People with Asperger's syndrome have often got special requirements for their workplace.
They find it difficult to communicate with other people because it is hard for them to decode the signals sent out in interpersonal communications.
Many find security in a stringent daily routine, with rituals and habits which should always remain the same wherever possible.
Their enthusiasm for specific topics, which they might have encyclopaedic knowledge of in their heads, is not always met with understanding, let alone due recognition.
If these aspects of life cannot be expressed in the workplace, this can lead to shyness, feelings of inferiority, under-stimulation and depression.
In order to account for these requirements, the "button project" was established: Inspired by the "Stamps for Bethel" concept, used buttons are collected in order to create jobs for people with Asperger's.
This is a fantastic project set up by independent people who want to mould their work space exactly according to their own personal requirements.
You can get more information on this project here: http://buttonproject.wordpress.com/
Montag, 30. Mai 2011
Donnerstag, 26. Mai 2011
Feeling ingredients
In my line of work, I often hear the phase "Yes, I feel a lot! But this does not mean by a long shot that I always know exactly what I am feeling."
In general, what we feel is a conglomerate of multiple feelings, in different nuances, gradations and combinations.
But as it is often much simpler to deal with feelings when you can actually identify them, it is certainly worth practicing how to recognise which feelings go into making your cocktail of feelings.
One method is to feel "pure feelings". After all, if you can recognise a key feeling in yourself, it is easier to recognise it again in the chaos.
Practice picking out individual feelings from the pack, e.g. happiness, openness or disappointment, and feel them as intensively as you can.
Over time, this will enhance your ability to recognise aspects of your own feelings and therefore improve your capacity to deal with them.
In general, what we feel is a conglomerate of multiple feelings, in different nuances, gradations and combinations.
But as it is often much simpler to deal with feelings when you can actually identify them, it is certainly worth practicing how to recognise which feelings go into making your cocktail of feelings.
One method is to feel "pure feelings". After all, if you can recognise a key feeling in yourself, it is easier to recognise it again in the chaos.
Practice picking out individual feelings from the pack, e.g. happiness, openness or disappointment, and feel them as intensively as you can.
Over time, this will enhance your ability to recognise aspects of your own feelings and therefore improve your capacity to deal with them.
Samstag, 14. Mai 2011
Investing in burnout
The current issue of Focus features this cartoon: A man is sitting at a bar and the barkeeper asks: "Do you want to pay?". The man then says "I'm afraid that I can't.." and opens his wallet to show the angry barman a small black puff of smoke emerging – "Burnout..." he adds.
The cartoon shows us how relevant the topic of burnout is nowadays. Among mentally gifted and highly sensitive people, it generally develops through under-stimulation and/or over-stimulation.
But the cartoon also shows – probably unintentionally – the connection between burnout and money.
Having burnout is no excuse for being skint, but it can certainly be the trigger. Because burnout also inevitably brings a person to the question "What do I want in life?", and the answer often leads people to a new start professionally, which also brings with it financial limitations.
The situation is even more intense for self-employed people because burnout always results in an immediate massive drop in earnings for them, adding fear for their own existence into the equation, which only serves to intensify the burnout symptoms. A vicious circle.
So for many, burnout is a careful balancing act between recovery, changes and financial survival. In which areas can I push myself? How can I deal with the intensive stimuli better? And how can I integrate these measures into my professional, private and financial life?
The key is to find the happy medium, which reopens the path to your inner home and at the same time provides enough scope to change old structures. An investment for life!
The cartoon shows us how relevant the topic of burnout is nowadays. Among mentally gifted and highly sensitive people, it generally develops through under-stimulation and/or over-stimulation.
But the cartoon also shows – probably unintentionally – the connection between burnout and money.
Having burnout is no excuse for being skint, but it can certainly be the trigger. Because burnout also inevitably brings a person to the question "What do I want in life?", and the answer often leads people to a new start professionally, which also brings with it financial limitations.
The situation is even more intense for self-employed people because burnout always results in an immediate massive drop in earnings for them, adding fear for their own existence into the equation, which only serves to intensify the burnout symptoms. A vicious circle.
