes: Antidote to Perfectionism, As Revealed by  One Day’s Contemplative Handwork™ CASIGYs™, AKA Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense, and/or Gifted You-s are known (among other things) for their vulnerability to perfectionism. We can have pretty (OK, very) high standards for ourselves, and sometimes for others, too. Those high standards can easily slide into personal expectations of doing everything perfectly.  This can translate into expectations of BEING PERFECT. Confession time: One day not long ago as I made meandering quilting stitches on the dark fabric of the face of this small wall quilt in-the-making, the nasty inner voice started up again: …

Nine Lessons I Learned on Road to First Grade

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creativity, emotional resilience, Highly Sensitive, Inspiration, Overcoming Adversity Leave a Comment

Inspiration for Parents and Teachers of Creative, Sensitive or Gifted Children: Here are Nine Life Lessons I Learned On the Road to First Grade: My little quilt, finished except for the label, was a burgundy, mauve and ivory ‘watercolor’ heart-shaped wall hanging. It had taken me many moons to make it, and I was tempted to skip the label. Painters sign their work on the front; quilt artists make a label for the back. But I just wanted to be done with it.  I hate making quilt labels, partly because I never know what to say on them, partly because …

Love’s Labor; my SoulShirt™ Process and Surprise Effects – Part 3 of 3

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Contemplative Handwork, Creative Healing, Soul Care

My inner dialogue with my SoulShirt™ continues. This is the conclusion of my current blog series on Creative and Contemplative Handwork™ – making things with our hands that represent and facilitate our inner process.  We pick up the thread from last week’s post with my inner dialogue: “Ripping stitches out and starting over will take too much time. I don’t have that much time. I had planned to be far ahead of this by now. I hate this. Gary will show up again any minute, and I will bite his head off for sure. And if I keep ripping stitches out, the …

How to Ride Out Life’s Tough Times: Hang Loose in the Washing Machine!

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, emotional resilience, Gifted, gifted children, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, Overcoming Adversity Leave a Comment

Adversity is something everyone faces at some time in their life. Adversity often has a greater impact on CASIGYs™ (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense and/or Gifted You-s) than it does on neurotypical people. So, for the CASIGYs™ in your life,  here’s How to Ride Out Life’s Tough Times: Hang Loose in the Washing Machine! Several years ago, I was helping one of my counseling clients learn how to cope with overwhelming emotions connected to the adversity he was going through. As we discussed this, I mentally searched for a better way to help him. Suddenly a picture popped into my head: ocean …

Being an Empath – When you Feel Emotions That are not Your Own

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Emotional Intelligence, emotional resilience, Empath, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, overexcitibilities Leave a Comment

Ten year old Aiden (not his real name) dissolves in a puddle of tears. Once he has calmed down and can actually talk about it, you discover that he has no idea why he feels sad. No, he is not hurt physically.  No, no one said or did anything that hurt his feelings. No, he is not afraid or scared about anything. You -and he- remain puzzled. As a parent, what do you do? And what is going on here? One possibility is that Aiden is totally disconnected from his emotions and therefore has no idea what is going on. …

CASIGY Father’s Day Reflections

Sharon Barnes CASIGY Leave a Comment

Father’s Day has always been a complicated day for me. I shared in a recent post how Mother’s Day was not my favorite holiday. But Father’s Day has been complex and difficult in different ways.  A daughter’s relationship with her father can also be difficult. Our relationship with our parents changes through the years, and it changes again when they die. How is this different for CASIGYs™ (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense, and/or Gifted You-s)? Why, it’s all of these things, with more creativity, more awareness, more sensitivity, and more intensity. This post shares some CASIGY Father’s Day Reflections, reflecting first …

I Hate Mothers Day

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, emotional resilience, Gifted, gifted relationships, Grief and loss, Highly Sensitive, Holiday Advice, Inspiration, Overcoming Adversity, Perfectionism, Self-Acceptance, Soul Care Leave a Comment

Reflections on How to to Heal our Lives, Feed our Souls, and Grow our Dreams I hate Mother’s Day. Awful though it sounds, I’ve hated mother’s day for a very long time.  I’ve also felt guilty that I hated it. I also know it’s not politically correct, so I’ve not said it out loud. But it’s time to admit it. I hate Mother’s Day. I first hated it when I was in my twenties. I felt hurt and angry at my mother for many things that she had done or not done that I felt hurt me when I was …

Seven Tips to Help the Creative, Sensitive or Gifted Sleep Peacefully

Sharon Barnes ADHD, CASIGY, Creative Coping, Creativity, Gifted, Highly Sensitive, Self-Acceptance, Soul Care Leave a Comment

Sleep can be elusive for anyone, whether you’re 3, 13, 33 or 83. We all have nights where we toss and turn, or get to sleep but we can’t stay asleep. When you’re a CASIGY™ (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense, and/or Gifted You), you may face challenges with sleep that have a slightly different twist than others face. And if you have ADHD, Anxiety, Depression or other ‘labels’, sleep can be an even greater challenge. Here’s seven tips to help creative sensitive gifted people sleep peacefully. A creative person may have creative ideas show up as soon as their head hits the pillow. …

Remembering Columbine: Helping Creative, Highly Sensitive & Gifted Adults Heal from Trauma

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Healing, Gifted, gifted children, Grief and loss, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, trauma Leave a Comment

Remembering Columbine – healing trauma for creative sensitive gifted people. Nineteen years ago this Friday, April 20, 1999, my husband Gary and I connected for a rare lunch together. As we munched on our sandwiches under a restaurant patio umbrella, we saw police car after police car roaring south through Lakewood on Wadsworth Blvd, sirens wailing . Chills went up and down my spine as we also heard the rumble of big military type helicopters overhead. We saw that they were all heading for Columbine-our new neighborhood, where we had lived for only six weeks.  We knew something BIG and BAD …

How CASIGYs Can Become Social-Emotional ACES

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Gifted, gifted relationships, Highly Sensitive, Self-Acceptance Leave a Comment

Many highly sensitive, creative, gifted or twice exceptional people struggle to find and keep their balance emotionally. It’s not that they don’t have emotions or aren’t in touch with their emotions, but they tell me that they are often find it challenging and even overwhelming to find ways to cope with them and manage them. But CASIGYs can overcome this overwhelm. Here’s how CASIGYs Can Become Social-Emotional ACES! The top three emotional and mental health concerns of gifted people are  Sensitivity Anxiety Depression according to research done and published by SENGifted.org. I have found the same to be true in …