People often say to me, “I’d love to be living my passion but I don’t know what my passion is” .
How do you know what your unique gifts are? That’s a great question. And what I love about great questions is, as soon as you ask them the answers start to show up in the next person you meet, the book you pick up, from your dog or from the trees; the question becomes a magnet drawing to you what you need, and everything and everyone becomes your guide.
The first realization which comes to me when I contemplate this question is: your gifts aren’t in what you do, they are in who you are. When you truly, fully, authentically be who you are by showing up and being present, you are the gift!
This can be difficult to understand because most of us are action oriented, we want to do something and we want to master an art or a craft or a skill. Bringing our gifts into the world is part of our human nature to expand and evolve. But our unique gift is in our being. Have you noticed for example when someone with a calm peaceful energy enters a room something shifts for everyone, they don’t have to say anything, it’s their state of being that makes the difference.
We’re all so self critical it’s difficult to accept that just being who we are is enough. Yet being fully who we are helps everyone. Co-creation and collaboration are much talked about these days; these are the skills we need to learn if we’re going to survive, thrive and evolve as a species. And co-creation starts with each of us playing our unique part by being fully who we are.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. I was privileged to live in New Zealand for twelve years and I think of it as my home. A feature of the New Zealand culture is the Heart Sharing Circle, influenced bu the hui of the Maori. For those of you who haven’t participated, imagine a gathering of twelve or perhaps a hundred people seated in a circle. The purpose of our gathering is to share our stories of who we are and what has meaning for us in our lives right now. The bigger purpose is, as we share our stories, we connect more deeply with each other and create community.
One by one we stand to speak. We pick up the talking stick or another object chosen to symbolize the power of the circle and to empower the speaker. You know it’s your turn to speak when your heart starts beating and the movement of your heart propels you to your feet.
I remember the first Heart Sharing Circle I took part in, it was a women’s circle. I’d been in New Zealand for a month and found my way to the Tauhara Centre, a spiritual education centre overlooking Lake Taupo and home of the Heart Politics movement. www.heartpolitics.org.nz At a certain point my heart started beating so loud I couldn’t ignore it and I had to stand. Yet I had no idea what I was going to say. In the Heart Sharing Circle you stand and trust that the words will come; you wait in the silence until you know. When the words come, they are coming from you but they are also coming through you. Everyone in the circle is silent, present and attentive, and their presence creates a focused energy field which enables you to connect with your own wisdom and truth in a new way. Speaking is a process of discovery because you haven’t rehearsed a speech and you’re not repeating what you already know. You are being in the moment and venturing into the unknown, discovering who you are in each new moment.
This is a truly awesome experience because when one person speaks from this place of truth and wisdom, it sparks the next person to find their truth and wisdom, and then the next and the next. And soon you realize you’re in a collective weaving in which each person holds a thread and all the threads are essential to the weave.
This to me is an example of what can happen when we simply show up and be present, listen deeply to ourselves and to each other and be receptive to what wants to express through us. There’s a bigger intelligence available to us all the time. I call it evolutionary intelligence, or in the words of the American novelist, John Steinbeck, the life-love-force present in everything. Finding our own gifts has a lot to do with being open to the life-love-force, trusting whatever makes our heart beat faster, and learning how to intuitively receive that intelligence and bring it into form. Paradoxically, our gifts are expressions of our unique essence and they are also expressions of a deeper collective purpose.
We’d like you to approach our blog as if it is a Heart Sharing Circle. We see the blog as an interactive space for A Whole New World. Please feel free to introduce yourself, tell us who you are, what’s brought you here and what gifts and hopes you bring to the creation of A Whole New World.
Namaste,
Rose Diamond
Each one of us makes a difference and together we can do what seems impossible.
A version of this post first appeared in www.happyzine.co.nz
The image is a detail from A Whole New World by Mary Ryan, www.chrysalisfarmstudiogallery.com
