If you can can balance a bike, you can balance your CASIGY (Complex, Creative, Acutely Aware, Intense, Sensitive, Gifted) Life! Balancing a bicycle and balancing our CASIGY lives are both ongoing dynamic, complex, mind-body processes. You'll learn how to balance your life like you balance a bike; how to know when your life if out of balance, & what to do first; the biggest mistake CASIGY's make when their lives are out of balance, and how to correct it; three ways to check for the source of imbalance; two simple things you can do to regain your balance—any time, anywhere.

1. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Life’s A Bicycle
How to Balance Your
CSIGY LIFE Like You
Balance A BIKE!
Presented to
Colorado Association for Gifted & Talented
October 18, 2010
By Sharon M. Barnes, MSSW, LCSW

2. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Life’s A Bicycle:
How to Balance
Complexity
Sensitivity
Intensity
Life's A Bicycle2

3. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
What's a CSIGY?
Life's A Bicycle3
Creative
Sensitive
Intense, Introverted
Gifted
YOU!

4. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Creative, Complex
Creativity is not necessarily artistic; it has many faces
Do you have many ideas or see possibilities everywhere?
Do you think outside the box?
Is originality or uniqueness important to you?
Do you invent things, or have ideas to do so?
Does your life feel like a desert if you're not using your
creativity?
Do you have many interests?
Do you sometimes feel driven
by your creativity?
Life's A Bicycle4

5. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Sensitive
Do you notice things that many others don't?
Are you sensitive to light, sound, touch, textures?
Do you have heightened senses: taste, touch, smell,
hearing ,sight?
Are you sometimes emotionally sensitive, too?
Are you highly empathic or compassionate (unless
you're off balance internally)?
Do you feel deeply the wounds of injustice and human
suffering—yours or others'?
Do others sometimes tell you that
you're TOO sensitive?
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6. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Intense
Do you feel things more deeply than most?
Are you deeply moved by music, art, nature, etc?
Does your body react more than most people’s?
Do others tell you often that you over-react?
Do you need a high level of stimulation at times?
Do you get over-stimulated easily?
Does it seem that you have only two
gears – off and high speed ahead?
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7. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Introverted
Do you need frequent solitude?
Do you often have 'delayed intelligence'?
Do your bests ideas come when you're alone?
Do you get energized by solitary pursuits?
Do you often get drained &
exhausted by being around people?
75/25
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8. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Gifted
Are you a complex person?
Do you think quickly, often on several tracks at once?
Do you have a well developed but unusual sense of humor?
Do you set very high standards for yourself?
Do you have a pervasive, persistent curiosity?
Do you have a high level of energy?
Do you have a strong 'need to know' that's not easily satisfied?
Are honesty, integrity, authenticity very important to you-more so
than many people?
“Giftedness is a greater awareness, a greater
sensitivity, and a greater ability to understand
and transform perceptions into intellectual and
emotional experience.” (Dr. Annemarie Roeper)
Life's A Bicycle8

9. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Balancing Your CSIGY Life
is Like Balancing a Bike!
Balancing a Bike & Balancing a CSIGY Life
• Are both mind-body skills
• Both require dynamic--not static--balance
Dynamic Balance
o Accommodates shifts in body, mind & emotions
o Responds to changes in weather & traffic
o Flexes when the road or path varies
o Adjusts to continual movement
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10. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
To Balance a Bike and
Our Lives We Need to
Tune in
Tune up
Take off
Life's A Bicycle10

11. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
What happens when your
bike/life is out of balance?
You may get wobbly
You may grind to a halt
You may fall
You may work harder for the same or
even lesser results
?
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12. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Imbalance Creates Stress
Short Term Effects of Stress
Increased concentration
Increased endorphins block pain
Second wind
Increased fuel & oxygen
Increased energy & strength
Decreased allergic reactions
Blood diverted to muscles
Digestion slows/stops
Blood sugar drops
Decreased sex drive
Increased white & red blood cells
Faster blood clotting
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13. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Imbalance Creates Stress
Long Term Effects of Stress
Increased error rate
Decreased endorphins/ increased sensitivity
to pain
Weigh changes
Shaky nerves
Intolerance to heat or cold
Impaired immune system
Increased chance of high blood pressure,
heart attack, stroke, and aneurysms
Blood sugar drops
Increased damage to lungs from air pollution
& smoke
Increased digestive problems
Increased incidence of diabetes &
hypoglycemia
Increased fatty deposits
Decreased sex drive, increased sexual
dysfunction
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14. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
But. . .
What I don’t know can’t hurt me!
Three Little Monkeys
See No Evil
Hear No Evil
Speak No Evil
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15. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Nine Magical Monkeys
See what you see.
Hear what you hear.
Feel what you feel.
Know what you know.
Think your own thoughts.
Say what you need to say.
Do what you need to do.
Be where you are.
Be who you (really) are.
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16. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Remember Pete’s Dragon
Life lessons for us:
Ignore a dragon to grow a dragon
To tame a dragon, name the dragon
Remember Pete’s Dragon
Name YOUR dragon . . .
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17. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Signs of CSIGY Imbalance
How Do We Know When We’re Out of Balance?
Irritability/over-reactions
Anxiety/Depression
Fatigue
Inability to concentrate
Dis-ease
Sleep disruption/changes
Appetite/eating
/weight changes
Overwhelming emotions
Life crisis or chaos
Decreased sex drive
Increased in mistakes or accidents
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18. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Prime Times for CSIGY
Imbalances to Occur
Marriage
Divorce
Change of job
Change of residence
Change of family size
Illness
Death
Loss of Job
Financial difficulties
Life transitions
Hunger, fatigue, boredom
Leg-lifting experiences
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In abnormal circumstances,
abnormal feelings are
normal (Bryan)

19. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
How to Know When Your
Bike/Life is Out of Balance:
Three ways to check for the source of
trouble when your bike/life is out of balance:
Stop
Look
Listen
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20. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
What do you find when
you stop, look, listen?
How are you feeling today?
Tool: Daily TNT
Tool: Creative Handwork:
Make a container for your emotions, so
your body does not have to contain them
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21. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Why Release Emotions?
All body cells have memory, not just the brain
Too much pressure in a pressure cooker
make an explosion
Too much tire pressure causes blow outs
What you feel, you can heal (Gray)
What you resist, persists
Chaos allowed to progress leads to order
Positive disintegration leads to a
higher level of development
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22. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Emotions are Like Waves
Come in different sizes & intensities
Come from various directions
Affect you more if you fight them
Come without your permission
Leave as surely as they come
Can be great fun when you
learn to let go and ride them
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23. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Tune Up:
The Art of Bicycle Maintenance
Remember the Flight Attendants’
Secret Formula
How to Tune Up:
Check
Clean
Lubricate
Adjust
Replace or Repair
Repair Shop
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24. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
3 Things CSIGYS can DO
to Restore Balance
Breathe (8-4-7) x 4
– Relaxation Response
Give thanks
Stretch
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25. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Balancing Complexity,
Sensitivity & Intensity
Holmes-Rahe Stress Test Results
– 80% with high stress scores soon had major illness
– 20% who didn’t get sick had high levels of:
• Perspective
• Autonomy
• Connectedness
• Tone (Marjorie Blanchard)
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26. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Take Off!
It’s about the Journey . . . AND the Destination
Get Started. . . Explore new territory…How?
Stay on Track
One Pedal at a Time
Pace Yourself
Pedal, pedal, pedal
Finish
Celebrate
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27. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Exploring New Territory:
Hands-on Learning
“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at
the same level of thinking with which we developed
them.” (Einstein )
Einstein used Combinatory Play to break new ground
– His new ideas came through images during playful times
– The harder work was translating them into words (Hadamard)
Our hands know what our frontal lobes do not (Allen)
Carl Jung developed Active Imagination
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28. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Creative Exploration I
Making something with our hands that represents
the challenges or dilemmas we face:
Bridges mind and body and spirit
Bridges “right’ and “left” brain/ uses the whole
brain
Bridges conscious and conscious mind
Promotes soulfulness and spirituality
Helps us learn beyond mere thinking
Is practice for exploration in
new territory
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29. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Creative Exploration II
Bypasses the inner censor to access deeper
awareness and higher creativity
Utilizes Inductive Reasoning
Improves problem-solving skills
Increases imagination
– “Imagination is more Important than facts/knowledge”
(Einstein)
Does not require unusual
artistic ability or creativity
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30. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Creative Exploration III
Creating = High Level Learning
(Bloom's Taxonomy)
Ancient Wisdom-Chinese proverb
– Tell me and I'll Forget
– Show me and I'll remember
– Involve me and I'll understand
Three Steps to Completion:
1. Create
2. Contemplate
3. Crystallize
Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering
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31. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
When Adversity Strikes:
EEEEK Your Way thru Tough Times:
Experience
Explore
Express
Embrace
Kreate
Making something that
represents your
experience heals you
Contemplating what you
have made sets you free
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32. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
I. Create
There is no right or wrong approach to use
You may use or alter any item any way you wish
Pay attention to what attracts you or jumps out at you
Prepare with deep breathing & relaxation
See with third eye; listen with inner ear
Proceed with action: make something that represents
or symbolizes the image(s) or sound(s) that you
perceive
You are the judge of what and
when is “enough”
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33. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
II. Contemplate
Stop, look & listen
What colors, shapes & textures do you see?
Give it a voice: What does it say to you?
Activate Your Imagination:
– Have an imaginary conversation with your creation
– Focus this conversation on the
current dilemma
– Follow the conversation (in your
imagination) wherever it leads you
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34. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
III. Crystallize
What does this demonstrate about
– What you need to Tune In, Tune Up & Take off?
– What you can do to help your students/children
balance their complexity, sensitivity & intensity?
– Whatever else came up for you?
Make a record: write or draw
what you have perceived.
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35. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
How to Balance Complexity,
Sensitivity, & Intensity:
It’s about the Journey . . . AND the Destination
Get started exploring new territory
Stay on Track
One Pedal at a Time
Pace Yourself
Pedal, pedal, pedal
Finish
Celebrate
Life's A Bicycle35

36. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Life’s a Bicycle
Every time You SEE a bike
or RIDE one, Remember —
To Balance Your CSIGY LIFE
Just Like You Balance a BIKE
All You have to do, is:
Tune In
Tune Up
Take off
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37. Academy of Creative Living Gifted Therapy Denver
Life’s A Bicycle
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