The description of giftedness is often filtered through the standards of the average, which makes the original, higher perspective and inner experience of gifted individuals barely visible.

Characteristics of Giftedness

When you search online for characteristics of giftedness, you’ll come across descriptions such as quick thinking, strong analytical skills, and broad interests. These lists often continue with traits like complex thinking, good memory, problem-solving abilities, creativity and originality, linguistic talent, a high degree of empathy, intensity of experience, idealism, a strong sense of justice, sensitivity to stimuli, occasional conflicts with peers, concern about social and political issues, curiosity, eagerness to learn, high energy, multitasking, wide-ranging interests, a sense of humor, creating new things, independent thinking, early maturity, accelerated development, asynchronous development, fast learning pace, big cognitive leaps, strong knowledge application, good memory, analytical insight and problem-solving skills, creativity and originality, and thinking outside the box.

Alongside these presumed advantages, challenges are also described: underachievement, feeling misunderstood, adapting to others and losing one’s authenticity, feelings of frustration or isolation, difficulties with peers or functioning in groups, sensitivity to stimuli and excessive noise, intense emotional experiences and worry, boredom in school due to a lack of new challenges, fear of failure, concentration problems, and fluctuating academic performance. For adults, this often expands into difficulties such as finding a compatible partner or social circle, feeling misunderstood at work, or experiencing exclusion and belittlement.

Although such lists are undoubtedly accurate to some extent and the characteristics vary from person to person, they lack a deeper layer that is rarely acknowledged. Moreover, behaviors of gifted children and gifted adults are often misinterpreted as problems, while in reality they are expressions of a different way of perceiving and functioning. In what follows, I will outline my perspective, which I have introduced in an earlier article and expand on here.

Haracteristics of Giftedness from the Perspective of an Eagle

The most common descriptions of giftedness are based on classification systems and interpretations that stem from the way average-gifted people think. The idea that intelligence can be reliably measured through an IQ test is one such example. It is no coincidence that the validity of testing for giftedness is widely challenged worldwide: intelligence cannot be measured by an IQ test, and such a test captures only a fraction of something that is itself based on the worldview of the average population. The belief that intelligence can be quantified is an idea held by people who do not grasp the vastness of the human mind.

Truly intelligent people do not need tests. They know and they feel who they are, or who they are dealing with. Without proof. How is that possible? Because they relate to the world from a different level of consciousness. This ability to perceive and understand without evidence is one of the first, and rarely mentioned, characteristics of giftedness.

I believe we can state that if someone is not gifted or exceptionally gifted themselves, they can only imagine what it might be like. Some may object, insisting they do understand, because they have studied the topic extensively or completed relevant training. But the perspective of an eagle is fundamentally different from that of a tiger, a chicken or a rabbit.

In other words: you cannot see – cannot perceive through senses you do not possess. Without a refined perceptual system, a rich network of neural connections, and an extremely sensitive nervous system, one experiences reality in an entirely different way.

It becomes even more complex when you realise that many gifted people can no longer perceive from their original level of consciousness, because they have adapted far too much. To such an extent that they often no longer recognise it themselves. They can no longer remember their blueprint or their true purpose here. They have been conditioned and live in fear.

This shows up as resistance, strong reactions, criticism, belittling or correcting others, seeing their own opinion as absolute, being defensive, overly perfectionistic, falling into victimhood (feeling misunderstood and expecting that), projecting their wounds, cultivating shortcomings as character traits, justifying their behaviour, and more. These are characteristics of wounded adults who are not living in alignment with their core, but instead mould themselves to the average in an attempt to belong — while that very desire widens the gap between their true self and their adapted self.

Real connection can only arise when the gifted person sees through their conditioning and fears, and begins to feel again what giftedness truly means.

A gifted adult can only truly feel what it means to be gifted once they return to themselves and clearly, fearlessly see through their conditioning.

Gifted individuals have an infinite potential to connect with all that is, and to draw on that energy for themselves and others. Universal energy is the energy of love — which is also the energy of creation. It is one and the same. Due to their highly refined nervous system, gifted people can feel deeply and translate this input into daily perception. In other words, they are able to transform and materialise universal energy. Their imagination can become their reality. Their fluidity can take tangible form. Their ideas can be developed. And all of that is done intentionally, consciously, and autonomously.

Gifted Does Not Always Equal Intelligent

The essence of giftedness lies in the invisible, and it is understood only by those who live from their original level of consciousness. Many people react strongly to the idea that the invisible is what matters most, because they grew up believing that only what is measurable and provable exists or has value. But this is a ground-level perspective — one that belongs to the domain of the average person and fails to recognise the mystical dimension of giftedness.

I am fully aware that there are enormous differences in levels of consciousness even within the group of gifted individuals. Those who are truly intelligent understand this and do not try to force others into their own mental framework.

Fluidity as a Characteristic of Giftedness

Another fundamental characteristic of giftedness is fluidity: the ability to recognise and respect the value of others, the understanding that humanity and life take on countless forms, and the awareness that knowledge is never complete — that the unknown will always remain. Fluidity is an intelligent presence without the need for proof or validation. The capacity for fluidity is a form of intelligent presence.

Unconditional Love Is Intelligence

Unconditional love forms the foundation of true intelligence. Only the most intelligent individuals can genuinely feel and understand natural wisdom and unconditionality. This requires an infinite mind, one that carries the responsibility to live with compassion and kindness, without interference or imposing personal beliefs (two other traits of wounded gifted individuals). Those who embody the energy of unconditional love experience calm and lightness, because they know they possess the inner capacity to carry anything that arises. This is the intelligence of the heart.

In summary, I come to the following characteristics of giftedness:

Being born with a higher level of consciousness
Top-down perception — meaning perceiving from one’s own level of consciousness. Its shadow is being conditioned and no longer sensing one’s core
Spiritual intelligence — present in all exceptionally gifted people
Infinite potential for connection with all that exists
Capacity to perceive and understand the mystical
Capacity for fluidity
Capacity to embody and share unconditional love
Embracing and living the intelligence of the heart

If you feel the need to explore yourself more deeply — your potential and what is possible beyond the average — feel free to look around on my website. I offer live gatherings, online courses, one-on-one options, free resources and more.

Characteristics of giftedness