Dale Webb – Indigo Children – Children with high functioning low latent inhibition?
The topic of Indigo children has become a recent fascination of mine after having seen some information regarding them during a few conversations with other people who have low latent inhibition. I had never come across this topic before but the second I started reading about it I had what felt like one of those light bulb moments (one of those tunnel vision moments that happen with LLI where at that moment in time, nothing else matters except making sure you go into the greatest depth possible regarding your area of interest). I then spent quite some time reading into all of the different traits, characteristics and associations that have been made in relation to indigo children but I couldn’t find anything solid that stated WHY they are how they are or why they can do the things they can do.
Back when I was 6-7 years old my parents took me to see a child psychologist, mainly due to the fact that I was being very disruptive in classes at school, would get wound up and frustrated incredibly often and easily and would then end up getting in trouble with the teachers for my behaviour, or getting into fights with other pupils (these fights would occur when I felt that other pupils who were being picked on needed my help to stop the injustice being done). The weird thing was that despite all of the above, I was regularly achieving the highest marks in classes, finishing all my work first before anybody else, I had many friends, was very sensitive regarding feeling and emotions and had an extreme sense of justice. I ended up moving schools at a young age because of how I didn’t ever seem to ‘fit in’ like normal children, but there was never a clear reason why. After having been to see the child psychologist they basically told my parents that I was ‘gifted’, was very intelligent but that maybe I had ADHD or that I was possibly somewhere on the autism spectrum. They could not give a clear answer and so the mystery continued until at 24 I finally found out about low latent inhibition.
Due to my nature (and I imagine my LLI is a huge part of this), I cannot ever stop looking into something until I have the answer I seek. I will relentlessly pursue something until I feel I have reached a satisfactory outcome or gained the correct amount of knowledge that I feel I require. Due to the fact that the last few years I have been looking into all aspects, effects, traits and characteristics of low latent inhibition among an ever increasing number of people, I have come to realise that my low latent inhibition is definitely responsible for the way I was when I was a child as well as the way I am now. This got me thinking…………going by everything I have read then I would definitely have been an ‘indigo child’ myself, yet if the term ‘Indigo Child’ is the label for something, could that something actually be ‘high functioning children who are the way they are because they have low latent inhibition’?
Here is some information about indigo children taken from http://www.2012-spiritual-growth-prophecies.com/indigo-child.html
The Indigo Child and how to recognise one
The indigo child is here to bring us closer to our true essence. We think our minds are separate because of our bodies. These children know differently. A true indigo travels comfortably between worlds usually at night when we think they’re asleep.
Our thoughts and feelings are not our own. The truth is, we have forgotten who we are and how our minds are connected to each other. Indigo children remember and have an inner knowing that far exceeds our psychic abilities.
Having said this. Not all children born since about 1980 are indigos. Many brought major challenges from previous lifetimes they’re still working through. But, once the lessons are learned and the patterns forgiven, they will join the ranks of the cosmic caring indigo.
“The intricate inner workings of our DNA are changing…Brain-wave relationships are spontaneously moving into higher vibrational patterning as the electromagnetic fields within our DNA. Because of this, our brains are working together as cohesive units of consciousness. That means humanity is becoming more aware and moving toward becoming sentient beings – aware of everything all at once all of the time.” Conversations with the Children of Now, Meg Blackburn Losey
Where did the term Indigo Child come from?
Nancy Ann Tappe, a teacher and counsellor, studied the human auric field, otherwise known as their electromagnetic field. The field surrounds every living thing. She even wrote a book about it called “Understanding Your Life Through Colour.”
Through colours in the aura, she instituted a shockingly accurate and revealing way to psychologically profile a person using her new auric colour method. The signs of an indigo child actually began even as early as in the 1950s with a few people. What she noticed was that 80 percent of the children born after 1980 had a new deep blue coloured auric field. She called this new colour “indigo”.
The following sections in relation to behavioural patterns and characteristics is very interesting, I imagine that anyone who believes they have low latent inhibition will have experienced nearly all of the following:
What are the behavioural patterns of Indigos?
- They are born feeling and knowing they are special and should be revered.
- An indigo knows they belong here as they are and expect you to realize it as well.
- These children are more confident and have a higher sense of self-worth.
- Absolute authority, the kind with no choices, negotiation, or input from them does not sit well. The educational system is a good example.
- Some of the rules we so carefully followed as children seem silly to them and they fight them.
