Tag Archives: talent

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Share Your Play

Something is beginning to happen. Yesterday, you began to explore the ways you play. You looked at the ways you did so as a child, and considered other ways you would like to now. In yoga there is a concept of Lila (also spelled Leela) – the play of life, or divine play. It is a concept that all that exists is the outcome of play. We could consider that through play we find the way we best engage with the world, and share our greatest talents. I think this relates to our traditional concept in western culture, which Shakespeare so aptly describes when he wrote “All the worlds a stage and all the men and women merely players.”

Did you ever see that movie with Maggie Gyllenhall and Will Farrell, Stranger Than Fiction? There is a fantastic scene in there that demonstrates what I am going to suggest you consider today.

If you decided not to watch it, Maggie’s character, Ana Pascal describes how she was going to Harvard Law School, but somehow her love of cooking for the study groups brought her true talent to the foreground of her life, leaving her with a D average and a clue as to how she was going to change the world. These types of accidents happen so commonly, I imagine you could tell me a tale or two about someone who “fell into” a new role that was so clearly them, even the way they did other things dripped with the signs of their gift. We all are like that. Did you know it?

I know a lot of artists, and I haven’t asked them permission to share their tales of finding their form of art, or I might recount them here, but many went through a variety of modalities before finding their personal niche. I have known a few physicists, too, and they are incredibly similar in how they were just bursting with curiosity and the desire to find the right application of that intensity. It can take a few tries to find what play works for us. 

So okay – you are on the path, albeit loosely. How does sharing come in? Share your play with others. If you are exploring cooking, cook with or for others. Hold a recipe swap at your next potluck! Make it so it is not about you, but you get to see how you play with others. Because, we know that the fruits of our work cannot be for ourselves. We derive so much more joy from the sharing.

What about the sciences? Volunteer at a science museum, or for the science classes at a nearby school. Get a telescope and invite nieces and nephews over for a meteor shower. If you are working with the math, come help me! Just kidding – offer to work at the local tax support hub in the new year or look for aid agencies that may need math support for children or adults in the area. Honestly, math tutors are really needed. See how you do with doing math together.

What about other seemingly solitary interests like writing and singing? I think I have known many writers who felt it was sharing to go write at the coffee shop. Actually, when I was waitressing, there were several writers who would come to write. I tried to leave them to it. Knowing how important not breaking a thought is. There were a couple who felt I should stop working to sit and read manuscripts or listen to them read to me. That, honestly, was sort of rude, because it made me a captive at work instead of letting me share in the gift. No – I think writer workshops and literary groups are something that serve that purpose better. You may have special friends whose nature is also writing and who may be able to start such a group with you.  But writing someone a story for a birthday, or gifting the family with the family story is something altogether different. It is a truly unique and appreciated gift.  It still seems solitary in nature, but that is really the nature of this talent.

For some people, the talent or gift is so subtle or groundbreaking that they cannot have a clue unless they see themselves in groups. If you are still wondering what it is that you possibly have to offer – throw a party. Or create a gathering somewhere. Start taking time to visit places you’ve never ventured before and push yourself to meet 5 people on your trip. I am not necessarily talking about going to a new city, but to a store you would normally never enter. You may have to do these things often to get any real clues, but the group of people you meet will tell you something. If you are shy, this can be particularly difficult. But what you do, more so – how you do it – will tell you something about what you offer. Take pictures on your trips (okay, not in the stores, but…) create collages. Invite friends over to tea to tell them about your adventures and solicit feedback about what rhythms and repeating patterns they see. Take them with you.

All of these things are sharing. Sharing your experience of life – but also sharing how you experience life with others. This richness is what makes us all sit up in our chairs and listen when you share your tale, your talent, and your story.

Yoga Pose of the Day: Garudasana – Eagle Pose

Yogic Concept of the Day: I share my play with others.

 

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Time to Get Busy

This is it folks! It doesn’t matter what you are doing for the holidays, or whether you even celebrate holidays.  Right now it is “all hands on deck.” If you are going to get something accomplished this year – guess what! Now is the time to hunker down and get serious.

What was your New Year’s resolution for this year? Do you even remember? Is that something you really want to work on now? You are fully capable of picking it up again. You can choose to do one thing toward this goal, or pick a new goal. The choice is yours.

