Skills or Talents?

I’ve always had so many interests in life that it has been difficult to focus in on one thing to build skills and express talent. I have been editing and book indexing since 1995, so there’s one thing.

But now, in my early sixties, I’m interested in moving into a more contemplative and spirit-connected way of spending what’s left of my current stay in space-time.

Skills Security Blanket

So, I was thinking about skills vs. talents. I have lots of great skills now: editing, proofreading, organizing information (I can organize almost anything). All intellectual tasks. All about making judgment calls. All about working on other people’s creative efforts instead of my own.

Skills, of course, are the main thing that gets covered in things like job interviews and career counseling. They reflect experience and accumulated expertise . But is it what I want to be doing? And does it reflect my actual talents?

Release the Talent!

My actual talents are difficult to analyze or list, just because they are intuitive, empathic, tactile (I’m a hugger). I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve been reluctant to move into using these talents more: I keep trying to apply the experience approach.

I feel safer going with the mental processes I know that “society” accepts. I practice forgetting what I know, because I can’t always explain how I know certain universal things. That’s it! Anxiety has always made me over-explain to make sure people understand and don’t get mad at me. I’ve always hedged my emotional bets to keep the peace. Because other people’s anxiety amplifies mine. Ah-ha!

The irony is that my attempts to over-explain usually annoy people. There you go. Expressions from anxiety are just the thing to amplify other folks’ anxieties. They can feel the energy just like I can. Oh, duh!

So, what would happen if I countered my anxiety with calm? I have this talent for projecting calm, but my friend calls it my façade. Since I intuitively know the beneficence of the universe as a whole, why not just integrate that calm into me, make it real, even around folks who are already anxious? Wonder what would happen if I did that? 😉 And I wonder what would happen if you did that?

I can show this kind of talent better than write or talk about it. I know I don’t need to explain, but I like to chat, and so my interest in the Tarot. The archetypal symbols in the cards give me a set of prompts to channel what I know into words for the person who asks the question, whether it’s me or someone else. But I can see that I need to pursue this channel in the physical world. Face-to-face reading and speaking (and hugging) are my best methods for expressing my true talent.

So, if you feel like there’s something not easily explainable that you be or do, take a closer look at and feel of your talent(s), and think about how best to channel them. The transformation of your own insides will be tremendous, and your healing effect on others—priceless.