So for many, burnout is a careful balancing act between recovery, changes and financial survival. In which areas can I push myself? How can I deal with the intensive stimuli better? And how can I integrate these measures into my professional, private and financial life?
The key is to find the happy medium, which reopens the path to your inner home and at the same time provides enough scope to change old structures. An investment for life!
Mittwoch, 11. Mai 2011
Pleading to be alone
Even as a child, I always loved being alone. Nowadays that I know about my highly sensitive nature, I realise that these times alone were and still are essential for the survival of my mental state.
First of all, it is important to recognise the difference between being alone and loneliness. You can feel lonely at a party full of people. But being alone really means being alone.
Being alone is often called "seclusion" which suggests that the state of being together with others is normal and that being alone is in fact more of an exception.
People are of course social beings but nowadays there is almost a pressure to be together with others. It is seen as somewhat uncool to be alone or to want to be alone. After a day of dealing with people at work, many use the TV, radio and internet to come into contact with others at home.
Don't get me wrong, I use this media too, even quite extensively at times. But if they are only used as distraction to ensure that we don't have the feeling of being alone out of fear for who we might meet in that solitary place, we lose a piece of our identity – the feeling of who we are. After all, you are much more than just the colleague of... or the friend of... You are you!
And I would strongly urge you to do the following: Enjoy yourself alone!
First of all, it is important to recognise the difference between being alone and loneliness. You can feel lonely at a party full of people. But being alone really means being alone.
Being alone is often called "seclusion" which suggests that the state of being together with others is normal and that being alone is in fact more of an exception.
People are of course social beings but nowadays there is almost a pressure to be together with others. It is seen as somewhat uncool to be alone or to want to be alone. After a day of dealing with people at work, many use the TV, radio and internet to come into contact with others at home.
Don't get me wrong, I use this media too, even quite extensively at times. But if they are only used as distraction to ensure that we don't have the feeling of being alone out of fear for who we might meet in that solitary place, we lose a piece of our identity – the feeling of who we are. After all, you are much more than just the colleague of... or the friend of... You are you!
And I would strongly urge you to do the following: Enjoy yourself alone!
Quiet on the bookshelf!
A small anecdote from the life of a highly sensitive person:
I sort books according to the colour of their spines and within these colour groups according to their size wherever possible. Otherwise they are simply "too loud" on the shelf.
"You must have a good memory of what your books look like when you are looking for them!" says Anne amazed. She sorts her books by topic. "Yes I do," I reply. Books are stored in my head visually according to their covers.
This reminds me of one rainy holiday where we began to do a puzzle to pass the time. Before long, the many pieces were too loud for me and we had to stop.
I call this visual volume.
I sort books according to the colour of their spines and within these colour groups according to their size wherever possible. Otherwise they are simply "too loud" on the shelf.
"You must have a good memory of what your books look like when you are looking for them!" says Anne amazed. She sorts her books by topic. "Yes I do," I reply. Books are stored in my head visually according to their covers.
This reminds me of one rainy holiday where we began to do a puzzle to pass the time. Before long, the many pieces were too loud for me and we had to stop.
I call this visual volume.
Lie for life
A study by the University of Virginia recently revealed that academics tell more lies than other people. Why? Because of their superior ability to lie. Lying believably requires a great deal of intelligence and capacity for abstract thought, not to mention a healthy doubt for the beatific nature of truthfulness. (Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung 26/27.02.11)
For me, this applies for both huge complex lies and little white lies that keep social life ticking over.
However, this extract got me thinking whether mentally gifted and highly sensitive people are not actually forced to lie more often in our society, or at least not to tell the truth, in order to be understood by others?
Is this not about downsizing your own truth into generally understandable words and thought patterns?
Lying is in this case simply a tool used to make life easier, providing more time for the truly relevant things – an appropriate tool, don't you think?
For me, this applies for both huge complex lies and little white lies that keep social life ticking over.
However, this extract got me thinking whether mentally gifted and highly sensitive people are not actually forced to lie more often in our society, or at least not to tell the truth, in order to be understood by others?
Is this not about downsizing your own truth into generally understandable words and thought patterns?
Lying is in this case simply a tool used to make life easier, providing more time for the truly relevant things – an appropriate tool, don't you think?
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