by Mary Rocamora. M.A.
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The philosophy of my life’s work has been grounded in the belief that optimizing the human potential of the gifted would be the greatest contribution I could make to the world. Over many years of counseling and teaching gifted adults, I have observed a strong connection between giftedness and spirituality, that is, an inner searching for meaning and connectedness with something deeper. This observation led me to undertake two endeavors over the course of my career. The first was to create a process of inner awareness training specifically for them that synthesizes the gifted psychological process with the spiritual longing for inner realization.
Second, given that the gifted are still largely misunderstood by themselves and in the public eye, it has also been important for me to bring a more accurate understanding of giftedness to everyone. I have written informational articles and developed tools so the gifted can recognize and work with their unique qualities and better communicate their talent and vision more effectively with others, such as my Gifted Self-Tests. Everything I have written was derived equally from my personal experience and the body of research still largely in the purview of academia.
I wrote The Personal Journey Course and developed its peer process approach and inductive method to address the psychological and spiritual issues seen frequently in gifted adults. Teaching this course provided an ongoing laboratory to find new ways to achieve inner freedom quickly and powerfully. This work is a match for the heightened sensitivity, idealism and affinity for challenge seen in gifted people. The focus of all my work has always been on what happens after the clearing out: the enhancement of creativity, the ability to focus one’s energies, and the fulfillment of the promise of each individual. The “container” of all my work has been love, feel-ably, profoundly and infectiously. Together, we have all witnessed potential for a meaningful contribution to become realized through the work.
My work is unique in that it is built on inner awareness from beginning to end. Awareness is the term I use to refer to the most important quality of universal consciousness: it is this quality that makes human evolution possible. it cannot be accessed conceptually, through thinking and ideas. Like a cursor, it moves our attention wherever we direct it, making it possible for us to identify specific feeling states and develop the capacity to choose what state we are in.
In this inner work, we discover that it is our awareness that translates what we feel and sense into language, and it is our awareness that discovers other qualities of the free state that will help us along the path. Curiosity elbows past judgment. Willingness overcomes resistance. Openness melts away reactivity. Spontaneity bursts through our ingrained over-socialization. Expansiveness and capability overtake limitation. Creativity infuses our ordinary activities. Compassion dissolves separation and insularity. Gifted people have many of these qualities innately, although they are not often consciously mastered or sustainable. This work progresses seamlessly from the psychological to the spiritual realm and helps people discover what is truly here to be lived so as to be congruent with it.
By providing awareness work for the gifted, coupled with informational articles and the self tests, I have tried to demystify giftedness to bridge the gap between the gifted and mainstream people in their environment. This training is also accessible for all people, gifted or not, who will all be impressed by how much more can be lived from a free state and an open heart.