Drs. Phillip and Jane Mountrose note, “As we all know, there are a lot of things we didn’t learn in the classroom. The educational system misses areas that are essential for success in life and in business. And millions of men and women are seeking the help of experts who can take them where they want to be in their personal and professional lives."

Michele Kane, Ed.D., gave a presentation on Stress and Anxiety: Helping Gifted Kids Cope – which also has helpful perspectives for us adults. She points out that “Being bright, talented, creative, motivated, smart, ambitious, and even good looking can add to the stress in your life” but adds, “You can learn to understand why your life gets oppressive, depressive, stressed or otherwise unhealthy. You can learn to live in a new and better way.”

Many authors and coaches declare that we can benefit from using our gut reactions, hunches, instincts – that using insights we get in addition to the usual senses and rational thought can guide our personal development and enhance creativity and business success. Writer, producer, director Guillermo del Toro has commented using both conscious and unconscious thinking...Baeth Davis advises on her site: “If you really want to access your business creativity and live your Life Purpose, there’s one jewel in your treasure chest you must dig out, polish up and wear proudly – the gem is your intuition."

“My Adderall helps me think so much clearer.”  Who wouldn’t want that? It’s easy to be lured by the promises of a smart pill or cognitive enhancer that could help us not only think more clearly and access more memory, but feel good about ourselves and be tireless and endlessly confident. The movie “Limitless” is about a “down-on-his-luck" New York writer Eddie (Bradley Cooper) who takes a magic potion – a “miracle street narcotic in the form of a translucent pill, NZT that enhances mental performance beyond any reasonable expectation. (Yes, it’s fictional.)”

Being shy may not be uncommon for children, but when it endures for us as teens and adults, shyness impedes the kinds of social connections that can enhance our talents and creative expression.

A research news article reports, “The amygdala is known to be involved in social anxiety, posttraumatic stress, and obsessions and compulsions, and is now being linked with separation anxiety and general anxiety.”

There are many deeply rewarding aspects of being gifted and talented, creative, with exceptional abilities - or being highly sensitive. But there can also be emotional and mental health challenges, including anxiety.

Being highly sensitive probably increases our vulnerability to anxiety. Elaine Aron, PhD thinks “high sensitivity increases the impact of all emotionally tinged events, making childhood trauma particularly scarring.” That is a helpful concept, I think: that being highly sensitive increases the potency of any experiences with emotional elements.

“Back and forth, we must switch between intellect and intuition, between rational, objective knowledge and embodied paradox.” Christian De Quincey, PhD. Psychologist David G. Myers warns, “Intuition is important, but we often underestimate its perils." A number of personal development and high ability authors explain how intuition works and how to develop and use it... "Intuition plays a large part in the lives of a majority of gifted people." Elizabeth Maxwell, Advanced Development Journal.

Photorealist painting is one form of creative expression that demands a high degree of technical prowess and attention to detail. A recent CNN article on “sensory processing sensitivity” reports that people with this trait “tended to have more brain activity in the high-order visual processing regions.” Here is the article: