When people recognize their unique gifts and potential, it can transform everything

Do you know someone who just doesn’t seem to see what she’s capable of?

Maybe you have a friend who’s got a secret dream of traveling around the world and taking photographs in rural areas. She dreams of her photos telling stories. Or maybe she’d like to learn how to plant herbs and learn medicinal healing from her Indigenous neighbors. Or she’d love to tell the story of her mother’s experience during the Civil Rights movement.

But somehow, she laughs off her ideas or longings as silly.

Or talks about doing them ‘someday.’

Or maybe this sounds a little like you?

What I know is this: what prevents many people from moving forward on what they feel called to do is not being able to see themselves clearly.

Seeing Yourself

I was having a conversation with a new colleague, and I was sharing why I do what I do. Much of what I do is help people see themselves—to be able to fully realize and claim their own true essence.

I do this in a lot of different ways – coaching, intuitive energy reading, leading groups, facilitating writing workshops, helping authentic entrepreneurs talk about their businesses…

Why do I care about people being able to see themselves?

Because when people can’t see themselves clearly, they don’t know where or how they fit into the world.

They might think they’re simply fine with the job they have. Or the family or relationships they’ve developed. Or the way they’re living their life.

But the truth is they’re playing by someone else’s rulebook. Doing or saying or being how the culture programmed them to be, not how they truly are.

So, something always feels off.

Often, they don’t even know if something is off until they catch a glimpse of it. Maybe when they meet another person doing the thing they’d always secretly wanted to. Or when they meet someone who seems truly at ease with themselves.

Or maybe they feel it when they’re seen by someone else, even if just for a moment.

When people can’t fully see themselves, they don’t know what their gifts and talents are. Perhaps they have an idea of what they might be, but they discount them—as unimportant or something to dally in when they have time.

They just don’t quite believe in themselves.

Your Unique Self

When you can’t fully see yourself or truly know your gifts, our world is missing something.

The world we’re in right now is a holy mess. So many people are living in heartbreak and fear. And so much of that fear comes from an inability to see others. When we can’t see ourselves, it’s difficult to truly see another.

Conversely, when we can see ourselves for who we are, we become able to see ourselves in others.

This is when the artificial divides melt away.

When we see our own humanity, our own strengths, or our weaknesses—when we see what delights us, what makes us grieve— the “us” vs. “them” that of today’s ugly political dynamic shatters.

We can’t help but recognize both our singularity and our oneness.

This is what makes change possible. This is what makes me hopeful.

Photo by Lydia Noire on Unsplash