Blog : Intelligence, Education and Life Experience

Blogs > spiritwoman45 > Life in the Canyon

22314 posts
7/6/2014 1:59 pm

Intelligence, Education and Life Experience – My Story

The recent focus on education vs intelligence inspired me to share my story in hopes that it might inspire or console others with learning issues.

Background – No one knew the entire story until I was in grad school and took classes in psychometrics but most knew there was something “different” from the beginning. I went through all of my developmental tasks of childhood in strange ways and had difficulties in school even though I persevered. Turns out I have an extremely high IQ but also learning disabilities including ADD, dyslexia, no depth perception, right left confusion and a strange kind of seizure disorder limited to the optic nerve, all likely due to exposure to neuro toxins as an infant and young . Add to this mix an extreme dose of creativity and imagination as well as a few “extra frequencies” or psychic gifts (I see and hear things in ranges humans are supposed to. I can actually “see” some energy frequencies. My perceptual ranges have been measured and documented by professionals in the field. They are scientifically provable.) I was able to “read people from my earliest days. I later figured out I did this by “feeling” their emotions as my own – probably related to the enhanced perceptual ranges.

My earliest school years were marked by my doing unusual things and having to learn the boundaries. My achievement was average with the constant comment that I did not perform up to potential and spent most of my time day dreaming.

By the time junior high care I had integrated socially but was pretty much quiet and withdrawn. My grades were a roller coaster of A’s and D’s. I excelled I things like literature, biological sciences art and PE but struggled to pass in English composition and math. Since I passed and did not cause problems no one thought much of it other than the old “not working up to potential”

High school was pretty much the same. I excelled at biology but barely passed chemistry. I had to have a tutor to pass the advanced math required for college prep classes but pulled A’s with little or no effort in Literature and Art. I had to take Latin over in summer school. The teacher told my mother that there was something going on because I worked hard. She had no idea what. Reading comprehension had been a struggle until I learned speed reading in the 10th grade then I excelled. The later discovered dyslexia explains this. I graduated on schedule and was accepted at a state college in Pre Med.

Why such a choice? My parents believed in education, but in specific areas. My mother me being a doctor and my dad me being an engineer. I struggled through the first year of pre-med and passed but came to the conclusion that I was working off the low end of my skill set so transferred to a private college majoring in all things, theology. This was an intensification of my efforts to explain what I later learned are my “extra frequencies”. I was always skilled in anything artistic but this was never seen as anything “practical” and certainly did not meet my parent’s plans for me. My sister was designated as the “artistic” one and was pre-programed for a career in music. Although she became a concert pianist she learned in midlife that her true skills were in medicine and ended up as a nurse practitioner and nurse administrator.

I attended 3 colleges in all and was usually on the deans list. When it came time to graduate I ended up with 2 majors and 3 minors and a teaching credential, the latter being my concession to the reality that I was going to have to earn a living. A year of teaching junior high school showed me that teaching was NOT what I wanted so I enrolled in grad school. While there I paid the bills by working in a sewing factory, putting the details on high end women’s coats. Grad school is where I learned the important things education gives us – how to learn and how to find information. It was where, through classes in psycho metrics, I finally found that I had an extremely high IQ (which was a big surprise to me) but also had a number of “learning disabilities”. The IQ enabled me to overcome the disabilities I was unaware of and succeed.

After completing my masters I worked my whole career in occupations that were suited to my ability to “see” things, first as a ’s therapist then as a social worker – social services program administrator. In the end what I used to earn a living for myself and my family were the exceptional skills in reading people that were a gift of my neurologically altered brain. I excelled at my job but had I not had the appropriate educational credentials I could not have even gotten in the door. If I had not developed excellent street smarts growing up in the various situations I did this could have not have been possible.

Bottom line? From my personal experience what society classifies as success requires a combination of intelligence, education, life experience and common sense. Most of all it is discovering your strengths and working off of them. The educational system is there to provide you with the credentials needed to apply your abilities.

In a final word I want to let my fellow bloggers know how very much I appreciate everyone overlooking my ADD / dyslexic errors, particularly since many are sticklers for spelling and grammar. This has been significantly complicated in the last few years by rapidly progressing arthritis, particularly in my hands. My disorganized brain tells my stiff fingers to do something but often even when the command is correct they do not always respond. You see the result. Yes, I do know how to spend time and effort catching most of them but my time is better spent in getting my idea out there.

Spiritwoman ^i^

Rocketship 80F

18603 posts
7/6/2014 3:37 pm

Big, Warm Hugsssss!!!

1gasilverhead2 83M

4003 posts
7/6/2014 4:04 pm

What a wonderful educational and informative blog.

If my sweetie and I ever given the opportunity to meet you I would consider it an honor for first, a hug, then time to just "visit" sit and talk and look into your eyes.

I feel with my background being so different than yours I would leave with happy and informative information.

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The beginning of life, conception..

Hawkslayer 88M

13354 posts
7/6/2014 5:42 pm

An inspiring read, Spirit. We have to make the most of what we are given and you did exactly that and did it well. Congratulations.

Alfie...

It only takes a drop of ink to make a million people think. There are many stories.