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 …

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. …

My Scrap Angel: Life Lessons Learned While Quilting

Sharon Barnes Contemplative Handwork, Creative Healing, emotional resilience, Existential Depression, Grief and loss, Hero's Journey, Overcoming Adversity Leave a Comment

Have you ever started a creative project that went so badly you trashed it? I have–more times than I’d like to admit. I had heard that mistakes can be our finest learning experiences, but I’d not relished that idea until I reclaimed one of my discarded pieces, and unexpectedly discovered how to reclaim my life, too. An hourglass quilt block I had made from scraps contained too many mistakes to use, so I pitched it. The triangles didn’t have points; I could have done better when I was nine years old. The parallel lines weren’t parallel–they would have made a …

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 …

FREE Webinar: How CASIGYs™ Can Thrive Through the Holidays

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, Creative Coping, Creative Healing, emotional resilience, Existential Depression, Gifted, gifted children, gifted relationships, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, Holiday Advice, Inspiration, Jungian psychology, Self-Acceptance, Soul Care Leave a Comment

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 Help Us Improve Our Holiday Experience as CASIGYS How To Bring Soulfulness In, So Your Holidays Have Depth And Meaning How To Sensitively Navigate Difficult …

Pandora’s Box of Emotions

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

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 that getting in touch with my emotions had not helped me feel better at all! Instead, getting in touch with my emotions was making me …

CASIGY Coping Tools-Steps 5, 6, 7

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

Here’s More CASIGY™ Coping Tools This continues Strategy #4 in the series, “7 Strategies to Cope With the Differences of Being a Creative, Highly Sensitive or Gifted Person”. We’ve been talking about CASIGY coping tools (CASIGY™ = Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive and/or Gifted You-s). CASIGY coping tools are ones that are suited to your creativity, sensitivity, intensity and intelligence.   In my previous blog post of this series, I introduced the Personal Power Pyramid, a collection of CASIGY coping tools. They help CASIGYs develop Emotional Resilience and build Emotional Core Strength™.   In that post, we then discussed the first 4 …

Creative Coping Tools for CASIGYs

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

Creative Coping Tools for CASIGYs and Skills to Use Them. This begins Strategy #4 in the series, “7 Strategies to Cope With the Differences of Being a Creative, Highly Sensitive or Gifted Person” Creative Coping Tools and skills to use them comprise Phase I of the CASIGY Cycle of Encouragement that I mentioned in my previous blog post. As a CASIGY, you may feel the need for coping tools suited to your creativity, sensitivity, intensity and intelligence. You may have tried many other coping tools for yourself or your children, only to find them ineffective or even aggravating to an …

Seven Strategies to Cope With the DIFFERENCES of Being a Highly Sensitive or Gifted Person. (Part 1)

Sharon Barnes CASIGY, emotional resilience, Gifted, gifted children, Highly Sensitive, highly sensitive child, overexcitibilities, Self-Acceptance Leave a Comment

At least once a week, a highly sensitive or gifted child or adult tells me that they HATE being SO DIFFERENT from other people. They tell me that they feel abnormal and just wish they could be NORMAL! They say things like “I feel like an alien from a different planet!” and ‘What’s WRONG with ME?” Highly sensitive and many gifted people have Central Nervous Systems that are more perceptive and more reactive than that of most people. They perceive many things that go right by most people, from a tiny piece of lint on the floor to the buzz …