Happy Holidays – as the light returns to the North

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Holiday Advice, Inspiration Leave a Comment

Happy Holidays! No matter what religious holiday each of us celebrates this time of year, we all share the change of the seasons. CASIGYs (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense and/or Gifted You-s) may feel more connected to this phenomenon and be impacted by it than do many others.  For those in northern climates, the light of the sun begins to increase again. In ancient times, this was often celebrated with outdoor bonfires. In winter’s deep darkness, we humans celebrate the light, as if to reassure ourselves that the light of the sun will actually return. Likewise, when we are in …

Life’s A Bicycle – How to Balance Your Life Like You Balance a Bike

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Gifted, Highly Sensitive, Life Balance, Stress Management Leave a Comment

Tips & Tools to Balance Your Creative, Sensitive or Gifted Life How’s your ride through life been lately? Smooth? Bumpy? Got a flat? Has the path disappeared? There was a time several years ago when my path disappeared.  During that difficult time, I learned that you can balance your life just like you can balance a bike. And so can you. Even if you’re a CASIGY – a Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive Intense, and/or Gifted You! Sounds too simple─ balance your life just like you balance a bike─ doesn’t it? Let’s take a closer look. How old were you when …

Healing Trauma in Creative, Sensitive and Gifted People

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Creativity, Gifted, Grief and loss, Highly Sensitive, trauma Leave a Comment

Healing Trauma in Creative Sensitive Gifted People: Many creative, sensitive, and gifted people are traumatized by the media coverage of the 15th anniversary of the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City. Of course it’s appropriate to remember this  world-changing event and honor those who have been deeply affected by it.  So to help CASIGYs™ heal from this and other trauma, I’m republishing my article – Healing Trauma in Creative Sensitive Gifted People Six weeks before the Columbine High School shooting in April of 1999, my husband and I with our teenage sons, moved into the Columbine West …

Remembering Columbine Trauma – 17 years ago

Sharon Barnes CASIGY Leave a Comment

Seventeen years ago today, I was horrified and traumatized as the Columbine Trauma  unfolded, along with everyone else. Along with all of you, I was horrified as the events of April 20’s tragedy unfolded, and saddened even more when the connection became known  of high sensitivity and giftedness to this catastrophe. My family and I had just moved into the Columbine West neighborhood.  Two of my sons were in high school, although they had not changed schools to Columbine High School. I drove by Columbine on my way to my counseling office, and I frequently walked around Johnson Lake, within …

Balancing Your CASIGY™ Life

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Gifted, Highly Sensitive, LifeCraft Events, Overcoming Adversity Leave a Comment

If You Can Balance a BIKE, You Can Balance Your LIFE!    One Sunday afternoon in the spring of 1999, I had just drifted off to take a nap when my husband Gary put his hand on the calf of my leg and gently shook it as he said these encouraging words: “What’s wrong with you? I’m worried about you. All you do is sleep. Are you depressed?” The searing bone pain that had kept me up most of the night had finally lessened enough that I could relax and sleep, and now he was waking me up. “I’m NOT …

5 Fun Steps to Overcome Obstacles and Reach Your Goals

Sharon Barnes CASIGY Leave a Comment

Bridging the Gap: Five Fun Steps OR What to do When You’re Caught Between the ‘No Longer’ ….. and the ‘Not Yet’ Do you have goals that are big enough to be daunting? Does the gap between where you are and where you want to go sometimes seem too big to cross? Are you betwixt and between- caught between the no-longer and the not-yet? If any of this rings a bell for you, then I’ve got some good things to share with you. According to research done at the University of Scranton in January of 2014 and published in the …

Happy CASIGY™ Mother’s Day

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Contemplative Handwork, Creative Coping, Gifted, gifted relationships, Self-Acceptance

Happy CASIGY™ Mother’s Day! Balancing CASIGY™ Mom’s Own Needs With Your Family’s Needs Today is Mother’s Day in the United States, Australia and many other countries. It’s a day of great joy and also pain for many. If you’re having a tough time with Mothers Day, you may appreciate this post from my archives:  ‘I Hate Mother’s Day!’ When I had young children, my fantasy of the perfect Mother’s Day was for my husband to take the kids and do something fun with them and leave me alone in the house for a change. That never happened, and is not ever …

Remembering the Columbine Shooting … and the Healing

Sharon Barnes CASIGY

Yesterday April 20, marked the anniversary of the Columbine  Shooting. During the day of what became known as the Columbine Massacre, everyone was (of course) focused on how to deal with the crisis at hand. The real work of healing started the day after. Today is the anniversary of this day of mourning and of the the beginning of the healing. While everyone is affected by trauma and tragedy, CASIGYs™ (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense, and/or Gifted You-s) are more deeply impacted by it than are “normal” folk. CASIGYs™’ acute awareness combined with their Central Nervous System’ greater perceptivity and …

Revisiting #Be Weird

Sharon Barnes CASIGY

During the 2015 Academy Awards Ceremony,  I was blown away by Oscar winning writer Graham Moore’s acceptance speech when he shared, “When I was 16 years old, I tried to kill myself because I felt weird and I felt different, and I felt like I did not belong. And now I’m standing here.” Graham Moore expressed openly what so many CASIGYs™ (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense, Intelligent, likely Introverted, possibly Gifted You-s) secretly feel: a sense of being weird because of being different and therefore of not belonging─not finding a suitable place in the world. I’d like to revisit this, …

How to Prevent Holiday Meltdowns!

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Gifted, Grief and loss, Highly Sensitive, Holiday Advice, Self-Acceptance, Soul Care

Have past holidays been a nightmare due to ‘inevitable’ holiday meltdowns? Do you dread upcoming holiday family gatherings? It may not be a fun thing to admit, but there wouldn’t be so many movie and sitcom comedies about disastrous holiday family gatherings if it weren’t so common. So if you’re not looking forward to holiday family gatherings, know that you’re not alone, and that if you wish, you can let go of any guilt or shame you feel around dreading them. The perfect family does not exist on this planet, from the very first family to the First Family in …