Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The Element

Has anyone read The Element? It states on the cover, "where talent meets passion".

Another one of these books that profiles highly successful people and how they got on their path.

But it makes you wonder if your kid, though highly gifted is in anyway, especially talented.

Apologies to who posted, but someone posted in some topic, about how they skipped several grades but that many of her peers were more successful careerwise now.

There is a girl around the corner here, got into Columbia and has some major flautist is coaching her. She easily spends 3+ hours of her summer days, for the last several years that I have been acquainted, practicing her flute because she wants it. She has a passion to pursue her interest that is something that you can't bottle. Her mother talks to me and wishes the rest of her children had a passion.

DD has been in a gymnastic camp for the last 3 weeks. It turned out to be a major gymnastics center with state and national contenders. I watch some really young kids practicing. DD is having fun but like me, she has closed hips and it would take 2 years of stretching to do what some of these kids do from birth. I don't know what her passion will be, if it is anything.

Is she really smart, yes, is she talented in a few things, yes, does she have passion, passion to spend hours practicing and give up other things? I wonder as I read this book. What will make her pursue something and consume her, like
Bill Gates woke up at 3 am as a 14 year old so he could use the computer at U of Washington.

Any good stories of passion, passion that continues year after year.

Ren

My eight-year-old is passionate about dinosaurs in particular and paleontology in general. Has been since he was one. Although he likes other things, he never gets tired of the subject. He has lots (LOTS) of dinosaur books, toys, documentaries, etc.

Will he become a paleontologist? He talks about it, but I don't know. He's only eight, and he might discover...I don't know, forestry or architecture. That's okay.

The existence of passion RIGHT NOW isn't something I worry about in my kids, mostly because I think it has to come from them, and them alone. Extremely high levels of passion at a very young age are probably rare like high IQs are rare, and I can't force it in there. People who have a drive to play the flute or paint have a gift of passion (and presumably some talent) the same way that cognitively gifted kids have something that drives them to learn. I can't force either attribute into my kids. It's there or it isn't. I can nurture it, but I can't create it.

That said, I'm aware that adults can squelch passion through cluelessness (think schools that squelch love of learning in our kids) or begrudgery or whatever. So I just worry about damaging it in my kids. This means I've learned not to push them too much in an area they love.

I remind myself that passion comes from the inside and let my kids develop their interests as they see fit. I see my job as being to expose them to many things, and to guide them if they ask for help.

So I guess my goal is to raise children who'll become happy, productive adults. I need to give them the tools to be able to make the decision, "What do I want to achieve and how can I achieve it?" effectively. Part of this involves not pushing them to become super-achievers at a young age if this isn't what they want. If that happens fine, if not, great. Achieving a lot at a very young age comes with its own perils, and my kids have their whole lives to become highly successful at something, if that's what they decide they want to be. Does this make sense?

HTH,

Val

I've been reading 'Energizing your heart in 4 Dimensions' by Puran and Suzanna Bair. They talk about the forward direction of the heart as the domain of passion.

http://www.appliedmeditation.org/Heart_Rhythm_Meditation/four_dimensions_of_heart.php

They give specific breathing techniques and daily living practices that increase our 'courage, creativity, and radiance'

If my son were young enough to take suggestions, I would try this with him if I were trying to help him develop passion. OTOH, at times in his life he seems to have too much passion, but in a distorted way. Then I would try to do this with him to strengthen the other aspects of a full personality.

It seems reasonable that we practice going after our hearts desire tirelessly by going after smaller desires of the heart.

Right now I'm trying it on myself, but am not sure which dimension of the heart to strengthen next.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

This is one of my ALL TIME favorite books!! Sir Ken Robinson, the author is a HUGE advocate for individualized learning. I recommend this one to everyone. There are also a couple of his speeches on TED which I would also recommend.