Mellow Out: They Say, If I Only Could - Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright, 2nd Edition, Revised

This highly acclaimed and valued book is intended for parents and teachers of intense and sensitive young people and to serve the young people as a friendly mirror in which they can recognize themselves for who they are. Gifted children and adults tend to be intense, and this intensity often makes them seem strange to others. Their reactions are often viewed by others as overreactions, when in fact these individuals are simply responding to the environment (both without and within) with the overexcitability that is a fundamental trait of giftedness. Mellow Out explores that intensity and sensitivity, giving voice to gifted youth in numerous excerpts throughout the book. In this updated edition, Piechowski introduces the concept of openness to experience that, together with intuition and overexcitability, forms the blend of personality characteristics typical of the great majority of gifted children. He expands on the topic of visual-spatial, picture, and nonvisual alternative thinkers, and he introduces the concept of emotional style and its six dimensions that have specific activation areas in the brain. In addition, he expands on the topic of spiritual giftedness, an often-neglected area of study within gifted populations.