What are your gifts?
Can you list them?
When we know what we want in life, when we know where we are going, it is very easy to go out and get it, or to go to that destination.
Until we know what we want or where we are going, then anything or anywhere is good enough.
Children often excel at getting what they want and going where they want because they have no filters. Ask a child where they would like to go for lunch and they will tell you instantly. The cost of the meal and the challenge of getting there is of no consequence to them, they want to go to that specific place, and often know precisely what they want to eat.
Ask a child pretty much anything and they can give you an answer... their answer may not conform to our logic, and their answer may have no reason behind it that we can figure, yet they know what they want and they know where they want to go. They see no obstacles. Just find the way to get there. Why can't we do that when we get older? Life would be so much simpler, yet we complicate it. We introduce obstacles and we forget that unbounded optimism of childhood and exchange if for the complexity of adult sophistication. We construct complex filters of our own making through which we view life and further complicate the simple.
When we as adults observe children we are able to spot their talent instantly, we say, "that child is so talented at such and such", how do we come to that conclusion? We are able to observe and comment simply because in observing children we let go of our filters and we are able to pick out the thing that they are doing that at that moment displays their talent, or their gift.
One child can throw or catch a ball, or sing, or play an instrument, or has a gift for numbers and calculations and we instantly begin to identify this child as talented.
What if we can recapture that wonder, that simplicity of the young and once again view ourselves as the gifted and talented person that we really are.
As I have thought about this over the past few years I have concluded that there are several ways to prompt adults to view their gifts, that can uncover them and even help them to refine and grow using them.
GIFTS - Genius, Innate, Fulfillment, Talent, Skills = GIFTS
Genius - this is our spirit or specific power that we demonstrate in a unique way... it is original, exceptional, or a particular insightful way of doing or being that defines our most wonderful gift. The part that makes us who we truly are.
Innate - these are our character and personality that are from our birth, and early years. These are gifts that we do not have to think about to engage, they are just who we are. One person picks up a guitar and strums it, another picks up the exact same guitar, but can produce no recognizable tune. One has an innate musical ability, the other not so much.
Fulfillment - these are the gifts of kindness and outwardness. These are gifts that flow from you to others, they are relational, the ability to build and connect with others in authentic and genuine ways without effort, the ability to give to others, to contribute to the lives of others in material or spiritual ways.
Talent - a gift acquired, sometimes over time, that becomes our talent. Our guitarist desires to play and learns and over time becomes a talented player. A fast runner becomes an athlete, a great hand eye ball coordinated person becomes a sportsplayer, Those with mental abilities stretch their minds in ways that make others marvel, their natural becomes their talent.
Skills can become gifts. Once we are skilled at something we know reflexively how to do it. Our skill becomes a gift that we may share with others and that we may use to grow our own value. Skills used well generate wealth. As we find the path towards using our skills we find the reward for our gifts increase.
GIFTS are an intrinsic part of every human being. They are woven into every fiber of who we are and to know them, understand them and then use them expands our value to ourselves and to others.
Take the time to sit down and inventory your gifts. Think about them and then finally, determine to grow them and use them to become more valuable as you add value.