CASIGY Archives - Page 2 of 8 - Therapist for Sensitive and Gifted

How to Thrive as an Independent Thinking Maverick

As a CASIGY (a Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense and/or Gifted You) do you have unconventional views that often cause you trouble? Does your child or loved one? Do you have to be careful when and where you express your views or ask your questions? If you or your child are not careful, can this quickly create conflict or complicate relationships at home, at work or at school? You or your child may be an

Sharon Barnes March 30, 2018

How to Spring Into Life

How to Spring into Life Reflections and Encouragement for Times When Growth and Change aren’t Easy Next week the Equinox will arrive whether we dread it or welcome it. As I inhabit the Northern Hemisphere, I will be welcoming spring. Do you savor the warmth of the sun after the cold winter, as I do? Do you enjoy seeing trees bud and crocuses, daffodils and tulips bloom, like I do? Maybe you’re a CASIGY™, that is, a

Sharon Barnes March 5, 2018

HSP Gifted Mental LogJams

“’Mental LogJam’ is a Game Changer for Me. I’m not Crazy. I’m a CASIGY.” I stood there tongue-tied. I wanted to say something, but four ideas competed to get out first. In my resulting confusion, nothing came out but stuttering and stammering. My supposedly great ideas got stuck inside of me and I couldn’t get any of them out; I had a mental logjam. Instead of making the significant contribution to the discussion that I

Sharon Barnes February 1, 2018

Sensitive Gifted New Years Tools

Is Facing the New Year as a Creative, Sensitive or Gifted Person Daunting? Here’s Inspiration and some Creative, Sensitive Gifted New Years Tools – As one year ends, and a new one begins, we tend to ponder our lives. We ask, “Is my life where I want it to be? Are my relationships the way I want them to be? My finances? My spiritual/soul life? My work? My health?” Just in case they’re not, and you,

Sharon Barnes January 4, 2018

How Creative Sensitive Gifted People Can Cope with Trauma

New Year’s Eve, 2017 started with a bang in Highlands Ranch, my home town. Before sunrise, police answered a domestic dispute call. Before it was all over, one officer was killed and other officers and citizens were wounded, according to the Denver Post. This photo shows law enforcement officers gathering by Littleton Adventist Hospital to form a motorcade in honor of the fallen officer. Tragedy such as this, natural disasters, terrorism and mass shootings may

Sharon Barnes December 31, 2017

FREE Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays

Are you Creative, Super-Sensitive and/or Gifted, AKA a CASIGY™? Have Previous Holiday Seasons left you feeling frustrated or hurting emotionally? Are you Thinking, “THIS YEAR the Holidays MUST be BETTER!”? Here’s Hope and Help from Sharon M. Barnes, MSSW, LCSW, Therapist for Sensitive and Gifted. I’m giving a Free Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays! Join me in this Free Webinar, where you’ll learn: Life Lessons We Can Learn From Classic Holiday Movies That Can

Sharon Barnes November 25, 2017

What Can a Creative Sensitive or Gifted Person Do When You Don’t Feel Grateful

What can a Creative Sensitive or Gifted Person do when you don’t feel grateful, especially on the annual day set aside for giving thanks? If you’re like most CASIGYs™, you probably feel guilty about it. Beyond that, the short answer is that you can feel what you feel! And then you have the opportunity to deal with how you feel.The long answer is, well, the rest of this post. What do I mean, “you feel

Sharon Barnes November 19, 2017

Pandora’s Box of Emotions

As you may recall, the myth of Pandora’s Box involved a Forbidden Box which was not supposed to be opened, but of course WAS opened, and then unleashed Evil . . . . and finally, Hope. We each have similar boxes; ours are often boxes of emotions. I remember standing with my father in his home office when I was a young adult. We were talking about life, and coping with emotions. I told him

Sharon Barnes July 20, 2017

7 Tools to Help Your Creative, Sensitive or Gifted Child Build Confidence

Robert and Sue, parents of 9 year old Ethan and 6 year old Olivia (not their real names) recently asked me how to help their creative, sensitive, gifted children build confidence and experience less fear and avoidance in new or difficult situations. As many creative, highly sensitive or gifted children (AKA CASIGYs) do, they would often pull back from new or challenging situations. He or she would claim to be shy, say she has a

Sharon Barnes July 6, 2017

Creative Coping skills -Identifying and Honoring our Limits

Six year old sensitive, gifted, creative Jennie wants to take yoga, karate, piano, guitar, gymnastics, robotics, and more; she melts down at the mention of there being limits of her energy, time and her parent’s money. Her parents know it will be a disaster if they sign her up for all of these activities. But if they don’t, they also know they will face many, many emotional outbursts over this. John, 46 years old and

Sharon Barnes May 18, 2017