Excellent suggestions for goals to set for the end of the year:

a. Pick colors, redo wardrobe themes, collect new accessories or create a new style to use in 2011

b. Lose 5-10 lbs. It can be harder to lose more than that this month, particularly if you celebrate holidays, but you can start with this modest goal, and once met, set the same goal again. Just establishing that you will finish the month with a steady weight 5-10 lbs below what you weigh now can be a great way to regulate how you eat this month, and prepare for a solid start to the new year if you have a bigger weight loss goal. If you have only to lose 5-10 lbs, I would recommend setting the goal at 2 lbs. Again, trying to establish a weight where you are not going up and down, but holding steady can be a great advantage later, and teach you more about how you eat. In yoga, we do not recommend huge changes or quick fixes to weight loss.

c. Eat more vegetables. Try those in the cruciferous family as opposed to potatoes and other starchy vegetables.  You can see a list at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruciferous_vegetables

d.  Clean out one room per week. During this season, doing a big cleaning job can be difficult, but going through one room per week can make spring cleaning easier later, and provide you with many new hiding places for gifts!

e. Learn something new: You can pick up one book on something you have always wanted to learn and dedicate 20 minutes a day to working on your studies. Examples of previous learning sessions I have done include: Speed Reading, new languages, math review, cooking in a specific style, sewing, drawing, and  book-making. You can find lots of information online for these and other subjects, or pick up a good book at the library.

f. Keep a meditation/yoga practice for yourself each day. Provide yourself with 10 minutes of meditation and at least 20-30 minutes of yoga, and you will have a sense of relaxation that carries into the rest of your day. Your busy schedule will literally feel less busy and you will have a sense of personal development as you move through this season of giving so much to others. If you are an introvert, taking this time for yourself can be just what is needed to get through all the parties and gatherings that occur this time of year. Treat yourself. If you keep this up, you will have a habit established well before the New Year begins.

 

Keeping your own learning muscles strong –  whether learning with the mind, body, or spirit –  will help to release tension during this time of year, and provide you with a sense of having time for yourself. It creates a sense of space and relaxation that can overcome any sense of hurriedness or stress. Sometimes, all we need to relieve our sense of constant doing is a little bit of self renewal.

Now that you have thought about it:

 

1. Make a decision about what goal you are setting. Choose only one. Choose only one because as the daily load gets heavier, we know some things will get put aside. Pick something you care about enough to refuse to put it aside, at least until Jan. 1.

2. Write it on paper. Put that paper somewhere you will see it every day. Do this now. seriously.

3. Tell someone what you are doing, and ask them for encouragement. No matter what, you will want to continue to work on it. Even if one day slips – it is no excuse – you pick up this goal each day anew and start again.

4. Take a moment to really think of how much it will mean to you. When you go to parties and you have this new area of study to share, or you can cook a Mediterranean meal for everyone. Think of what a boost it will be. This is a short-term goal. Nothing else has to be done or happen now. Just that you begin.

5. Pick one thing to do today to work towards your goal.

 

Make a commitment to yourself to provide yourself with a sense of daily self-renewal during this season, and finish the year 2011 strong!

 

A tough goal for me this year will be to get to doing 108 sun salutations by the end of the year. This is not something I can just suddenly decide to do, and do them. I have had teachers who have talked about the process before, but I have not yet done 108 sun salutations in one session. I plan to work toward this goal. I have done 50 before. But I would like to get to doing 108 a day by the end of the year. It is a great practice. I understand it is a time commitment, but I should be able to do this. The implications for my health may be quite wonderful. We will see as I begin this process. Today, I will begin by seeing how many I can do. I am taking it easy, as I am getting over a cold. I will just do as many as my body seems to allow. Bringing my mind into focus on the smooth transitions, and the quality of my movement, rather than the number.

 

I would love to hear what goals you are setting for yourself to finish strong this year!

 

 

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Continuing Self-Study with Expression

Yesterday’s blog was about Svadyaya (self-study) and looked at receptive skills (how we each learn). If you didn’t get a chance to go through the quizzes and find out how your own brain learns you can find the post here.

Today, I want to encourage you to look at how you express your understanding, your ideas, and your meaning. If you are an artist, you may already be familiar with some ways in which you do this. However, it is a beneficial exercise to put all you think you know about yourself away for a little while and try to think about this in much the way a kindergartener does. They don’t know how to do anything, so all things are equal and difficult. So, it isn’t a big deal to try one thing over another. You can just see what each thing feels like and which you would enjoy more. I recommend taking the next week (or weekend) and setting aside some time to explore your own expressive skills. Think of it as your own private artistic spa. Rather than getting a massage and facial, you will be getting artistic treatments.

