By Emma Nicholson and Dr. Chris Wells
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The podcast currently has 67 episodes available.
In episode 62, Chris and Emma delivered the audio from the DC2024 workshop they previewed in episode 58. The Dabrowski Congress was a special experience, and this workshop was no exception. So, we’d like to say a big thank you to the people who shared their thoughts and questions with us during the session because they really helped make it amazing. We hope you’ll enjoy our workshop, too, and participate with us as you listen!
Values are at the heart of the theory of positive disintegration. They play a crucial role in personal growth and understanding your identity, serving as an inner compass to guide behavior and decision-making. We emphasize the significance of understanding personal values, their evolution, and their impact on our behavior.
Values are the principles or standards that inform our behavior, driven by what we perceive as important in life. They are not static—they shift and evolve as we grow and encounter new experiences and challenges. This dynamic nature is essential for personal development, as it allows us to reassess and redefine what is meaningful to us over time.
Just as a compass provides direction, values help us navigate our lives, particularly during times of disintegration or uncertainty. Establishing and understanding your hierarchy of values is critical for the processes of autopsychotherapy and self-education. The journey toward authenticity is facilitated by recognizing and aligning with our core values. The session aims to help participants discover their core drivers, define their values, and embark on a journey toward authenticity, so there are reflection exercises and questions through the workshop.
A quote we shared from an interview Dr. Dabrowski gave in 1979, which was published as “The Heroism of Sensitivity” in 1994:
“Creating new values is a fundamental part of development. When we grow, we start to have a different view of reality and that leads us to reorder our value system. We create values by our self-observation, by our thinking, and by putting our ideals into practice. Discovering in ourselves higher levels of development, higher tendencies, and sensitivities, we simultaneously create them.”
Listeners are encouraged to participate actively by taking notes and reflecting on prompting questions throughout the workshop. There will be places during the episode for you to pause and reflect on the questions being asked. Workshop slides are available for further reference by clicking the button below or from the resource list.
Links from this episode
Click here to download the PDF of our slides
Watch the video of our session on YouTube
Visit the 2024 Dabrowski Congress page
Purchase DC2024 recordings
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
In episode 61, Chris and Emma were joined by Dr. Sarabeth Berk Bickerton, a professional identity researcher and the leading expert on hybrid professional identity. Sarabeth is based in Boulder, Colorado, and author of More Than My Title: The Power of Hybrid Professionals in a Workplace of Experts and Generalists.
Understanding and articulating your professional identity is essential for achieving fulfillment and success in the workplace. Sarabeth emphasized the significance of understanding and articulating your professional identity beyond job titles. She stressed the importance of recognizing ourselves in our work, independent of the tasks we perform.
We delved into Sarabeth’s concept of hybrid professional identity, where individuals bring together diverse skills and experiences to create something new. She shared how being a hybrid professional can lead to disruption and innovation in the workplace, challenging traditional norms and boundaries. We learned about the need to explore the intersection of multiple professional identities to truly define and showcase your unique value in the workplace.
Sarabeth’s work helps people articulate their unique values and contributions in the workplace. Through exercises and frameworks, she assists individuals in exploring their skills, experiences, and preferences to create a comprehensive understanding of their professional identities. This process enables individuals to enhance self-awareness, communicate strengths effectively, and navigate career transitions or advancements with confidence and clarity.
Sarabeth shared that professionals with hybrid identities often face challenges in traditional work environments where they are expected to fit into specific roles. This can result in feeling misunderstood, undervalued, or limited in expressing their full potential. We discussed the importance of career belonging, where individuals seek to align their values, skills, and aspirations with their work environment. We learned the importance of understanding where you fit and belong in your career journey, whether to yourself, others, or a larger purpose.
Links from this episode
Sarabeth’s website: More Than My Title
Her book More Than My Title on Amazon
Find Sarabeth on:
We mentioned Gifted Unleashed Episode 33, featuring Nadja Cereghetti and guest Chris Wells.
