Have you a "rain forest mind"?

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Over the past few months I've spent some time reading blog posts made by Paula Prober, a counsellor working mostly with gifted individuals in Oregon (I thought this was just a brand of chainsaw equipment prior to reading her blog, haha)

Her description of the rainforest mind is:
I use the metaphor of the rain forest to describe this [rainforest minded] population. Like the rain forest, these individuals are quite complex, highly sensitive, intense, multi-layered, and misunderstood. They're also curious, idealistic, highly intelligent, creative, perfectionistic, and they love learning.

After doing a bit more searching on her blog, I've found that a lot of the articles are very relatable. I wouldn't consider myself to be excessively sensitive, but most of the other points raised there ring true. Especially this one... yep, this is me.

So, folks, I invite you to check out the quiz (it's not hard to find), and see whether or not you have a rain forest mind.

As usual I never fit in just right and walk the line lol I scored an 11 on her quiz.

She and her ideas seem pretty interesting though. I may take some time later to sift through her blog

She's giving off strong Ayn Rand vibes, but she's interesting. I'll have to read through her blog a bit more to figure out exactly how I feel about her ideas, but I don't think the quiz is applicable to me. It's too poetic - imprecise. I can't answer most of the questions confidently.

This is most relatable of these questions.


No and no.


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I am overall quite wary of someone trying to make people feel special and also selling them a book lol. At least all gifted talents and whatnots die in the end like everyone else. You can't even say "no, I'm not" because according to this that, too, means "yes, you are".

I sense that this is a good description of the "autistic mind"---some which is redundant, and not "pared away"-- but with much substance, nevertheless.

This is a reflection of the Courchesne Theory of autism. Wherein some substance which becomes "obsolete and redundant" to most people remains within the "autistic mind."

I wonder if these people she's worked with have been officially diagnosed or not. Have to look into Courchesne Theory. What's the jist of it?

Lol, so me.

Me too. I took the quiz I only answered no to two questions

Am more of a temperate zone, broadleaf deciduous forest, myself. Not quite a tropical rainforest.

Basically, Courchesne (circa 2001), stated that the brains of autistic people grow at an accelerated rate in the first 18 months to 2 years of life. He stated that some of this rapid growth was caused by the lack of a "filter" which dispenses with "redundant" input. Hence, there is an "overflow" of impulses/information. Hence, the autism.

Related, perhaps, to the "Intense World" theory of autism.

It is true that at least some children with autism regressed between ages 18 months and 2 1/2 years. They lose whatever language and social skills they obtained before they were 18 months of age or so. Sometimes, the language and social skills are restored---sometimes, they are restored much more slowly than what is optimal.

Thirteen questions matched me, so yes I have a "rain forest mind".

Well...they say that its been discovered that the brains of autistics fail to "trim their synapses". Brain cells keep on branching and get trimmed into a nice of row hedges. So maybe autistics have literally forest type brains, and that causes a foresty type of mind.

Yes, it appears that I have a rainforest mind like others here have mentioned previously. There was only one or possibly two of the questions that did not fit me well.

Yes: 9

Kind of: 7

Occasionally: 2

No: 4

I don’t know: 2

Uh...no, because they’re the same. I’m surrounded by nerds. They’d probably ask me what else is new. Frankly, they’d find it weird if this wasn’t the case. My friends already find it odd how easily I crush on someone. Although I’ve yet to ever properly fall in love.

Or are we talking admiration? I’ve certainly obsessed about people before. They also find that weird. I’ve written essays about particular performers and YouTubers. Don’t ask me why... sometimes the interest just pops up, I write a few thought pieces for a while, and then I move on. What if I fall in love with the idea of a person? I become fascinated with their body language and how they think, but don’t actually love them? Analysing their music videos, the alter egos they create...that kind of thing. Does that come under being in love with an idea?



I don’t drive nor live in L.A. Maybe this is supposed to be some kind of a metaphor? I’ll just file this one under no.



The first one, yes. Not so much the second one…



Yeah, I’m not gifted. I have talents, but I wouldn’t go as far as gifted or whatever.

You know what. I'll go and ask Paula what she thinks the differences are between a rainforest mind and that of an autistic mind. Her description seems most similar to that of "female autism", or possibly that of Asperger's.

Where´s the quizz? i think the statements are too difficult to answer to.