MyGiftedLife.org

Did you see the clip of President Obama catching the fly during his interview today? There was, for me, the second opportunity to identify with what even HE must hide: he must soften his eyes for public consumption because if showed that intensity regularly, he'd be ostracized too.

Typically, when he speaks, he turns to the left and right. Once, for the briefest moment, he looked directly into the camera during his nomination acceptance and BANG! I thought 'no wonder he doesn't do that very often!' The focused power of his mind came right across the lenses and airwaves and it felt a bit like what I imagine being struck by lightening would feel like.

For a nano- after he caught and killed the fly on his sleeve, he glanced up at the interviewer and his intensity had not yet been veiled. Wow. And I felt for him and us and myself in how we must tone it down, keep many thoughts to ourselves in so many situations to avoid putting off the more typically-minded. If they only knew; but they won't...they can't get past the differentness to discovering the content they fear being unable to understand. I'm reminded of Doris Lessing's vivid science fiction series and volumn "The Marriages between Zones 3,4 & 5. The women in this novel are "kept in the dark" literally, indoors most of the time and when they go outdoors, they must wear helmuts with only a narrow viewing slot that are so heavy, their heads are bowed so that they can't raise their eyes to see the sun.

Hi Shrinkrapt,

I think this is one reason that Birds of a Feather generally flock together--usually there are too many social disadvantages to being visibly and "chronically unique" where the Lowest Common Denominator prevails.

Beneath Pres. Obama's smooth "exterior styling," we all know there's a turbo-charged giftie *from* the 'hood, "under the hood" (Ok, maybe he loses Street Creds for being from Hawaii; but he didn't *stay* there...)

Yep, one of the many things I love about Pres. Obama is that he waves the multiple-exceptionalities flag: Black! White! Multiracial! Asian relatives! Muslim relatives! Christian relatives (mixed in with everything else!) Single parent-Food Stamp-Childhood! *Chose* to live and work in less-affluent parts of Chicago as a prelude to Yale Law! Herded cats and swam with sharks as boss of the Yale Law Review! *Chose* to take his Yale grad degree *back* to Chicago! (as opposed to...Hawaii, for example, LOL)...etcetera.

There are mental/emotional conditioning processes that one can learn in order to "chill at will": For example, sports performance-rehearsal; and other focusing techniques; but in my case I never got into sports deeply enough to learn those. What I did learn was how to fake a certain level of confidence; how to "feel the fear and do it anyway"; and how to meditate/use affirmations, etc.

It's kind of sad, but I also taught myself not to blush, once I realized that it would be used against me...When not pressured I usually manage to keep a grip even when my brain is turning cartwheels with enthusiasm, ha ha. But under various kinds of pressure, results are a harder to predict.

In unsympathetic company I have to devote conscious energy to to maintaining the usual facade (whichever one is deemed appropriate to the occasion at hand....) Typically, though, what I want, "what I really, really want" is relief from oppressive tedium (if not also oppressive mind-control--the two in combination drain my batteries.)

You know, I watch the PBS interview program "Charlie Rose" for much the same reason that I enjoy watching and listening to Pres. Obama--Aside from the fact that they are both (IMO) highly attractive and well-spoken, practically all of Charlie Rose's guests are gifties with some form of intensity. (Intellectual intensity just for starters.) But, particularly where arts and letters guests are concerned, his program provides a rare rhetorical opportunity for the semi-public display of passions which have little to do with sex, violence, or religion.

On occasion he hosts multiple guests during the same segment; but usually it's just one-on-one, in-depth conversation--no studio audience, no laugh track, no inane advertisements. Although Rose, himself, might be an extrovert (given that he knows so many people, and loves drawing them out); IMO the show is introvert-observer heaven: Like pulling up a chair alongside people worth listening to.

It's a shame, and a sad indictment on the prevailing culture that anyone should have to hide their light under a bushel.

Eye prejudice? There's little conclusive research on this, but I believe it can and does exist. It's almost certainly not as strong as the more visible biasings for/against body size, gender and hair colour. Now whether the personality attributions are true to the personalities of the person owning those eyes or not is another story and such attributions/misattributions will have cultural elements as well.

Brown eyes are the dominant colour - and I believe that having this eye colour embues one's perceived personality as "friendly." It seems to be associated with extroversion.

The rarer variant of black eyes seem to be associated, perhaps reinforced by cinema, with crazies.

Blue eyes are recessive - and I believe seen as "cold" or "innocent," leading to either rejection or an invite for domination. It seems to be associated with introversion. I remember reading an article that mentioned police prejudice against this eye colour. I thought that was quite a provocative thought. It makes me wonder which sets a school bully off first... the in-class "favoritism" or the body-build and eye-colour of the victim? I bet the latter... as it happens even outside of school and is highly visible on a playground.

Green eyes are between - and I believe have the capacity to look dangerous, damning, or mischievous.

I have blue-green eyes and I've been accused of having such an evil eye when others are feeling guilty -- interestingly enough, even when I haven't even been paying attention at all to their misdemeaner to send any such look! When I am focussed on the situation, apparently, my eyes pack a powerful punch. Someone with a sensing personality will pick this up immediately... and if they have a subconscious that is even mildly guilty, it seems to force an introspection, and better behaviour results. Since what I think seems to matter a great deal to those who know me, I expect that has much to do with it as well. It can backfire, too -- I imagine my eyes and my challenge against domination would kill me in a highly patriarchal culture.

Here's a woman that has the gift, from such a culture. I have no doubt that she has to hide the window to her soul a lot:

photography.nationalgeographic.com/photo...ait-photography.html

The eyes can be better seen in this hi-res (make sure you view it a full enlargement): www.enterpriserobotics.com/images/SharbatHi.jpg

Her story is here:
news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2002/..._020312_sharbat.html

If 'eyes are the windows to the soul,' and if a mere look can get people to behave better, then I'm glad my soul shines through, even if the cops and the patriarchs can't stand the sight of me. Just how many blue or green-eyed cops are there, anyway? And how many pairs of sunglasses do they own?

And just how much of this suppposed prejudice is the causal factor in the prejudice against those of us who come across as "intense?"

Certainly we need more studies done on this. I expect such an investigation would be frought with resistance... but it would be an eye-opener.

In one undergrad study, I went blonde for a week to see how people (acquaintances and strangers) related to me. It was quite interesting. Perhaps I should play with some brown contacts for a while... and see if my family relationships improve.

Edit Additions:
www.allaboutvision.com/contacts/colors.htm
www.lenscontact.co.uk/eye-colour-personality.php
www.medindia.net/news/healthwatch/eye-co...sonality-29590-1.htm
www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&am...ntAnUnK24KL_NGU4_m-g

Is it the just the eye colour? Am I biased by my own mirror reflection? Compare these modifications of Sharbat's photo: