Finding Value in Our Own Gifts

Thoughts on how we can love ourselves enough to spot our gifts and grow them into something valuable.

I have a gift that I never really wanted. One I didn’t plan for. One I resisted. One I desperately wanted to give back. 

When I started to show signs of intuitive gifts, I remember pleading with my spirit guides for something else that wasn't so, you know, flashy. My prayers went something like this:

Um, excuse me. I think there’s been a mixup in the soul-gifting department. I was given the psychic intuitive gift package, when I was really hoping for something a little more subtle like bigger breasts or an aptitude for gymnastics. 

I never really heard back, so I did the next best thing which was to allow my worry to transmute into curiosity, which ultimately made way for joy. 

And joy led to something surprising: talent. 

Technically speaking, talent and gifts can be synonyms. But when I feel into the energy of each word, I find a slight difference. 

I find a gift to be exactly what the word insinuates. It is a desire or an interest that was given to us. A pull within — one we believe to be worth pursuing — that was divinely imprinted into our human existence so that we could later discover it and understand who we are and what our function really is here on Earth. 

Although I paint a romantic picture, I believe a gift, in its raw form, is simply potential waiting to be realized. Waiting to be unlocked and developed into its big sister: talent. 

Talent is developed under the supervision of bravery and grit. It’s when you walk towards your gift slightly aware — and maybe even embarrassed — of its immature state. But you choose to dig in and attempt to mold it even despite its obvious lack of form. 

Little by little, the gift begins to take shape the more we learn about it, use encouraging words around it, and surround ourselves around others who have already made it into a talent. 

But there’s nothing that develops gifts into talents quite like doing. 

It is the act of exercising a gift over and over again until it is tweaked to one’s liking that graduates the gift into talent status. 

The reason we strive to reach this rank is because talent is what we, as a collective, value. 

We value it because it is rare. So rare that one person’s talent can fill a giant arena with thousands of adoring fans, and even incite a spiritual experience for those in its presence. 

Talent is rare, but it is not unique. Meaning, it’s achievable to us mere mortals through the most boring human actions, like trying, practicing, and putting your gift out there to be experienced so you can receive the feedback necessary to make it better.

Most gifts never make it to talent status simply because we fear, both, the critics and the fans equally. It can be just as hard to receive praise and love as it is to receive harsh criticism and unwanted feedback.

For this reason, every gift needs an unwavering talent momager. A momager is the inner mother within us who has promoted herself to also be our talent manager. She is the voice of unconditional love within us and the cheerleader who encourages us to get back up time and time again. She is our biggest fan. 

Most importantly, she represents the energy of self-love. Our capacity to accept and embrace such love is directly related to how far our talent will go and for how long we can maintain it. 

To value — or simply recognize — our gifts is to love ourselves. It’s to look at ourselves like a loving mother who knows her child is worthy of developing her raw gifts or at least throwing her hat in the ring. She knows the child deserves to be planted, nourished, and then to blossom. 

So do you, and so does your gift.

Listen to the guided meditation: Strength in Your Path

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