An uprooted tree cannot grow new branches. 

I know that this is true.

But there’s this rebellious teenager in me that genuinely believes that the laws of nature simply don’t apply to him. 

My inner teenager had spent years gasping for air, desperate to escape from a box that he had been forced to fit into. So it makes sense that he feels this urge to get as far away from his roots as possible, so that he can finally break free and branch out. 

Recently, I let my inner teenager take the wheel. And I’ll admit that I’ve had a lot of fun brainstorming new ideas for my coaching practice and sharing my vision with anyone who was willing to listen. 

But after weeks of nonstop creative expression, I started to notice a heaviness behind my eyes and a dense fog in my head. I was still able to go through the motions of planning out new coaching programs and blog posts, but I wasn’t flowing anymore. I was just checking off items on my to-do list. 

And even when I managed to push myself through all of the tasks that I had scheduled for the day, I didn’t feel proud of myself. I just felt dull, flat, and empty. 

What was happening to me? Everything had been going so well up until now. Where did I go wrong?

At first, I tried to find the answer to this question by going up into my head. But after hours of conflicting mind-chatter, I felt even more frustrated and confused than before. So, I decided to shift gears, and bring my attention to what was going on below my head.

I lightly tapped my fingers against different parts of my body, and as I tapped on each body part, I said out loud, “this is my throat, this is my brainstem, this is my chest, this is my solar plexus, this is my belly, this is my back, these are my legs.” 

After about two minutes of doing this, I let out a long, drawn-out yawn. I could feel a spontaneous opening at the base of my throat and behind my eyes. It was as if the dense fog inside of my head had suddenly cleared, revealing a wide-open field of possibility. 

My root system was back online, and although I did feel tempted to follow my inner teenager’s lead, and jump right back into making new branches, I just smiled at him, appreciating him for his fierce determination and raw authenticity. And I thanked him for helping me break out of my box, so that I could become the person I am today. 

With that, my inner teenager loosened his grip on the wheel. I said to him, “we literally just came back to life. So let’s just take a moment to enjoy being alive.” 

And that’s exactly what we did. 

It was such a relief to let my roots just be roots, without having to constantly create new branches. 

After a while, a tiny flower began to sprout from one of my branches. I observed the bud with gentle curiosity, and it gradually began to grow and take shape.

I felt a warm surge of excitement lift the corners of my mouth and my upper chest. This feeling was so different from the desperate gasping and grasping that I had been feeling before. 

For the first time in days, I didn’t feel like I had to push myself to create. My body just felt ready to write. And that’s how today’s soul gem came into being– joyfully rooted.

@Antonio Aversano @Heather Tobin

As someone who used to take great pride in being serious and pragmatic, I totally get it if this seems like a stretch for you. If you would like some help getting the ball rolling, I would be more than happy to support you. 

@Antonio Aversano

This is what I want comments on in the group today.  Thanks, Pat Sullivan

Chapter One:

Your Once and Future Genius

 90% of the population measures high creativity at the age of five. By the age of seven the figure has dropped to 10 percent. And the percentage of adults with high creativity is only two percent.[1] Elizabeth O’Connor

Every child is a genius. That doesn’t mean that every child can paint like Picasso, compose like Mozart, or score 150 on an I.Q. test. Essentially, the real meaning of genius is to "give birth to the joy" that is within each child. Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.[2]

You, I and Albert Einstein were all born loaded with many raw materials of genius and an unconscious operating system that has evolved to make the most of our innate gifts. 

Before we could walk, talk or wipe our bottoms, these elements of genius poured out of our DNA so we could handle the joys and challenges of our strange new world. 

In the beginning, our innate genius was unpolluted by doubt, fear or others’ agendas, so we naturally followed our instincts and drives to break free of the crib, eventually to crawl and walk and run. Whether or not we were encouraged by the adults around us, we taught ourselves how to babble, eventually to speak fluently the language of those around us. By the time we were 3-5, we were whizzes at thinking up many possibilities.

As we grew, more elements of genius blossomed. By four or so, many of us began having intuitive hits. By five, we were likely to be budding experts in what we like or don’t like. We exuberantly stated our choices, and we were eager to learn all we could about ourselves and the world around us little could stop us.  

When we entered school, we were hungry to learn from ourselves, each other, teachers, the natural world, and books. We longed to become purposeful, creative adults who know and do what matters most to us, whether we’re solving problems, being creative, serving others, or building cherished dreams.

In short, we started school ready and eager to learn reading, writing, arithmetic and other grown-up skills that we were rightly told were both necessary and wonderful bits of education. We were also ready to develop the natural genius that brought us so far in so few years, even though we were rarely taught this was possible or desirable. It would have helped us do this if all our lives we had been helped to see the connections of the natural genius that is born in all of us and the achievements of the few rare people who are deemed to be genius by others.

How Natural Genius Became Grown-up Genius in Albert Einstein and Other Recognized Geniuses

Einstein famously claimed that he had “no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”[3]  Actually, Einstein embodied not just curiosity but also many more natural elements of genius. Throughout his life, he developed his imagination, wonder, awe, playfulness, patience, persistence, an awareness of what fascinated him, and natural spirituality. Many of these gifts are highlighted in Einstein’s advice to a young man: 

“Never lose holy curiosity … The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery each day.”[4]

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, is another example of childhood gifts kept alive and developed throughout life. Beloved for her imaginative power, wit, wisdom, social change-making, and philanthropy, she, like Einstein, wasn’t born ready to excel in her craft. But she cherished and developed her imagination, as well as a healthy 5-year-olds’s capacity to know what she likes and doesn’t like. 

Most of us lose that clarity as we grow up and learn to adapt to others’ notions and agendas. Rowling paid keen attention to what’s fascinating to her, then developed those fascinations with study, research, writing discipline, and playfulness. In the Harry Potter stories, you can see evidences of her many passions including nature, magic, writing, Latin and other classical learning, adolescent and adult psychology, friendships, love and how to deal with bullies.

Rowling also developed her innate ability to receive guidance from the people and world around her. Even as she learned how to work through painful problems, she honed her ability to receive insights anytime, anywhere, from any source. When the idea for the Harry Potter series became conscious during a long-delayed train ride, she painstakingly wove into it the wisdom of her life, including that gained through facing pain and failure.

Ted Williams was such a powerful hitter that most people assumed he was endowed with special innate talents and super-human eyesight. “Bull!” said Williams, whose eyesight tested at high normal. “The reason I saw things was that I was so intense…It was [super] discipline, not super eyesight.”[5]

Fully seeing something or someone requires attentiveness, curiosity, practice, focus and being present to what’s in front of us. Obviously, Williams developed each of those innate attributes and many others to the nth degree so he could see those balls coming at him much better than others could. 

While you may never reach the level of achievements of Einstein, Rowling, Williams or any person who achieves spectacular success in any field, your innate gifts are powerful and always worth developing. When that happens, you significantly increase your abilities to know and do what matters most to you, including solving problems, knowing and building dreams, thriving in work and life, and leaving a rich legacy in thought and deed, if not in material possessions.

The Amazing Potential of Your Natural Genius

Each element of natural genius offers a unique way of seeing and being in the world, as is discussed in Chapter [ ]. 

It’s as if each element transmits 24/7 its special brand of information and insights. For example, your emotions constantly transmit notice of feelings such as joy, sorrow, anger or fear. Exploring these emotions can warn you of real or perceived danger, inform you how you like or don’t like someone or something, or help you experience more joy.

Being alert to body signals can help you see clearly exactly how you are currently suffering and perhaps remember what to do or who to call to heal.

Curiosity can help you explore your outer world, while self-curiosity can help you learn more about yourself -- warts, gifts, courage, fears and all.

Over time, each of these elements can grow in power and effectiveness. For instance, curiosity can become a solid foundation for a career (such as detective work or science); a life-time catalyst to solving any type of problem; and an antidote to blindly taking others’ assumptions as your truth. The more curiosity works with emotions, memory, awe, courage and other gifts, the more potent and trustworthy each becomes.

But fully developed natural genius is just one aspect of your potential. With time, experience and mature brains, we can also develop four other critical forms of genius:

• The genius of your uniqueness. Your choices, talents, passions, perspectives and experience impact everything you see and do. This is akin to reality that if 200 artists sat in the same exact place at the same exact time, each would paint a very different picture. Chapter [ ] will show you how to discover and develop the genius of your uniqueness.
• Many forms of grown-up wisdom. Discernment, spiritual or emotional intelligence, integrity, logic and other mature elements of genius provide trustworthy ways to utilize the information fathered by your natural genius.  Chapter [ ] will help you develop these forms of brilliance. 
• Guiding genius. Many religious and creative traditions offer teachings on how to receive and work with guidance ranging from the proverbial kiss of a muse, to an intuitive or “eureka!” idea, to ongoing wise guidance for every aspect of life and work. Chapter [ ] will introduce you to a variety of ways to do this. 
• Applied genius.  The power of genius to solve problems and build visions is well known. So are many useful tools for entertaining ideas, then shaping them into useful forms. The tips and resources in Chapter [ ] will survey some great resources, with a focus on using your genius to know and do what truly matters most to you, always with respect for how your actions impact others. 

[1] O’Connor, Elizabeth, Eighth Day of Creation (Waco, Texas: Word Books. 1971), p. 17. Other studies which we will discuss later rate the high level of imagination in children aged 3-5 as up to 98%.
[2] http://www.institute4learni...
[3] From a letter to Carl Seelig (his biographer) (11 March 1952), Einstein Archives 39-013
[4] This and other verified Einstein quotes were reported in the story, “Einstein’s Big Idea, citing original sources, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nov...
[5] Quoted in David Shenk, The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ, New York: Anchor Books (2010) p. 6