One of the themes that I notice more and more among people I talk to, is realigning with own intensity. There is a lot of rejection, fear and avoidance of being intense. I find it a very interesting tendency as I was also experiencing similar set of emotions. I thought of myself as being intense and developed a fear of it. Until very recently it was affecting my relationship with others and myself. Perhaps, observing me form the side you wouldn't tell that that’s the case, but accepting this quality was quite a step. Intensity. I pick up vocabulary, love doing that, it is one of the first meta moves I make if I want to unfold something. You have to remain alert though, words can take you places, and sometimes those places are misleading. Etymologies are useful tools to open up an investigation. But back to the intensity. Synonyms for this word are strength, power, greatness, potency, force, enthusiasm, spirit, energy, heat.. And it keeps on going in the spirit of force, energy and vigour. Looking at these synonyms, one question pops up - how come intensity is seen as something negative that has to be managed? Something that has to be fixed or suppressed. How did we get there? And who is responsible for this shift? I meet so many beautiful people, with their rich vibrant energy which is being trapped inside. In exchange for what? Belonging? Inclusion? Acceptance? How the intensity of oneself can go against those values? And which kind of intensity are we referring to, in which context, anyways? Is it the touch of someone next to you? An eye contact? An awkward joke? Boiled over coffee, because of the impulsive sharing of something exciting? It is fascinating to me but also sad. I keep on thinking how to turn this tendency around, how to create support for the intensity. Get it out and play with it in the wild. Give it a hug or whatever she wants me to do.
In defence of intensity.
In defence of intensity.
In defence of intensity.
One of the themes that I notice more and more among people I talk to, is realigning with own intensity. There is a lot of rejection, fear and avoidance of being intense. I find it a very interesting tendency as I was also experiencing similar set of emotions. I thought of myself as being intense and developed a fear of it. Until very recently it was affecting my relationship with others and myself. Perhaps, observing me form the side you wouldn't tell that that’s the case, but accepting this quality was quite a step. Intensity. I pick up vocabulary, love doing that, it is one of the first meta moves I make if I want to unfold something. You have to remain alert though, words can take you places, and sometimes those places are misleading. Etymologies are useful tools to open up an investigation. But back to the intensity. Synonyms for this word are strength, power, greatness, potency, force, enthusiasm, spirit, energy, heat.. And it keeps on going in the spirit of force, energy and vigour. Looking at these synonyms, one question pops up - how come intensity is seen as something negative that has to be managed? Something that has to be fixed or suppressed. How did we get there? And who is responsible for this shift? I meet so many beautiful people, with their rich vibrant energy which is being trapped inside. In exchange for what? Belonging? Inclusion? Acceptance? How the intensity of oneself can go against those values? And which kind of intensity are we referring to, in which context, anyways? Is it the touch of someone next to you? An eye contact? An awkward joke? Boiled over coffee, because of the impulsive sharing of something exciting? It is fascinating to me but also sad. I keep on thinking how to turn this tendency around, how to create support for the intensity. Get it out and play with it in the wild. Give it a hug or whatever she wants me to do.