- Rigid ritualistic systems are considered archaic to an indigo child. They feel everything should be given creative thought.
- They are insightful and often have a better idea of method then what has been in place for years. This makes them seem like “system busters.”
- Adults often view an indigo as anti-social unless they are with other indigos. Often they feel lost and misunderstood, which causes them to go within.
- The old control methods like, “Wait till your father gets home,” have no effect on these children.
- The fulfilment of their personal needs is important to them, and they will let you know.
Are you or your children Indigo?
These are the characteristics of an indigo as stated in The Care and Feeding of Your Indigo Child:
- Strong willed
- Born in 1978 or later
- Headstrong
- Creative, with an artistic flair for music, jewellery making, poetry, etc.
- Prone to addictions
- An “old soul” as if they’re 13 going on 43
- Intuitive or psychic, possibly with a history of seeing angels or deceased people
- An isolationist, either through aggressive acting-out, or through fragile introversion
- Independent and proud, even if they’re constantly asking you for money
- Possess a deep desire to help the world in a big way
- Wavers between low self-esteem and grandiosity
- Bores easily
- Has probably been diagnosed as having ADD or ADHD
- Prone to insomnia, restless sleep, nightmares, or difficulty/fear of falling asleep
- Has a history of depression, or even suicidal thoughts or attempts
- Looks for real, deep, and lasting friendships
- Easily bonds with plants or animals.
I would now like to offer my own personal explanations as to WHY I believe each of the characteristics in the second grouping exist, in relation to low latent inhibition.
- Strong willed – This is often due to the fact that people with low latent inhibition have an incredibly strong and accurate intuition which has been based on the sheer volume of stimuli that their brains have recognised and processed within their environment. If you imagine that there have been 500 forms of contributing stimuli that have been taken into account when making an intuitive decision, knowing that people without low latent inhibition will have had far less stimuli to take into consideration (say for examples sake 50-100) when making their decision or giving their opinion, people with low latent inhibition will really dig in deep in terms of keeping their own decision/opinion or piece of intuition right up there as something to be highly regarded. This usually however comes across as arrogance to people with LLI.
- This is one of the things that I have yet to figure out – WHY the year 1978 in particular? There must be a reason, a connection to be made in terms of why it’s 1978 or later specifically when indigo children are believed to have been born? I have currently been trying to research into whether there was any particular piece of scientific or psychological technology released in 1977, 1978 or 1979 that would inadvertently help to highlight the existence of low latent inhibition. OR, were there any writings published during those years that somehow raised awareness as to the traits that come with low latent inhibition? There is a link to the Wikipedia page for 1978 located HERE if anyone cares to have a go!
- Pretty much the same reasons as number 1, those with low latent inhibition often know that they are ‘absorbing’ so much more of what goes on around them than people without low latent inhibition so they can often through no fault of their own find it quite hard to consider the opinions or feelings of others, or to dismiss them far too quickly.
- This is one of the classic low latent inhibition traits, creativity. Seeing connections everywhere no matter how loose those connections or associations may be. A great way of spotting this is whether you’ve ever noticed that you mind tends to associate sounds with smells, sights with sounds, taste with smells etc. in a much more eccentric or ‘all over the place’ way than other people around you. Even those who have schizophrenia, psychosis or are on the autism spectrum are usually extremely creative – many believe this is because they also have low latent inhibition, but they usually aren’t able to cope with it (or with the constant extreme load of stimuli their brains must handle). That is often why people on the autism spectrum find solace in regular routine, lack of change and when experiencing repetitive stimuli.
- People with LLI are often prone to addictions in my opinion because an addiction or habit requires far less thought for your body to carry out the action or thinking required. It’s almost a form of relief for your brain to not have to think as much about doing something. If you’re having to put less thought into something as you do with an addiction, you are far less likely to keep going off on a new tangent of thought or to have your attention stolen while in the middle of a thought with some new stimuli you notice etc.
- This I believe is because of the enhanced perception, intuition, morals and sense of justice that come with LLI. Things that people usually require first-hand experience to become familiar with, don’t have to be physically experienced by many with low latent inhibition in order for them to reach the same level of accurate thought or efficiency. Of course it is your age that usually determines the number of experiences you have had thus far in life, which is why it may seem sometimes as though someone with LLI are ’13 going on 43′ or as I have so often been told ‘are wise beyond your years’.