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
Support our work by becoming a Founding Member, and join the upcoming virtual Q&A with Chris on August 14, 2024, at 4 pm MDT.
In episode 60, Chris and Emma introduced the theory of positive disintegration in a nutshell. We did our best to make it as approachable as possible and kept jargon to a minimum. Our goal was not to deliver a scholarly presentation of the theory but one for the layperson going through positive disintegration.
This introduction was created especially for the 2024 Dabrowski Congress for attendees who want to learn more about the theory behind the conference. Our hope is that it will serve for years to come as a primer for positive disintegration. As Emma often says, TPD is not only a theory but an experience, and those going through it appreciate a mirror that makes sense of their struggles.
The topics we covered:
- Background of Dr. Kazimierz Dabrowski
- Nervousness, Psychological Tension and Big Emotions
- The Five Types of Overexcitabilities
- Types of Development, Developmental Potential and Multilevelness, and Multilevelness in Personality Growth
- Hierarchy of Values, the Third Factor of Development (and Nature, Nurture, and the Third Factor)
- Unilevel vs. Multilevel Disintegration
- Positive Maladjustment, Spontaneous Multilevel Disintegration, Pain, and Self-Reflection
- Challenges in Discovering and Acting on Values, and Organized Multilevel Disintegration
- Transforming Overexcitabilities into Tools for Growth
- Lifelong Journey of Personal Growth, and Personality as an Achievement
- Resources, DC2024, and Final Thoughts
Register for DC2024 at https://dabrowskicenter.org/register
If you want to join one of Chris’s courses this year, click here to register your interest and receive more information.
We created Dabrowski 101 as a video and podcast episode. You can watch the video on YouTube.
Quotes
“The prefix over attached to ‘excitability’ serves to indicate that the reactions of excitation are over and above average in intensity, duration, and frequency” (Dabrowski, 1996, p. 7, Multilevelness of Emotional and Instinctive Functions).
"Making multilevelness the central concept in the approach to development means that we have to apply it to every phenomenon under scrutiny. It means that we are using a new key, or paradigm, with which to approach human behavior and its development. It now becomes less meaningful to consider, for instance, aggression, inferiority, empathy, or sexual behavior as unitary phenomena, but it becomes more meaningful to examine different levels of these behaviors." (Dabrowski, 1996, p. 10)
“Discovering in ourselves higher levels of development, higher tendencies, and sensitivities, we simultaneously create them.” Dabrowski, 1994, "The Heroism of Sensitivity," an interview in Advanced Development Journal.
"Do not run from yourself but conquer yourself!" P. Cienin, 1972, p. 40, (Existential Thoughts and Aphorisms).
“Movement from “what is” to “what ought to be” opens a channel for resolution and direction of developmental tensions. When this channel is not open, as in unilevel disintegration, the tensions lead to severe psychosomatic illness, psychosis, or suicide.” Dabrowski, 1977, p. 43, (Theory of Levels of Emotional Development, Vol. 1)
“Crises are periods of increased insight into oneself, creativity, and personality development” Dabrowski, 1964, p. 18, (Positive Disintegration)
More resources
* Download a PDF with the list and short definitions of dynamisms at https://dabrowskicenter.org/1977
* For more on "nervousness" and the history of overexcitability: https://dabrowskicenter.org/origins
* The book we mentioned on the slide with five types of OE was "Mellow Out," They Say. If I Only Could" by Michael M. Piechowski.
* Download Table 1 from Mellow Out, Forms and Expressions of Overexcitability
* The following papers from Michael M. Piechowski include case studies of moral exemplars that shed more light on the higher-level dynamisms:
* Piechowski (1990): Inner Growth and Transformation in the Life of Eleanor Roosevelt
* Piechowski (1992): Etty Hillesum: “The Thinking Heart of the Barracks”
* Piechowski (2009): Peace Pilgrim, Exemplar of Level V
* Podcast episodes we mentioned:
* Episode 2: Overexcitabilities and Pseudoscience
* Episode 8: Surviving Disintegration
* Episode 33: A Personal Journey of Self-Discovery with David Sweeney
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
In episode 59, Chris and Emma were joined by Dr. Sergej van Middendorp and Abbie VanMeter of the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution. We discussed the CMM (Coordinated Management of Meaning) theory and its intersection with the theory of positive disintegration.
