Questions invite us to clarify our thinking. A “Why” question propels the reticular mind into finding answers even when we are no longer thinking about the question. Questions can lead to more questions. Good questions lead to answers. Powerful, incisive questions lead to powerful, insightful solutions.
What questions have been on your mind in recent weeks?
Your questions might be survival-based: How am I going to to pay the rent this month? They might be relational: How can I fix this relationship? Do I really love this person? Why is he/she doing this? What do I need to look at inside of me? They might be more philosophical: What’s actually going on in this situation or in the world? What’s my purpose? They might be existential: What’s the point?
What I have found, since starting the Alive Wire Wisdom Circle, is that when we ask a question in a safe group setting, we give space to receive answers from “the field”. We tap into a collective intelligence.
Last Sunday I asked the following question.
How can we use our skills and talents to create change?
Why is this important?
We don’t have natural talents just to sit on them. The Hero / Heroine goes on a journey, meets a mentor who helps hone some natural gifts. Then life gets hectic. Shit happens. The Hero is still in the game. He or she masters some ninja skills and then goes home – not to smoke a cigar or retire – but to share what he or she has learnt on their journey and to make a difference.
Exercising a natural ability makes us feel good. It brings us joy.
Using our natural abilities to create change (even in the smallest or subtlest of ways) aligns us to our greater purpose.
Things are changing. We are in a time of unravelling and transition. With robots and AI taking more jobs we may find ourselves facing a very different economic landscape. For all we know, our talents and gifts may become a currency and way of creating value in our communities way beyond the realities of our 9 – 5.
The message is this
Hone your gifts. Do what you love doing. Think about all those people who can’t do what you do so easily. Think of your talents as a talent exchange.
Discovering new talents over lockdown
I saw a burgeoning of creativity over the past few years.
I started “a gardening thing”, restoring my mum’s greenhouse, growing veggies from seed and developing a herb and lavender garden directly outside where she spend much time sitting, watching the world go by. It was amazing to see life emerging from this soil bed that I had lovingly prepared for each little seed. But oh my gosh the waiting, the waiting. Would these glorious little shoots EVER become the real thing? An ACTUAL carrot or beetroot? I realised I have the same attitude to a lot of my creations – especially my work. Impatience I think they call it! 
I will never forget a good friend’s comment to me in the early days of my earth exploration.
“Oh No!” she cried, “Not another friend lost to gardening!”
While my efforts bought joy to my mum I quickly realized gardening was not my thing. It certainly wasn’t a gift and my fingers were never going to turn green.
What are talents?
So let’s differentiate between qualities and character strengths, interests and hobbies, creative explorations, things you are good and talents or gifts.
What are talents?
This, by the way, is the LEAST interesting question! Just google “talents” for yourself and you are faced with innumerable lists and categories – enough to make Darwin drool 
. It’s amazing what people are talented at: bee keeping, juggling, divergent or convergent thinking, intuition, motherhood, leadership, creative arts, design, coding. The lists go on and on reflecting the breadth of our unique expression as human beings.
Talents are natural gifts and abilities.
It is likely that you are born with a natural talent – maybe even a few. This is not to say that it doesn’t take “work” to master a talent. It does. You’ll find you learn something that comes naturally quickly. There is far less resistance when actioning a natural talent than actioning a skill you need or want to develop in an area of challenge.
Basically, the motivation is there. You enjoy doing this thing. You get better, quicker.
Many people think that having talents or gifts is about being “gifted”. Not at all. I believe we all have talents. Some sadly, lie fallow. Take my mum, for example: in clearing her attic, after she passed last year, my sis and I came across a bunch of drawing books. Mum was really good at drawing. Fashion was her thing. But domestic life trumped and she never found or took the opportunity to nurture her talent.
Wouldn't it be great to be gifted? In fact... It turns out that choices lead to habits. Habits become talents. Talents are labeled gifts. You're not born this way, you get this way.
Seth Godin
What are you naturally good at?
Don’t ever think you don’t have a natural talent – because you do.
I like walking fast but don’t ask me to run. I’m not good at it and I don’t like it. Preferably don’t ask me to do anything that makes me go puse red in the face. I have good hand-to-eye co-ordination but I’ve never taken up tennis or squash. Too much running in small spaces 😉 Maybe ping-pong 😊 I am often told I am a good cook. I like entertaining but cooking itself is not a passion.
I also have some “fantasy talents”. Drama (or acting) is one of them. I once played a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz when I was 10 – sadly not quite enough to launch my career as an actress 😉. I love Kate Winslet but I will never be Kate Winslet. I can continue to indulge this “hidden talent fantasy” or I could join toastmasters or the local am-dram and have some fun.
Writing poetry or short stories is different. I experience inspiration and satisfaction. I do have a gift for this.
Don't waste your talents; don't hide your light
What are you naturally good at? What did you spend a lot of time doing as a kid? What do you have a passion for? There are clues in these questions to identifying your natural talent.
In the Bible, it says we should be “faithful stewards” of our God-given gifts. We are told we should not hide our light under a bushel.
Here’s the thing
Whether we believe our talents are God-given, or not, the message is clear: if you have a talent and you are not honing or using it – preferably for good – your talent is going to waste. We don’t want to get to our death beds knowing we wasted those talents.
A deeper dive ~ into the future
But there’s more to this.
Your gifts (creative energy) do not belong to you. They are not even part of you – you are a channel for your gifts.
This perspective is a balance to the narcissism that can arise with people becoming over-inflated about their talents. It can also help those who easily fall into the trap of false humility.
I believe our gifts are for sharing. This is generative. It stimulates creative flow.
For as long as we are not providing outlets for our talent we can feel stagnant and stuck. I am still sorting out my childhood stuff to become more solid in self-esteem. Constantly demanding validation and reassurance is going to hinder us sharing our gifts. No amount of external validation for our gifts will be enough if you haven’t given that basic approval to yourself.
If your gifts are dimmed your light is dimmed. Where your light is dimmed there is less life-force energy. Creativity flows from this well-spring. So the trick is to connect to your inner light and gifts without over-identifying with them. Humble yourself but don’t beat yourself up. Acknowledge your talents but don’t assume they are you.
We are human. We are not perfect. We are always learning and growing. AND we can always be of service through expressing our gifts and talents in our families, in our communities and in the world at large.
Free offering for these times
Are you curious about Alive Wire Wisdom Circle?
It is a totally free offering. We meet at 6pm (UK time), every week, on a Sunday, for exactly an hour.
Have a look HERE to find out more.
Blessings and love,
Gwendolen x
PS Feel free to join our community. HERE is a link to the Alive Wire Wisdom Circle Facebook Group.
A great post Gwendolen, lovely to read and on a topic I personally love and have been exploring more deeply for myself over tye last few years too!