Thanksgiving has come and gone (where has this year flown to?!), and we’re full into the holiday season. Whatever tradition you follow, you’ll probably give presents to family and friends. You’ll shop for just the perfect gift or create something with your own hands that you’ll wrap in pretty paper or place into a beautiful bag. You’ll hand it over with anticipation of the recipient’s joyful reaction. You’ll hope your heart–and its manifestation in a physical offering–will touch someone else’s.
We take this relational exchange for granted at this time of year. Yet we have a gift to give year-round. Have you ever considered the gift that your giftedness is to others?
Viewing our giftedness this way comes with its challenges. Many of us who are gifted frequently feel that our abilities and personality quirks are downplayed, underappreciated, and often downright rejected. But in truth we have so much to give. The gifts bestowed on us were meant to be given away.
On one level we understand this instinctively. As gifted people, we naturally see the world’s needs and feel compelled to eradicate them. I recently had a Facebook friend comment about how picking up one stray candy bar wrapper turns into a vast plan to rid the world of litter. We can’t help ourselves. We just think this way!
Yet somewhere along life’s road many of us run into resistance. Someone laughs at our ideas. Or pokes holes in them. Or calls us dreamers, as if that d-word were a dirty word. Frequently this happens to us as children, so by the time we’re adults, we’ve had it beaten out of us. We’ve become jaded and internalized the arguments of others within ourselves. We don’t need anyone else to do the job anymore (although some will still perform it), because within us we have that parent, teacher, sibling, and other chiming in and discouraging us from the inside.
Well, they were wrong. Those voices were wrong when you were a kid, and they’re wrong now, whether internal or external. You were created with gifts to give, and this world desperately needs you to give them. It’s time we all started believing and living that truth.
So what are your unique gifts to give? Do you know? Have you created your own unique profile of gifted characteristics that you possess? If not, you can start by looking at my Ginormous List of Gifted Grownup Traits. Read through them. Which ones jump out at you as reflections of yourself? Which ones make your heart beat faster because you know you own them? I encourage you to identify at least one or two you’d like to express more openly in the world and find ways to do so. Maybe you need to let your wacky sense of humor bring joy to others. Perhaps you have some sensitivity to lend to someone else’s heartache. Maybe you can identify a pattern or relationship that will solve a problem. Whatever it is, find it, and let it be your gift to the world this season and in the year to come. If you need any help with this, please contact me. I’d be honored to help you give the world the giftedness you have to give!
©2009 Lisa Lauffer
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