Sergej helps generate healthy systems with action research-based practice in improvisation, design, and communication. In the Netherlands, he facilitates a collaborative support network of caregivers and IT providers in their development of an integral digital health system. He is on the CMM Institute's Board of Stewards.
Abbie is the host of the Stories Lived. Stories Told. podcast. In partnership with the CMM Institute for Personal and Social Evolution, she is involved in a number of projects that work to make the tools, language, and knowledge offered by the communication theory Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) more accessible.
CMM theory posits that persons in conversation (when we communicate with each other) co-create their social realities, and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they construct. Its focus is on storytelling and meaning-making, and the goal of the CMM Institute is to create better social worlds, by helping people communicate in healthier (and more conscious) ways.
Meaning is socially constructed—we all have a part in its creation. We discussed how one intersection between positive disintegration and CMM theory is how positive communication and storytelling can include conscious choice, awareness, and relational dynamics in shaping personal growth and social interactions. By being mindful of the stories we tell and the meaning we create through communication, we can contribute to building better social worlds and fostering genuine connections with others.
Both CMM theory and the theory of positive disintegration provide language to name and understand our experiences. These frameworks are empowering because they serve as toolkits that can help us in our meaning-making efforts.
Abbie and Sergej will be presenting virtually at the 2024 Dabrowski Congress in the session “Improvising Personal and Social Evolution with the Theory of Positive Disintegration (TPD) and the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM).”
Resources from this Episode
CMM Institute website
Stories Lived. Stories Told. Podcast
“Plan for Emergence” episode with Abbie and Sergej
Chris and Emma were on Episode 44 and Episode 45
CMMi on Substack
CosmoKidz
CosmoTeenz Fellows on Instagram
Watch Sergej and Abbie’s preview video for DC2024.
Click here to register for the 2024 Dabrowski Congress
We want to thank the CMM Institute for becoming a DC2024 sponsor!
Positive Disintegration Podcast, Ep. 22 on Nonviolent Communication
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
In episode 58, Chris and Emma shared a preview of the workshop they’ll deliver together at the 2024 Dabrowski Congress on July 11, 2024. We started with an overview of the Congress schedule, highlighting the mix of virtual and in-person sessions designed to cater to a diverse audience. Our workshop, which is virtual only, aims to assist participants in aligning their actions with their values—a crucial step toward achieving authenticity.
We discussed the importance of understanding and defining personal values and how these guide our behaviors and decisions. Drawing on our experiences and insights, we emphasized the role of values in navigating periods of disintegration and personal growth.
We also touched on the structure of our workshop, which will include practical exercises to help attendees articulate their values and develop a personal action plan to embody these values in their daily lives. The workshop is designed to be interactive, allowing for personal reflection and group discussion.
Finally, we encouraged our listeners to register for the Congress and join us in this transformative workshop! We concluded by expressing our excitement about the opportunity to share tools and strategies that have significantly impacted our own journeys toward authenticity.
Join us at the Dabrowski Congress to explore how you can walk your talk and be true to your values.
Visit the official DC2024 page
Register for the 2024 Dabrowski Congress on Eventbrite
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
In episode 57, Chris and Emma talked with Summer Cowick, an educator with over 15 years of classroom experience specializing in gifted education in Kansas City. Through her coaching organization, Brilliant And Then Some, Summer strives to empower gifted and talented children and their families, guiding them through individual circumstances to unlock their full potential and achieve lasting happiness.
For educators and parents, this episode offers practical insights and strategies for supporting overexcitable and gifted students. This is the first time we explicitly address the issue of overexcitability in the classroom. We discussed the impact of Dabrowski’s theory in educational settings, and how understanding overexcitabilities can transform teaching and learning experiences.
