Living with Intensity is a book I have mentioned before.
Chapter one opens with an exerpt from the memoirs of Helene Grimaud entitled Wild Harmonies: A life of Music and Wolves. Her adult life has been that of a conert pianist. She also created a Wolf Conservation Center. I admire someone who has been able to significantly pursue and affect multiple areas of passion in life and hope to be included in that group throughout my life.
She is used as an example of the assertion that "The emotional intensity and high level of energy of a gifted child cannot be ignored. . . . [They] take in information from the world around them; they react and respond more quickly and intensely than other children. . . . Their excitement is viewed as excessive, their high energy as hyperactivity, their persistence as nagging, their questioning as undermining authority, their imagination as not paying attention, their passion as being disruptive, their strong emotions and sensitivity as immaturity, their creativity and self-directdeness as oppositional." In the case of Helene Girmaud, I challenge you to find a moving musician who is not an emotional person. If they were not emotional, how could they move us with their performance? You must understand and experience emotions in order to communicate them well, through music or other language.
Our childhood can set the stage of our emotional life. As we are discovering and categorizing and learning, we are grasping to understand our place in this world we are exploring. An extreme example is abusive generational patterns. What we see as children, we assume is normal. This is also true of the feedback we receive about ourselves, from those who know us and those who do not, as well as in our own minds as we compare ourselves to others. Helene's memoirs indicate that she heard a vary large number of negative adjectives aimed her direction, and yet, she accomplished so much and affected so many . . .
Here's another quote from Living with Itensity. "It is of course unfortunate that something exceptional, something that is outside of the norm, is often looked upon as being abnormal, and that 'abnormal' usually means annoying or bad, where as 'normal means mostly acceptable or good. We forget that these notions come from a stasticial convention, the bell curve, which does not tell us what is goo and what is bad."
And so, by page 4, I am completely sold and MUST continue reading. I only hope not to lose too much sleep over the next few days. Have you read it, yet? If not, and this sounds familiar or just intriguing, you should. If you have already enjoyed this USA Book News Best Books Award Finalist, what is your favorite or most moving part?
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