19. As a gifted adult it is important to find your “why”! Meet Ben Koch

Mar 29

Ben Koch am an entrepreneur, educator, coach, healer, and mindfulness expert with 20 years of meditation experience. As co-founder and CEO of an education company based in Dallas, he has sought for ways to merge his role in the educational revolution with his passion for self-development, healing modalities, and practices that help one find and align with their deeper life purpose (IKIGAI).

On The New Minds Podcast, he has real, inspired conversations with thinkers, authors, and passion-driven humans working in their own way to improve the world with big ideas and purposeful actions.

TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree: gifted adults -> gifted kids
Gifted ed teachers usually get into this field because they can relate to the gifted kids experiences
The label “gifted” doesn’t matter as much, it’s the characteristics and the unique needs which are important
A lot of gifted kids slip through the cracks of being identified in childhood
Gifted children and adults feel and process differently
Indicators of being gifted (but not exclusively):
- Feeling a little bit out of whack with mainstream thinking
- Not feeling comfortable in traditional scripted conversations
- Feeling like you have to hold back your authentic self in fear to provoke or how out of place it might feel
- Fear of your thoughts, intuitions and deep emotional sensitivities
- Giftedness in one word: Intensity! Emotional, intellectual and/or spiritual intensity
There is a cultural meme that giftedness equals academic achievement
The mean stereotype of gifted = nerdiness
Don’t try to box giftedness in terms of this traditional idea of these hard subjects like math and science
Traditional IQ tests measure 2 types of intelligences: verbal intelligence and quantitative intelligence
Some IQ tests measure in addition non verbal visual-spacial intelligence
Ambivert is the term used to describe someone who is sometimes introverted, sometimes extroverted depending on the situation
Gifted kids, as well as gifted adults, need intellectual peers / idea peers because of their asynchronous development
Asynchronicity is a sign of giftedness
Gifted knows gifted: There is a sense of acceptance, of acknowledgment and a feeling of belonging and “being home” as we can mirror each other
Profoundly gifted kids (and adults) have extremely unique needs
The importance for gifted people is to find and live a life of purpose!
IKIGAI means “reason for being”
Finding your IKIGAI takes inner work and is a lifelong process
Create a purpose statement and list your why, what and how
Meditation and mindfulness is a powerful tool for the gifted
Gifted people can see the wrongs, the hypocrisy in the world, the injustices and can get overwhelmed by it
The psychological, neurological and physiological benefit of mindfulness practise has been documented with scientific research
Ben’s why is to inspire conscious transformation in others
It is important for gifted adult to have self compassion and self empathy