Our discussion covered a wide range of topics, from applying Dabrowski's theory in the classroom to understanding giftedness beyond the stereotypical traits and the crucial role authenticity plays in education. Summer shared some challenges and strategies for recognizing and nurturing giftedness in students from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds. We talk about the crucial role of authenticity for both students and teachers, including how it influences educational outcomes and personal development.
We all shared personal anecdotes about giftedness and overexcitabilities at school. We hope this conversation will help illuminate the complexities of navigating education, including the challenges of sensory overloads, and maintaining personal autonomy and authenticity in overwhelming environments.
Summer’s experiences and insights remind us of the power of understanding and leveraging psychological theories like Dabrowski’s to enhance educational practices and support students’ unique needs. Whether you are a teacher, parent, or someone interested in the psychology of education, this episode provides valuable perspectives on making education a more inclusive and transformative experience.
Make sure you listen to the end so you can enjoy our hilarious outtakes!
Resources from this episode
Brilliant and Then Some (Summer’s website)
2024 Dabrowski Congress info page. Summer’s session is “The Real Deal—OEs in the Classroom.” Click here to register.
“Mellow Out,” They say. If I Only Could: Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright” by Michael M. Piechowski
Living with Intensity by Susan Daniels and Michael M. Piechowski (Eds.)
Sneaky Stimming video by Emma
Episode 56: Autoethnography for Personal Growth
Mental Floss article: When Tipper Gore Took On 80s Rock Music
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
[Voiceover of written post] The song You’ll Never Walk Alone began life on Broadway in 1945, thanks to Rodgers and Hammerstein. It was instantly popular, and has been covered by many artists over the years. But in 1963, Gerry And The Pacemakers did their version, and Liverpudlian magic was made. The song has been fully adopted by Liverpool FC, being sung before every game, and the words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ being incorporated into the team emblem and forged into the gates of Anfield stadium.
It is an uplifting song of hope. The lyrics convey comfort and solidarity. To many, the message of this song is clear—in times of trouble, you’re not alone. But if we dig a little deeper, we start to understand the true nature of the troubled times. We start to understand the reasons why you’ll never walk alone. More importantly, we can explore how this underlying message is a critical component for navigating Dabrowski’s framework of positive disintegration.
Walk the path towards your authentic self, and you’ll never walk alone.
Welcome to the first official “From the Archive” post. We’ve added DC Archive to our Substack navbar, where you’ll find posts like this one with media shared from our Dabrowski Center archive.
The presentation featured in this post was given by Dr. Michael M. Piechowski at the 12th Annual Hollingworth Conference for Highly Gifted in Manchester, New Hampshire, in May 1999.
This audio recording was converted to mp3 from a cassette tape Michael sent to Chris in June 2018. The handout was discovered in a box of transparencies and documents Michael shared with Chris in May 2021.
For those who are new here, Michael joined us on Episode 48 of the podcast. Click here for more posts and episodes mentioning Michael.
Only the first 45 minutes of the recording were available. The rest is missing in audio, but you can find it in the handout. Visit the Substack post for the handout and transcript.
In episode 56, Chris and Emma discussed autoethnography as a research method, and powerful tool for autopsychotherapy and transformation. Chris described autoethnography as a method for delving into one's life (usually through writing about it), not as an isolated individual but within the broader context of social and cultural influences. This method allows you to understand yourself within systems, considering factors like race, gender, class, privilege, oppression, and trauma.
Emma and Chris emphasized the value of gaining insights into your past experiences and behaviors. You can identify turning points and epiphanies, leading to a deeper understanding of yourself. By reflecting on personal history, you uncover patterns, traumas, and societal influences that have shaped your identity. This method also allows you to view your life through the lens of positive disintegration, and identify dynamisms, overexcitabilities and moments of disintegration.
Chris shared this quote from Christopher Poulos’s Essentials of Autoethnography:
“The deep emotional introspection associated with this form of academic writing comes with inherent vulnerability and exposure to the judgment of others, along with the possibility of opening up old trauma, stirring up painful memories, digging into taboo subjects, or sparking grief or other deep emotions.”