- Now I would never say ‘nothing is impossible’ as I believe that with time anything is, yet I have to say I haven’t had any supernatural experiences in terms of seeing angels, or dead people or souls etc., however I have often had people ask me how I am able to know what they’re thinking, or how I knew what they were about to say before they said it etc. I have said many times that I believe some people with low latent inhibition are able to almost read people’s minds due to their sheer accuracy of ‘human thought association mapping’. This is something I am very much interested in as I believe it’s possible to think many sentences ahead in a conversation or to think many thoughts ahead of someone due to the associations they will make from the words used, or that it’s possible to effectively ‘back track’ WHY someone has said what they just have in terms of which thought they had in order for them to say what they did, and the thought before that etc. What I would say here is that I do know many ‘Indigo children’ have been told what their characteristics are or should be by other people at a young age. They have usually always had to have prior knowledge of what they SHOULD expect to see or happen etc. if they are an ‘Indigo child’ as they have been told. E.g. ‘you are an indigo child therefore you can expect to experience some supernatural goings on or to even see angels etc.’ The seed is therefore sewn for many childs imaginations to run wild with. I would be interested to know how many ‘Indigo children’ with no prior knowledge that they are an ‘Indigo child’ have experienced supernatural goings on.
- For most people with low latent inhibition life is extremely draining and can often leave them feeling as though they simply have no energy left at all or are extremely tired. This can be due to the physical implications of LLI such as lack of sleep or forgetting to eat because you get too involved maybe in something, the emotional implications such as being extremely empathetic towards others or having your mood constantly affected by those around you, or the mental exercise type lack of energy which is usually experienced shortly after concentrating all efforts on something in particular such as trying to solve a puzzle. A large number of other people I’ve spoken to with low latent inhibition seem to have a very useful ability to switch between introversion and extroversion in order to regain lost energy or as some put it, to ‘recharge’. In my personal experience I tend to isolate myself after large social interactions such as music gigs, parties, nights out on the town etc. as I feel I need to regain some energy lost due to multiple and increased interactions with others and the stimuli that comes with the people and the situations. As a small example, I know that in my house there will be fewer unpredictable forms of stimuli for my brain to process than in a stadium full of 80’000 people. Therefore I could regain energy in my home but lose energy at the stadium. While I was at the stadium with friends I may seem incredibly extroverted yet when I get back home to my girlfriend I may become extremely introverted for a short while.
- The terminology of that point listed is interesting, ‘independent and proud EVEN IF they are asking you for money’. For many people with LLI, things like money (material possessions) are actually responsible for confining a lot of people or restricting them so that they are unable to do things that others can. I imagine that many people with LLI would find asking a parent for money completely separate to feeling independent or proud. Baring in mind we are talking about children, I imagine most ‘Indigo children’ or children with LLI even as children, will have already come to accept the fact that they will logically have to ask their parents for funding until they are old enough to earn for themselves. I feel number 9 is a bit of a moot point.
- Often due to the increase in empathy felt by those with low latent inhibition. For many it is as though they are HSPs in terms of how they experience the world and the hurt or suffering around them. To break it down in terms easier to understand, people with LLI often play the role of a ‘rescuer’ or someone who wishes to right all wrongs, to save those who can’t save themselves etc. After all if those with LLI have a greatly enhanced attention to detail, can see the world around for how it is in terms of seeing through every lie, noticing all dishonest or manipulative interaction around them between human beings and can see all of the hurt in the world, they will in the end become far more attuned to it all. Noticing this sort of hurt or negativity around them could then affect their own mood so that’s one reason for wanting to ‘help the world in a big way’. The sense of justice that comes with it too would play a huge part here. The Wikipedia page for Highly Sensitive Person can be found HERE
- Totally down to the individuals personality type and other factors such as emotional intelligence. The Carl Jung test or Myers Briggs test can actually provide a great insight into the type of person you’d be in relation to this. The tests can be found HERE (Jung) and HERE (Myers Briggs).
- Another classic trait of low latent inhibition. It is very easy for those with LLI to become bored due mainly to lack of stimulation for their brain. Most tasks, puzzles etc. will be considered ‘too easy’ and as such will not provide enough of a challenge for the individual to feel tested or interested. Another reason for this is because of the extreme speed at which many with LLI can learn new subjects (FAR fewer hours than normal), they will often reach the point where they feel they ‘know enough to suffice’ far sooner than others may. It usually takes something rather spectacular for people with LLI to feel extreme passion or interest in, most things that excite people without LLI just don’t excite people with it. I have corresponded in the past with Professor Anders Ericsson who is responsible for publishing’s relating to expertise and cognitive structure of expert performance and I feel this is relevant. His Wikipedia page is found HERE.
