What's Your Gifts?

[DriftingCrow]

Since it seems like many people believe that God(s) give everyone certain gifts, I was curious to see what everyone here thinks their gifts are and how they went about finding out what their gifts are (to provide a roadmap for users and lurkers who haven't discovered their gifts yet).


Mine:
I think one way of discovering your gifts is to look at what you think the goal/purpose of life is (often, it seems like one of the overall goals of many religions is to better humanity) and then look at what you're good at and what you enjoy.

To me, part of the purpose of life is to make things better for others. I really enjoy doing volunteer work, and I seem to be good at it, so I suppose that's one of my gifts. I am also really patient for the most part (I do have my impatient moments) so that's also useful in doing work (both non-profit and for-profit). I really enjoy doing my volunteer with a pro-bono legal program and I wouldn't mind after I graduate school either working full-time in public interest work, or at least doing a lot of pro bono work if I am at a for-profit firm. I've just always like helping people, I used to want to be a missionary medical doctor, but unfortunately, math and science is not a gift of mine.    I also really enjoy painting, and I don't completely suck at it but I am not good either. Perhaps if I spent more time developing my painting skills I'd be able to do a bit more with that.

[Valerie]

I'm not a believer but I've always loved the following quote, which applies regardless of faith.  Trying to figure out who originally coined it, however:

"vocation is where our deep calling meets the world's deep need."

Good for you for taking the time to figure out what you love & are good at.  Many people just kinda' bumble along from job to job without really being cognizant of what makes their spirit soar. 

[Gabrielle]

I have the gift, and the curse, of empathy.

I revel in the joy of others, but despair in the pain.

[Tanya W]

A wonderful question: What are my gifts?

I am a practicing Buddhist, which does not preclude a sense 'that God gives gives everyone certain gifts.' I, perhaps, would say such gifts are woven into our truest being, our Buddha nature to use the 'language'.

The role of meditation - and possibly all spiritual practice - is to strip us down to this truest being. To strip away the extraneous until only the essential remains. In this essential, we find our gifts. Putting this in simpler, more inclusive terms, the role of meditation / spiritual practice is to help us to surrender to the stuff of our lives. In this surrender we find the essential, we find our gifts.

So why all the blah blah blah? I guess I'm trying to offer some context to my reply:

Despite some pretty big steps recently, I can feel myself fighting tooth and nail against surrendering to being transgender. This is painful and frustrating for so many reasons, not least of which being the fact I can sense my gifts waiting just on the other side of letting go. It's like there are shapes I can make out in the shadows, but I can't quite touch them because I am holding onto not being who I am.

This said, I can see those shapes, right? What do they suggest to me? That my gifts involve sharing, in some way, this life with others. Offering up my own experience so it might act as beacon, landmark, inspiration, guide. Something stirs in me, writing this. Ever more reason to finally, finally, finally let go.

"vocation is where our deep calling meets the world's deep need."

As for this marvellous quotation, I have seen it attributed to Joseph Campbell. This makes sense, as it very much carries his tone. For some reason, however, I'm not certain this is wholly accurate!

[Shantel]

I have two gifts which are interconnected, one is a curse. I have been given a sense of discernment that goes well beyond just intuition, I have been told this numerous times by older people and it's enabled me to be helpful to some folks. The curse is predicting future events that come to pass. It first happened as a kid when we visited my grandmother's grave site. I had never been there before in my life but the entire event was deja vu down to every detail around me and of what happened. My mom was driving as we were about to exit the grounds out onto a quiet street but I made her stop. Three seconds later a car we hadn't seen came screaming past at between 80 and 100 mph (my best estimate). We would have been killed but it was averted because I had seen it ahead in a dream earlier. When i get those feelings that something is going on that seemed to have happened before my hair bristles and I get extremely nervous and pay intense attention to the details of the event as it unfolds.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora Henry,

"Yesterday is history tomorrow is a mystery-today is a gift, that why it's called the 'present' !"

We are all given this present and it's a most precious gift so don't waste it-use it wisely ...

Metta Zenda

[JLT1]

Shapes and the way they interact with each other.  This translates well into fields like chemistry, mathematics, engineering, toxicology.   That is what I do.   

Jennifer