Mar 20, 2010

Everyone is gifted

Several times in life when we look around ourselves, we are struck by the dazzling success of people who seem to be exceptionally gifted.
-Yukiroad- Flowers Collection

Such people reach dizzying heights in their chosen field, be it in the field of sports, entertainment, science, or business. These people are spread across all the fields and they create new definitions of achievement and success in their fields. They constantly keep reinventing themselves, moving from one success to another.

At such times we wonder if these people are exceptionally gifted, or they have special blessings of God, or they have been created by nature differently from a common or average person. We often believe that everyone is not so gifted and there the matter ends for most of us.





However friends, it is far from true. Nature has gifted everyone with something special. However, only few amongst us seem to recognize this gift and fewer still open these gifts and use them. So why does this happen, and how can we recognize our gifts, and create an exceptional experience of living our lives?


Well friends, the only thing that has ruined our ability to recognize our gift is “comparison.” Why is it so? This is because the moment we start comparing ourselves with others we find that there is someone out there in that field who is better than us and then that stops us from seeing what “we” have. This act in itself makes us put a lock on our potential or our gift forever and we say to ourselves” I don’t have it in me.”

Friends just imagine if a seed would have seen a 100 year old giant tree and thought I am so small in comparison to this tree that I seem to have no potential to grow, then it would have withered and would never have become a tree. In that case it would have escaped the fact that 100 years back what looks like a gigantic tree now was also a small seed just like itself. Thankfully, the seeds don’t think.

So the point here is that the moment we ignore our gift, we leave the pursuit of cultivating it and the fact is that all gifts need to be cultivated, developed, and nurtured like all seeds need to be nurtured if they have to grow into a big gigantic tree, and give fruits, and shadow to all, and be a home to many birds and life forms.

Every one of us is always given a special talent and if you just focus on what you have and keep working, learning, and improving in that direction then one day a small little talent would have become a huge talent, which will attract success, adulation, and wealth as well. Every gigantic talent today was once an aspiring but believing potential that consistently worked towards improving itself. So they are just the individuals who have commenced the journey of becoming a tree from a seed recognizing their potential to grow in their chosen fields and believing in it. The rest of us have simply discarded our gifts and are not nurturing them and our gifts are lying unused, unexplored inside us.

Now the question is why are we comparing ourselves with other grown giants? What is making us do this? The only reason why we are doing this is because we are asking a potentially damaging question regarding our gift and that question is “what is the benefit of my gift to me?” Friends, just imagine if the great Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar would have asked this question what is the benefit of my playing cricket or Leonardo da Vinci would have thought what is the benefit of my painting? There would be no wonderful innings for the world to enjoy and there would we no “Mona Lisa” either. Fortunately for the rest of the world they did not ask this question. They simply saw that they have a gift, they liked it and they started nurturing it, giving it full expression.

The world always finds out meaning in our gifts as no gift is given by the nature in its infinite wisdom that has no use for someone out there in the world. Seeing someone play brilliant strokes can bring joy to many people or seeing a wonderful painting can enchant some people’s spirits, or someone’s business idea or invention can change the way the world lives like that of Bill Gates’ or Thomas Edison’s. No gift comes without its benefits for you as well as for others.

The important task is to recognize the investment before calculating the profit, as no profit comes without investment. All those who are profiting from their gifts are the ones who have first invested their time and energy in cultivating these gifts. It is only when we fail to recognize the investments that have been made before the profits are generated that we start viewing our small gifts lacking the potential of bringing big profits. This makes us discard our gifts as useless and we never develop them. Also, with this mindset one completely misses the opportunity of experiencing great joy that can be experienced only by nurturing ones talent and gifts, which is absolutely priceless. Also, if your gift is a source of joy for you, it will be a source of joy for others as well and therefore there will always be people needing your gift in this world.

So friends no matter where you live and what you do, you must start cultivating your gift, as one day it will grow into a gigantic talent and you will really enjoy the results. To do this you need to take the following steps:

1. Identify your gift without comparing it with what others have got.

2. Make a plan to nurture it.

3. Start nurturing and enjoy the process.

I wish all my readers deep inner joy and success at every step of finding and nurturing their gifts.

14 comments:

  1. Awesome ...A very profound thought .... which is so true....

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  2. Superb neaten, spirit exalting, thought provoking contemplation !

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  3. Everyone is gifted .
    Agree!! Its only a matter of how we deal and appreciated our own talent. A fear of sucsess is another problem..it did happen :)

    My new drawing - Insatiable (V2)

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  4. Pratishtha-Inspired by your wonderful post, I wrote this new aphorism:

    "A crocus seems insignificantly small next to an oak tree, but it is just as much a marvel of nature."

    I agree with you absolutely. Comparison is an impediment not only to developing our talents, but to our happiness as well. We're all individuals, and we each bring our own unique gifts to the table.

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  5. I really feel inspired by your post as it reminds me that few months ago, I was still a prisoner of my own limits. However, when I escaped the jail I created, I finally discovered a way to express my talents. It's really a Joyful path.
    Thanks for sharing paths to inner freedom.

    Steve

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  6. Great post. I agree. We must nurture our gifts so that they continue to grow and touch the lives of those around us. I believe that our gifts should be a gift unto others as well. Thank you for sharing. Blessings!

    Dexter(QuoteGuy)

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  7. Very enlightening! Comparison surely pulls us back then pushes us into progress. Often time when people compare with the greatness that others had achieved, they look only at the result and forget how hard others must have worked to achieve that result. Just as the saying, "Rome was not built in a day." The question thus is not if they have the talent or special gift but if they are willing to work even harder to if just as hard to achieve what they want.

    In a previous post I did on 'Achieving Greatness is for You and I' I had mentioned about a report on CNN that stated hard work and a lot of it is the key to greatness.

    Sharing a quotes by Samuel Jackson, "What we hope ever to do with ease, we must learn first to do with diligence."

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  8. Thank you all for your wonderful and insightful comments.
    Fazrul:A fear of success!! you gave me an idea to ponder over. I will check your latest drawing.
    NothingProfound: "A crocus seems insignificantly small next to an oak tree, but it is just as much a marvel of nature."
    Brilliant. You bring so much joy with your words,I really love your work.
    Steve:Your choice is an inspiration for everyone Steve. We move the universe in the right direction when we make such brilliant choices.
    Dexter:Thanks for your blessings. They really count.
    BK: Thanks for sharing the beautiful quote, it's been brilliantly put. I will check out your post on this topic.

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  9. Hi!

    Thanks for visiting my blog-Lifetime Learning. I find your blog very good. I liked the analogy of the seed looking at the full grown tree.

    Many a times parents do not encourage children to explore various areas before settling on a career. A child should be encouraged to try out various things such as music, photography, painting drawing---. We never know where the talent will reside.

    Muralidharan Jayaram

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  10. Great article, great explanation. We must nurture our strengths and treat it as gift of god and use it to progress in our lives.

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  11. This is so well written. I like how you've laid out the path to refocusing oneself in positive and productive directions. I'm bookmarking this to reread!

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  12. Great read, nothing wasted, all words penetrate the soul. You really write with that singular impact very few possess. Love it here.

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  13. Entirely agree on that! We are all gifted and if we are not able to see it, we just need to learn! Like in Nature, everything is beautiful and profound there.

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