- THE most common misdiagnoses for low latent inhibition itself and the diagnosis that at the age of 7 my parents were told was most likely for myself. It can be very hard to distinguish between LLI and ADHD but I feel the main difference is that people with ADHD have very similar type distractions to people with LLI, except with ADHD the amount of stimuli they are receptive to and therefore connections that they can make are at a reduced level in comparison to people with LLI. Those with ADHD usually do not share the same empathetic side or sensitive nature as those with LLI. The biggest difference that I have noticed is that those with ADHD can’t seem to ever become completely and utterly involved in a thought or a task without at some point becoming distracted, yet with LLI you can become so totally engrossed and engulfed in something that you aren’t receptive to people or goings on around you (maybe answering a question you’ve been asked 2-3 minutes after it was originally asked). I refer to this state usually as ‘reaching the calm in the storm’ or ‘eye of the tornado’.
- I could spend hours writing about this and one of the most common questions I have been asked the last couple of years usually are from people trying to find ways to actually sleep well with low latent inhibition. If you require more information here, please check the forum or the Facebook group as there have been many discussions there relating to this.
- I cannot speak from any personal experience relating to this even though I know very well a few who can. They have their own explanations but I feel that this really does depend on the individual and very heavily relies on environmental factors rather than just having LLI or being an ‘Indigo child’ or not. The most common theme here however has been loneliness and confusion, loneliness in that there really aren’t many others out there who can relate to you or see the world in the same way, and confusion because you’ve probably spent most of your life wondering why you’re so different and can do things that other people can’t. Huge amounts of anxiety can be experienced because of those things.
- & 17. Both of these rely heavily on the empathetic nature of low latent inhibition and the unspoken search to potentially find others out there who are like you, others maybe you can bond with in the same way who see the world through the same lens. Identifying with others who are very much alike can be important as it ensures that you’re not ‘lonely’ in terms of having nobody else out there who understands you or the way you work. That’s why it states on the Indigo children website above that they can often seem ‘antisocial unless in the company of other indigos’. In my opinion that’s because most friendships with people who don’t have low latent inhibition are friendships where they don’t truly know you, what you’re like or the way in which you work etc. They see the world in a totally different way, often missing so much they you might not. If your friends don’t have LLI you probably seem very overly enthusiastic towards things that mildly interest you in their eyes. The equivalent of someone with low latent inhibition being mildly interested in something is probably someone without low latent inhibition who is extremely passionate about that same something, and at the end of the day for many people it’s nice to know that the friends around you share the same passions you do!
So with the above and with all the reading and looking into Indigo children that I’ve done, combined with the fact that for the last two years I have been interacting with many people who’ve come to me with questions about LLI, or people who have been looking to find out if they have it or seek advice, (and even a small group of others with LLI similar to mine in terms of their abilities and traits etc.), I strongly believe that Indigo children are in fact children with low latent inhibition who are able to cope with the amount of stimuli they’re having to process and are as a result very high functioning and attuned to the world.
It’s a very interesting coincidence that that the Wikipedia page on Indigo children found HERE mentions both ‘the relationship to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder’ (most common misdiagnosis of LLI) and also ‘the relationship to autism’ (given that research seems to indicate that those with autism often have LLI but their brains can’t quite handle the load of stimuli they have to process, some predict that it’s IQ levels that dictate whether this is the case or not.
I also know some parents with low latent inhibition who have children also showing the exact same characteristics and traits as listed above in the case of Indigo children, and the parents all showed the same characteristics themselves. This in itself disproves the theory that it is in fact children born of 1978 or later that are indigo children, and that it’s more likely that these type children have been around for a long time. As is the case with so many discoveries, it seems as though technology or psychological knowledge had to ‘catch up’ with the traits exhibited by children before a connection could be made.
I would absolutely welcome and appreciate the thoughts and comments from anyone at all and please feel free to offer any ideas or theories off the back of what I’ve written above. I would be extremely interested to see what any diagnosed indigo children or parents of indigo children think in relation to the traits of low latent inhibition, and likewise what any with low latent inhibition think of the indigo children traits etc.
Please comment below and many thanks for your continued support!
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