Recognizing your unique abilities as gifts is the first step toward living your life's purpose. Know that your gifts are always about helping others in some capacity.
In giving of your self and sharing your gifts, you cannot help but feel a sense of fulfillment - as though you are living your life on purpose. Identifying your gifts and sharing them with others also allows you to contribute toward a universal purpose.
Daily Practice: Identifying Your Gifts
Some suggestions for how to begin to identify your own special gifts:
- Make a list of all of the things that you enjoy - and that come easy to you. (i.e. writing children's stories, fixing computers, being a good listener, being well organized).
- Using the items on this list, what are the things that you didn't need any special training for? What are you inherently good at?
- What do others tell you they most appreciate about what you do? (Often others can appreciate things that we don't in ourselves).
Universal Purpose
The first universal purpose is self-evolution. To evolve means that you consciously choose to improve upon who you are as you strive to become more. For example, you recognize that in order for you to become more compassionate with others, you will need to keep in mind the fact that everyone has different strengths and vulnerabilities. Remembering this in moments when you might have previously made negative judgments helps you to treat others with compassion instead. With practice, you begin to act compassionately more of the time.
