A divergent thinker who can’t abide an echo chamber, Jessie has served as a CIA leadership analyst, a Google Policy Fellow, assistant the Consul General of Japan in Detroit, and a Segway-riding Mars Rover expert at the 2005 World Expo’s US Pavilion. She is now an independent writer, editor, and research analyst, helping private clients save little pieces of the world.
Why has gender dysphoria become so common among the gifted and intense? In this article, four detransitioned women and two transgender men share their experiences of overexcitability and the roles their intensities played in their individual experiences of gender non-conformity and dysphoria.
Many pay lip service to nonconformity, but if you’re really unusual, you’ve probably struggled with the implications of deviating from the norm. How should we balance the costs and benefits of our divergence? In this issue’s introductory letter, Third Factor editor in chief Jessie Mannisto links our authors’ takes on this challenge to Eleanor Roosevelt’s writings on how to be an individual.
We’ve divided the political world into a red team and a blue team. Where does a person belong when she sees not only shimmers of red in the blue and the blue in the red, but oranges, yellows, greens, and purples besides? One thing’s for sure: it will take courage for such a person to find—or keep—a political home.
For our issue on non/conformity, we have the perfect book to feature: the story of a heretic.
You’ve got noteworthy abilities. Complex emotions. Acute perception. A tremendous capacity for nuance. And yet, you’re pulling yourself apart at the seams.
Sound like someone you know? Then you’ll want to read this interview with P. Susan Jackson of the Daimon Institute.
No one really likes the word “gifted.” Maybe it’s because we understand that we’re using honorific language to describe ourselves, and even in English, that’s gauche. Could there be neutral, or even humble, words for this thing we call giftedness?
If you want to make it as a metaphorical overexcitable astronaut, you’ve got to learn to read your instrument panel. That’s what autopsychotherapy is for.
What does it mean to be “overexcitable?” Where are we most likely to find these people? And why is it an important part of the experience of positive disintegration? Third Factor’s editors offer a basic introduction to Dabrowski’s overexcitabilities.
If you’ve ever said “Oh, I wish I could meditate, but my mind’s just too active,” then this article’s for you. We sat down with Kate Arms, an experienced meditator and life coach, to discuss how meditation can be helpful to those with overexcitability.
