Today, José Colleatte gives us his vision of giftedness through the “gifted interview” and thus continues my series to share on Giftedness. Thank you, José! He is a hypnosis practitioner and lives in Bordeaux (France).
.IF I COULD CHOOSE, WOULD I STILL BE GIFTED?
No, to start. Because I don’t think I AM gifted, but rather I think I HAVE giftedness. Things may look different from that point of view.
.WHAT (MY OWN) GIFTEDNESS MEANS TO ME
I have always had the feeling: I think differently from the “average”, I can observe phenomena transversely, I think in a more “global” way, I am looking most often for the mechanisms that underlie what I observe, I am willing to GIVE MEANING.
In short: Understanding, integrating things, passion, envy, curiosity, a certain type of energy that is both palpable and at the same time indefinable, the refusal of dogma a priori with a willingness to allow me to think for myself.
.IF I HAD TO CHOOSE AN IMAGE OR A KEYWORD THAT SUMS UP WHAT GIFTEDNESS MEANS
I don’t have images or words that are inclusive enough. Mediocrity – could be a proposal by exclusion 🙂
.HOW LONG HAVE I KNOWN ABOUT IT?
For most of my life. I was asked to skip three classes when I got to first grade. There were signs…
.WHAT PHASES HAVE I GONE THROUGH SINCE MY DISCOVERY?
The way I perceive things, seen from today’s perspective, is a permanent quest for what is true, THE truth, before initiating a path towards the very questioning of the truth.
If I accept that what I see is probably only a large part of what I believe, then I am allowed to ask myself the question of what I believe, how I believe it, why I believe it, and whether I wish to continue to believe it.
. HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD OF IT?
Not to believe what I’m saying.
To avoid a priori certain books which, whether we like it or not, act as suggestions. Allow yourself, a priori, to question the idea that you are being proposed as a reader. Do I want to read a book that explicitly proposes a link between (giftedness, intelligence…) and (suffering, too much, difficulty, loneliness…)? Personally, not really. The risk is, in my opinion, to embrace (most often unconsciously) the whole “clinical” picture that has just been proposed – at an identity level.
The concepts of intelligence are ill-defined, the very measure of this intelligence is ill-defined, and the limit of this measure is ill-defined. So I often invite people to ask themselves the following question: “Is it reasonable to imagine that a line could be drawn between on the one hand those who are concerned, and on the other hand those who are not? “Obviously not. So as in any population in the statistical sense of the term, there are people who are more or less tall, who walk more or less fast, people who think more or less fast, and people who have more or less important cognitive capacities. It is therefore not a question of denying that at a given moment, with regard to statistical normality, some people have developed cognitive capacities that go beyond this “normality”, or even far beyond it.
Let us now imagine a group of about a hundred people going on a hike. Everyone can easily imagine that at the end of the day, these walkers will have distributed themselves into groups. The latter consider, naturally, that the first walked faster than them, and too fast for them, and vice versa.
When we know that socialisation, the ability to create a relationship, to feel connected is one of the major criteria for feeling good, we instinctively feel that it is important to know with whom we really want to walk. Knowing if I am a super walker, an under walker, or a typical walker… why not?
Then maybe to accept that you can’t be “fully” understood by people who are too far away from you, unfortunately.
NB from Gloria: for fans of “Gifted” Interviews, who wonder where certain questions have gone, this is also an answer to the questions: “What I want to say to gifted people”, “What I recommend to someone who is wondering”, “The mistake not to make for a gifted person”, “My opinion on the WAIS IQ test“.
.THE REMARK THAT STUCK WITH ME THE MOST WHEN I TALKED ABOUT IT
It’s not a particular remark, but rather the caricature of the genius, who knows everything, who incredibly calculates in his head, the vision of a little scholarly monkey or something like that.
NB from Gloria: this is also an answer to the question: “A (mis)representation that I want to call into question”
.HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE (TO KNOW IT)
To organize a circle of acquaintances in my private and professional sphere fairly quickly.
.WHAT I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO DO EVER SINCE
Thinking by myself as best I can.
.WHAT IRRITATES ME WITH GIFTEDNESS
The dogmas created around giftedness.
.WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE ABOUT GIFTEDNESS
That it’s a gift, a chance. It is above all something else, an ability that everyone can more or less freely develop.
.MY PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FOR GIFTED
Without denying the difficulties some people experience in the workplace, I am surprised by the number of articles, commentaries and books on giftedness in the workplace. Without doubting the good intentions of those who propose these visions, perhaps we can imagine others.
If something doesn’t suit me then, it seems to me that I have three solutions
1 – It’s perfect or I consider it perfect
2 – It’s unsatisfactory, I have the power to act and I can change things. I do. If it’s become satisfactory, I’m in case 1, if not, I’m in case 3.
3 – It is not satisfactory, and I am getting out of this situation.
All other situations are likely to be a source of dissatisfaction, frustration and difficulty. If you do not find your place in “the company”, that it is for you a hostile, difficult, unbearable environment, to ask yourself the following question: “who asked you to stay in this company, who forced you to endure such suffering, can’t you think of other solutions, other companies, other business models?”
.A BOOK TO READ ON THE SUBJECT
I generally propose in the first reading: “The praise of lucidity”. Then, “The Situation Is Hopeless but Not Serious: The Pursuit of Unhappiness”.
Finally, for some books that are reference books around Giftedness, I invite them to take the necessary distance and to take what really interests them.
.IS IT A WASTE NOT TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE GIFTED?
It all depends on the person. For some, it will be a liberation, the possibility of allowing oneself, for others it will not change anything.
.WHEN I MEET ANOTHER GIFTED PERSON, DO I RECOGNIZE HIM.HER? BY WHAT?
By his.her gaze, his.her energy. I come back to this almost impalpable and indefinable energy, an intimate, deep feeling, a form of evidence.
.THE CRUCIAL STEPS NOT TO BE MISSED IN THE JOURNEY OF A GIFTED PERSON?
As I discovered giftedness recently I also learned everything recently.
.THE LAST THING I LEARNED ON THE SUBJECT & AN INTUITION
It’s a question: “Is it the structure of the brain that materializes thought or the other way around?”
.A WISH FOR THE FUTURE
A calmer vision of the subject; a decompartmentalization of knowledge and that the fastest walkers can finally truly learn to walk together.
