The Gift of Success
by Vanessa Wesley
first published on Apr 7, 2008
In a recent Inner Advantage Class one member said that when she gets stuck and needs an answer from the Whisper she asks, “What gift do you have for me?” Yes, that’s it! The Whisper, through the distinct sensations you feel, is giving you gifts continually, but it is when we are open to receiving those gifts that we can fully know their value.
It’s the same with your innate gifts, talents, and natural skills. They are embodied in you as part of your unique and intrinsic design. Yet, sometimes we are not open to using them or acknowledging their worth and value. Our gifts are so natural to us, so easy for us to express that oftentimes they go unacknowledged and underutilized. We may tend to discount our natural talents as “no big deal” and not that important or worthy.
In last week’s article you read that you are intrinsically designed to attract the people and situations that support your innate gifts, talents, and skills. Within you is a matrix, a unique and individualized pattern of energy that upholds your very particular way of “being” in the world. You have a set of innate gifts and talents that are uniquely yours.
Your individualized matrix of energy and light is what attracts to you that which aligns or resonates with the vibration of thought that matches your gifts and talents as well as your heartfelt desires toward true expression. Last week, you were given 3 simple ways to uncover a kind of success signature you have. (Did you miss it? Read last week’s article.)
This week you will see how your talents and gifts underlie your success patterns. Before we go on, let’s clarify what this has to do with the Whisper.
Our intrinsic design is our individualized “architectural life-print” and holds within it our gifts, talents, natural skills, and strengths. It’s the “who we are in the world” when we express ourselves from our true nature. The sensations of guidance arise from your intrinsic design, from the essence of your being, and these sensations guide you to fully express your natural gifts and talents. This is one reason why when we ignore or resist inner guidance it feels uncomfortable or stressful. We are moving against or away from our natural “Self.”
We are always prompted from inner guidance to follow our natural inclinations. So what are your gifts and talents? Do you know what they are and how they serve you?
Don’t be surprised if you don’t know what they are. Again, they are so natural to you that you may not see your gifts as anything special, or even as a gift. So let’s use the word “strengths” as an alternative; your natural strengths are your gifts. The key here is natural. You came in with this ability. You didn’t “learn” it. You didn’t study it. You may have honed it, but it was always yours. My sixteen-year old daughter could easily at two recognize words and patterns. At four, she could read and memorize her little books. Now, she memorizes lines and lines of script, movie scenes, even the musical scores. This is her gift, her natural strength.
Okay, not it’s your turn.
1. What are your gifts, those abilities you have that you love to do and can do easily?
2. What are your talents, those natural skills or strengths that you can do well?
Now, here is the secret. These gifts and talents are woven into your intrinsic design, the design of YOU that will underscore your success, joy, and expression in the world. The sensations of inner guidance will lead you to express these.
3. Look back at the previous article and recall who you listed as someone you deeply admire. What is the quality you admire? This quality mirrors your intrinsic value, something you hold very dear.
4. How do your gifts and talents support your intrinsic value?
For as long as I can remember, when I was a little girl I loved books. Even when I couldn’t read I would write in a book and “correct” it with X’s and checkmarks, circling words as if I were the teacher. Later, I would get absorbed in mysteries. I loved to read and write, and it all came very easy to me. The gift was that I could “make up” things, talk about anything, and literally “B.S.” my way through most things.
Give me any topic and I could talk about it even with no knowledge on it, I would just make it up. In high school my dear English teacher would roll her eyes at me as I made up words that suited the meaning I wanted to convey. Of course, I never thought of this as a gift! However, that same English teacher wanted me to publish my early works in satire. I was too busy trying to be cute and popular to consider her seriously. What I saw as mere “traits” she saw as gifts. Now, a bit wiser, I see that those early leanings are the predecessors to the expansion of my inner potential in writing, speaking, and teaching. People I deeply admire are those who have a natural, truthful, and elegant way of expression like Maya Angelou and Byron Katie. Helping others find their natural expression gives me abundant joy; and doing this elegantly is highly valued.
I hope the past three articles have been helpful to you and that you can see how everything is so beautifully designed to bring you to deep joy and abundant peace. Begin right now to honor your gifts and talents. If you’ve kept them hidden, dust them off and reassert them in your life. Let the Whisper lead the way.
Interested in more on Intrinsic Design and your blueprint for success? Join the ongoing dialogue taking place on Vanessa’s blog part of the Shake Your Dream Alive course series being developed for women in midlife.
Tags: prosperity