We discussed our different approaches to this work because the method can be tailored to suit individual preferences and comfort levels. While Chris delves deep into coding journal entries and conducting in-depth research, Emma mentions more accessible approaches like writing about past experiences, talking to others, or reviewing your past social media posts.
By utilizing different mediums for self-expression (like art, or video recordings), you can explore personal narratives in diverse ways, uncovering hidden emotions, patterns, and perspectives that may not be apparent through traditional writing alone. Emma shared how she found watching herself in a video discussing her feelings to be enlightening, and that seeing facial expressions and body language helped her understand her emotions better.
Chris mentioned the importance of being prepared for the emotional impact of autoethnography. They discussed the need for space, time, and self-care to process the unearthed traumas and painful memories. The process may involve re-traumatizing yourself to some extent, but it can also lead to healing and self-compassion.
This multi-dimensional approach allows for a more comprehensive exploration of identity, experiences, and relationships, ultimately leading to a deeper understanding of yourself and your place in the world.
Resources from this episode
The Primary Importance of the Inner Experience of Giftedness, a paper Chris wrote based on the work they described from 2014.
Interesting Quotes, Vol. 10 on autoethnography
Essentials of Autoethnography by Christopher N. Poulos
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
In episode 55, Chris and Emma talked with Kaitlin Smith, a Boston-based scholar, facilitator, and founder of Our Wild Minds, which offers online community and programs that help gifted BIPOC unleash their natural gifts. Kaitlin is also a PhD student at Harvard in History of Science where her research interrogates the history of mind sciences and intersections with African American Studies.
Kaitlin shared how her personal experiences and challenges led her to explore Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration and its relevance to her life and studies. She discussed the complexities of being gifted within the context of racial and cultural identities. She reflected on the challenges faced in her journey, including her experiences with racism and stereotyping within academia as a social work student and therapist-in-training.
Kaitlin detailed the creation and mission of Our Wild Minds, a program designed to support gifted BIPOC individuals in unleashing their natural gifts. She outlined the various components of the community and the WildMinder Journey, which includes introspection, connection, learning, manifestation, and giving back.
We learned about Kaitlin’s online course, Black Brilliance Circle, which serves as a space for gifted Black adults to explore their identities, challenges, and potential. She discusses the richness of bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds and the power of community in fostering growth and understanding.
Our conversation delved into the idea of “Decolonizing Giftedness.” We discussed the importance of addressing the roots of gifted education, as well as challenging and dismantling the biases and assumptions that have historically shaped the field. Kaitlin emphasized embracing complexity and intersectionality in understanding and supporting gifted individuals.
We explored the concept of positive maladjustment and its relevance to navigating and challenging oppressive systems. We discussed the importance of self-reflection, learning, and unlearning as crucial tools for both personal growth and societal transformation.
The episode concluded with reflections on the importance of lifting others as we climb, and the transformative potential of engaging in deep, meaningful conversations across differences. We are grateful for Kaitlin’s willingness to share her journey and insights with our audience.
The quotes Chris mentioned by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi:
“The only way to undo racism is to consistently identify and describe it and then dismantle it. The attempt to turn this usefully descriptive term racist into an almost unusable slur is, of course, designed to do the opposite, to freeze us into inaction”
And
"Like fighting an addiction, being an antiracist requires persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination."
Resources from this episode
Kaitlin’s website Our Wild Minds
Black Brilliance Circle
How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Connect with us
Positive Disintegration on Substack
Visit the Dabrowski Center website
The Positive Disintegration YouTube Channel
Adults with Overexcitabilities group on Facebook
The Tragic Gift blog by Emma
Email us at [email protected]
Please consider supporting the podcast to help fund this work through the Dabrowski Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Find Positive Disintegration Merch
If you enjoyed this episode on Apple or Spotify, please remember to click on the stars and leave a rating or write a review. Thank you!
The podcast currently has 67 episodes available.
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