Building one’s personality is a difficult, delicate task. It requires perseverance, discernment, and the skill of architects who knew how to build prodigious cathedrals.
For this patient elaboration to remain effective, it is preferable to choose each stone carefully. The very first impressions already leave their mark: the colors, the smells, the surrounding landscapes are imposed data. They model a first base which will serve as a bottom layer, often imprinted in the unconscious and they resurface thanks to a thorough introspection, in analysis for example, when certain reactions seemed inexplicable. It is an inexhaustible source of keys to self-reading.
The importance of reading
Very quickly, the gifted child chooses his own building materials, with a preference for those that allow the imagination to express itself. Reading becomes his favorite activity: it does not require much material. You can take a book with you everywhere, and for those around you, it’s a reservoir of countless gifts, which you’re sure will always please. Everyone meets there. The imagination created by reading is limitless. When the child is bored in his daily life and he is alone, or isolated, the universe evoked by his book turns out to be more real than the tedious reality. The heroes of the stories become his friends and even acquire a certain presence. They inspire the gifted child to create a double, faithful and constant. We can share all the ideas that come to mind, discuss them, advance in our reasoning, supported by this invisible and quickly indispensable presence. In the construction of the personality the exchange is fundamental, it is not at all the same when it comes to that, necessarily hierarchized in a certain way, between adults and children. The vision of children is different, it also brings unexpected insights to adults, but the exchange between children takes place at equal height in the approach to a situation.
“Friendship, unequaled comfort”
It is between them that they establish relationships between events through the filter of their own vision. With adults there always remains the fear, more or less conscious and more or less lively, of appearing terribly naive and ignorant in front of an adult, even benevolent and affectionate and of whom one can be sure that he will not be mocking or contemptuous, but we do not always want to necessarily occupy the place of the innocent. Walking at the same pace, with words referring to exactly identical concepts, makes it possible to develop a more daring thought, no one occupying the place of the one who knows. The children then have the feeling of exploring together universes inspired by literature but also, in a more subtle way, by a philosophy already present in their minds. To travel fearlessly through such unknown and mysterious domains, friendship provides unequaled comfort. Groping in search of risky concepts is more reassuring when there are several of you, otherwise there is a great risk of being dizzy when faced with ideas whose sequence is beyond your control. These shrewd children are afraid of embarrassing their parents if they ask questions touching on perilous areas: life, death, God. Moreover, these questions will be formulated with the characteristic awkwardness of children when they address adults in search of a precise answer. They want to be sure they are understood. This is when the exact words slip away and they formulate their question with a charming naivety, far from reflecting their metaphysical questions.
Compare experiences
In the company of peers, children can compare their experiences and build, stone by stone, the adult they will become. Later, they will remember these seemingly banal conversations. But they are the ones who have contributed to forging their personality in the way of arranging the knowledge acquired in class, of organizing their knowledge so that the enrichment they provide is lasting, then of speculating on perhaps crazy hypotheses. , perhaps unusual. They weave in their own way what they learn, what they discover for themselves, the ideas that come to them and also the fragments of the universes evoked in the books. Friends read the same books, their heroes are relatives, they serve as references. They inhabit a world that becomes familiar to readers. They inspire an attraction for certain countries, certain professions, certain ways of being and above all they nourish dreams. It is in the company of reliable friends that one can indulge in daydreams which will become essential parts of the personality, once passed through the sieve of reality, but will remain a trace subtly tinting this adult personality.
Let your imagination run wild
Between the friends a space is formed from which the most absurd ideas can emerge without anyone thinking of criticizing them; between friends, it is allowed to let your imagination run free, but also to comment on the news of their daily life, if they feel the need. In this closed space formed by a circle of friends, ideas can form and flourish without risk. They will only come out if they are deemed presentable and interesting to discuss with adults who will bring their knowledge and experience. These close friends will help each other growto draw a personality under the gaze of others, perhaps applying themselves to attenuate aspects which have earned them criticism, but also to reveal gifts thanks to the encouragement of their peers. These friendships give more depth to the personality, they leave a memory that can cross a darker period in a joyful flash. From Georges Brassens to Stephen King, this quality of friendship has been celebrated with talent, because it is precious. Not everything can be idyllic: there are disputes, betrayals, heartbreaks, especially in adolescence when the vagaries of the heart get involved. But the construction remains solid because even if they lose sight of each other, these friends can then cross paths in a fortuitous and apparently miraculous way, and it is an inexhaustible source of novels.
Advice: do your best to promote these friendships: they are rare, which is why you can look for equally gifted children, thanks to associations for example. They organize meetings and activities for the children of members. If the geographical situation does not allow it, think about themed colonies: when they are well chosen, the children find each other easily. Be careful all the same: it is not enough to be gifted to become a true friend – perverts were children too – but taking advantage of every opportunity for similar people to find each other allows you to offer your children a source of happiness.