My friend Julz once said to me that everyone, by virtue of their life experiences and genetic make-up, are set up in a way to be a genius in something.
To do something or learn to do something with such exquisite skill and beauty that people believe it to be a god given talent. Some find this early in life and nurture it, some later on while many either don’t realise they do it or allow it to sit dormant in the background going to waste.
I love this idea and totally subscribe to it. It makes complete sense to me. We are all unique organisms in the world after all so it makes utter sense to me that we all possess a ‘special talent’ that no-one else does.
I’m on Netflix now and I’ve become a bit of a ‘TV Series’ junky. One of my favourites is ‘Heroes’. The 2nd and 3rd series were a big disappointment but the 1st was, for me, sublime story 
telling.
If you’ve never seen it, the premise is fairly simple.
A group of apparently un-connected people all of a sudden start displaying mysterious super natural talents. Some have super strength, others can hack into computers and some can fly.
As the series goes on they all start to realise that they are, in fact, connected and have their own special part to play in saving New York from a nuclear explosion and impending post-apocalyptic doom.
You’ll probably laugh at this but when I first watched Heroes, for some reason, it touched me deep inside. It resonated in ways I can’t quite describe. Initially I thought it was just amazing TV but then I realised it was much more than that.
It affected me at a level way beyond entertainment.
Then I realised what it was…
I realise that it was the premise the show was based on…
The premise that, as humans we all have a hidden unique gift that no-one else has that can make a difference to the world…one that makes us ‘special’ and ‘remarkable’.
You don’t have to be a Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg and change the world through innovations like the internet or Facebook, you just have to tap into and nurture your own special, unique talent.
Seeing that told with such finesse in Heroes was seriously enough to nearly move me to tears.
You might not even know what your unique talent is yet but I’m sure you feel it. It’s there at some level buried deep inside. It might seem illusive but I know at some level you can sense it.
You may even have a pretty good idea what it is and have already started developing it consciously. It can often be one of those things where, you’re not exactly sure why you do it and other people might not understand, but it just feels so damn good and fits with your personality that you can’t stop.
Perhaps it even feels like a bit of an obsession but it’s a wonderful one.
It’s also something that can often be indescribable. It can be the kind of thing that, when you attempt to define it, it doesn’t do it any justice. As soon as you do it seems to lose a bit of its true essence.
I knew a guy many years ago who, in hindsight, I now recognise had serious social problems and was most likely somewhere on the autism scale.
Put any kind of machinery in front of him, though, and he could strip it down tell you what each of the parts did and then build it back up again without any assistance, training or drawings.
To my knowledge he now works for Mercedes building Aeroplane engines. Apparently he’s a genius, the best at what he does…just don’t ask him to talk to anyone.
We can’t be brilliant at everything but I’m convinced we all have ‘a genius’.
What’s yours? What’s your Super Power?
Even if you can’t quite describe it, I’m sure it’s been gnawing away at you for a while now.
If I were you I’d let it sink its teeth into you. Embrace it. Let it engulf you.
Maybe even someone else remarked on it when you felt you were just ‘doing what you do’.
Your close friends and family can sometimes be more perceptive than you when it comes to recognising your talents and gifts.
After all we are the heroes of our own journey and every hero must learn to recognise and nurture their own unique talent.
In most myths and stories the heroes who do not will perish…the ones who do overcome the challenges and trials to claim the golden Elixir.
Take Care
Steven
