You possess a unique talent. You could even say that you are gifted. Expressing your innate gift can earn as much money as you will ever need and bring happiness on a scale you never imagined. Discovering your gift and transforming it into a career is without a doubt the most difficult challenge you will ever face.
I found mine in my first seminar. A dozen wonderful people showed up to my first Self-Actualization course at the Brown Mansion in Orange, Texas in 1980. No one knew what to expect--least of all me. But I was burning to express something that I couldn’t yet put into words.
All I could see was that people rarely, if ever, say what is really going on. We use words to create a virtual reality, so we argue, fuss and fight over conceptual nonsense that has little or nothing to do with actual events. Nobody notices the discrepancy between the conceptual picture at the world and the actual events that are unfolding. That is why religionists debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. That disconnect from actual happenings pitches us in a battle of opinions that extinguishes the fire we need to earn a good living and to enjoy friendship and intimacy.
From earliest childhood I was baffled by the social grease and outright delusions that people take as reality. At the time I didn’t see my confusion as a gift. In fact, I thought the problem was with me. But I was determined to spend a few days in that workshop speaking out the self-evident events that anybody can see when they get their attention off themselves and attend to what is going on.
Shifting from pretense to intense creates powerful transformations. As we spoke out simple, obvious truths, the resulting clarity shattered our minds and opened our senses. We made a game of describing events and saying what we saw instead of what we thought. Oh my god! People came alive. They dropped years from their faces. People bonded like adventurers on a dangerous mission. Every person in that class went out and made strong, sensible changes in their careers and lifestyles.
I found my gift that day. It was always there. I just never trusted it. My gift didn’t seem special, or even useful, to me. I could distinguish fantasy from reality—so what. But when I unleashed that odd little feature of my personality, it was like someone lit the fuse on a stack of dynamite. From that moment people seemed to divide into two groups—those that wanted to hang me, and those who wanted to hang out with me. Every thing I did or said created a big stir.
So I’m not Mozart or Einstein. But my talent has opened many doors. The Sage Method of coaching that came out of me has created thousands of new coaches and entrepreneurs, whose work has impacted hundreds of thousands of people. Along with helping a lot of people, that strange little gift of clarity also earned me a few million dollars along the way.
Your gift might not seem very amazing or very practical to you, but you can believe me when I say that your vision, or your style of communication, or the way you organize your life can become a gateway to an unusual ability. Your gift can change the world, and it can change your world.
One of my daughters has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. She was playing around with anime—Japanese cartoons—on her computer. Lo and behold, her exploration came to the attention of a major television network in Japan. They proceeded to send an entire production crew to spend a week with her in her room filming her activities on the web. She also sings as beautifully as Susan Boyle, in a voice that is perfectly free of inhibition. Yet, she is not comfortable with seeing her gifts as special.
Andrea Bocelli was a blind lawyer in Italy who sang part-time in piano bars. His friends encouraged him to use his talent. He finally accepted his gift, and then proceeded to give the world the gift of some of the most beautiful music ever performed, selling over 60 million albums in the process. Despite scathing reviews by the critics, he became the most popular classical singer in history. Bocelli will not end his life in regret. Nor will he die with his music still in him.
Your gift floats around in your psyche every day and plays to an audience of one. Are you a storyteller? Could your appreciation of beauty hint of an artistic talent? Do you hear things in music that other people cannot? Lurking behind all the noise in your mind lays a quiet, persistent awareness that is unique to you. Your gift whispers to you, while the voices of your parents, your teachers, your friends, and your critics shout for attention. But you can extract the quiet voice from all the noise in your head. And when you realize the value of your gift, your real life will begin.
If you can’t yet discern your flair, you should get some help. GCN trains coaches in the art of awakening hidden talents. So there are a few coaches who specialize in quest for higher intelligence. If you are on that path you can contact the coaching center at info@globalcoachingnetwork.net for a brief conversation. You won’t get “the answer”, but you might pick up a few clues to begin the journey to self-discovery. The game begins when you push through your doubt and hesitation. So go on, make the call.
Martin Sage
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