[See Part 1]

“My whole life has been about trying to heal the rift between the two sides of my personality, the feeling too much and the knowing too much.”

That is a comment by Actress / Producer / Director Jodie Foster, from an interview about her film “Little Man Tate” in the book: Great Women of Film.

Her perspective is one I certainly can relate to – what about you?

The idea of “too much” – or at least unusually intense – thinking and emotion has been articulated by psychologist and psychiatrist Kazimierz Dabrowski, MD, PhD, who described creative and high ability people having over-excitabilities or intensity in five areas: intellectual, psychomotor, imaginational, emotional, or sensual.

Being exceptional may cause a variety of reactions; some of those responses are supportive, but others can discourage or discount people with high ability.

“I got that whole precocious thing [as a child]. I had no reason to doubt my own abilities or not share my opinion. The adults were offended, and the kids were resentful. I was persona non grata in both camps for quite a while.”

Diane Lane [Lifetime magazine, Oct 2003] – the image is Lane on the cover of a 1979 Time magazine about “Hollywood Whiz Kids.”

Many other gifted and talented people are drawn to the arts and entertainment – and other fields, of course – and have had similar experiences and reactions from other people, both as children and adults.

How does the intensity, complexity and “border-crossing” of creative people encourage being more creative?

Creative people often have personalities and inner experiences that are intense and beyond ordinary in multiple ways. [Read Part 1.]

Creativity author and teacher Ken Robinson thinks “To realize our true creative potential—in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities—we need to think differently about ourselves and to act differently towards each other. We must learn to be creative.”

[From post: Reclaiming Our Creativity – Part 2.]

One part of learning to be more creative is to encourage shifting between convergent and divergent thinking.