The Discovery of Your Gifts
“Be yourself, everyone else is taken.”
Each and everyone of us was born with our natural gifts. It is my belief that if each of us can be empowered to live a life that’s authentic to who we are, we would have less anxiety, insecurity and as a result, less stress and violence in the world. We would be able to live a life that’s more sustainable to us, to others around us, and even to the environment.
In his book “Flow” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about how we can know we are in our natural flow. He calls it the “optimal experience”.
"We have seen how people describe the common characteristics of optimal experience: a sense that one’s skills are adequate to cope with the challenges at hand. Concentration is so intense that there is no attention left to think about anything irrelevant, or to worry about problems. Self-consciousness disappears and the sense of time becomes distorted. An activity that produces such experiences is so gratifying that people are willing to do it for its own sake, with little concern for what they will get out of it, even when it is difficult or dangerous."
So how do we discover our natural gifts? It would be to reflect back on our “Flow moments”. Moments where we felt lost in time, completely focussed, fulfilled and driven by the sheer experience of what you were doing.
So here is a five step process to discovering ‘you’ and living ‘you’:
1. List the moments
Those moments/events in your life when you were happy, engaged, focussed best. And felt a sense of fulfilment and accomplishment, as you came out of it. So you need to tick at least 4 of the 5 boxes – happy, engaged, focussed, fulfilled, accomplished.
2. Write the Story of those moments
Relive the moment. Write down all you can remember – people, place, sights, sounds, tastes, smells, emotions. Let it flow like a story. Just remain true to your experience. DO NOT attempt to rationalise and correct for there is no judgement here.
3. Discover your gift
See the common thread across all these events. That gift that you used in every one of those moments. It felt natural to you and yet impactful to all around. Understand the various ways in which you used the Gift in each of those contexts.
4. Validate your finding
Please reach out to your Retreat leader or to your friend/partner and read your story and share your understanding of the ‘Natural Gift’.
5. Write down your story
The story of living the life of your ‘gift’. If you could live a live a life true to your ‘gift’ what would that be?
If you wish to know more about discovering and living your ‘Best Life’, join us at the next LifeShop or Being 2019.
Reference: Telltale signs that you are not living an authentic life: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/panache-desai/post_7406_b_5191653.html