Below is a list of a variety of expressive skills. Some may surprise you. Some may sound daunting. Some may be so foreign that you can’t even imagine trying them on for size. I want you to pick three. 1. one that you are immediately attracted to, 2. one that scares you or sounds daunting, and 3. one that you really never thought about and have no idea one way or the other.

  • Public Speaking
  • Comedy/ telling jokes
  • Debate
  • Writing fiction/non-fiction
  • Poetry
  • Facial Expressions
  • Gestures
  • Painting
  • Drawing
  • Dancing
  • Sculpting
  • Paper-cutting
  • Origami
  • Singing
  • Film-making
  • Car building
  • Recording others
  • Story-telling

You can add some things to the list if you like. Suggestions are welcome.

Now make a schedule for how much time you can allot to the exploration of the three skills that you have picked.  Continuing to explore skills over the course of time will teach you things about yourself you may never have known, otherwise. Enjoy and don’t push too hard. Just play with it.

 

 

 

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What if you don’t like what you’re good at?

Yes, Legos!This week we have been exploring how the yogic principle of non-stealing (asteya) can include recognizing and creatively utilizing our gifts and talents.

I worked for many years as a school teacher, and there is one problem with this whole “Yay, let’s all go play with the things we are good at”  attitude that I think needs addressing. Sometimes people don’t like to do what they are good at. The self-help books all seem to want to overlook this point, but I know for a fact that sometimes I have seen a frustrated kid who says, “yeah, I am good at math, but it is too easy. I would much rather do something else, like play video games.” or “I always make A’s in history, but I hate history. I just tend to remember the numbers and names.”

This is something really important to pay attention to.

If you don’t like it, even if you can do really well without effort, that is not really the right direction to pursue. Malcolm Gladwell, in his groundbreaking research on talent and what it takes to master a profession or skill, actually postulated that this interest is critical. In an interview with Fareed Zakaria on GPS, he said as much. Ron, from the Blog, Corsair, quoted Gladwell as saying: ”Talent is the desire to practice. Right? It is that you love something so much that you are willing to make an enormous sacrifice and an enormous commitment to that, whatever it is — task, game, sport, what have you.” You can hear Gladwell speak about the Beatles as an example of this here.

This week I have encouraged you to play to find out what you enjoy. If all the play in the world doesn’t bring you to something that you would practice in the face of discouragement, it isn’t the right fit. Keep looking. Should you decide to pursue that cool thing you have found, you will want to practice.  How you practice determines a lot.

One of my favorite blogs is The Musician’s Way Blog by Gerald Klickstein. Now, I am not a musician, but the ideas on this site always seem to translate for me into my own practice of yoga. It is a site worth taking the time to explore. Yoga is far from being a performance art, at least as I practice it. Still, there is something about being a teacher that makes me conscious about how I approach the classroom as a sort of stage, especially in this era of mass media. If I don’t see my teaching as a sort of “entertainment” it doesn’t matter because some of my students will. The thing is, that it really could be in my studio that people find what they love. If I plan to teach or share what I do with others, then I should take what I do at least as seriously as a concert pianist. Or, it could be fun to. Check out Klickstein’s recommendations for how to practice:

Six ways to enjoy detailed practice:

1. bring meaning to every gesture

2.isolate problem spots in context

3.take pleasure in excellence

4. listen deeply

5.seek variety

6. shift perspectives

You can see the full explanation here.

I immediately could see how these key principles applied to yoga, my own practice, and what I was doing with my yoga students. I can also imagine them as they could apply to astronomy, cooking, running, or connecting people to animals that need homes.

But what if you aren’t really going to put in that time? What if you just want to find something to be good at, that brings you joy? My point is this, if you don’t care enough about the work you do to take a little time to put added effort in, it doesn’t even matter if it is a natural-born talent. You will not likely position yourself to provide something of worth to others, and I think that sharing is where we get the most rewarding experiences. I am an introvert by nature, but it is still true for me. I may be a dreamer and a devoted lover of the arts, but if you cannot bring your paintings to a show, make it practical, what do you give? Maybe you don’t ever want to show your paintings formally, but you want to give them as gifts. It is the same thing. Sharing is sharing, and no one gives of their true talent carelessly. It just wouldn’t be natural. Personal satisfaction is something we enjoy, but it is ultimately just self-entertainment. This is not a problem or bad, but it is hardly a peak life experience. Until you make your gift available to others in a meaningful way, take a chance at really seeing what you can do with it if you put the extra effort in, you won’t really know how much it can give joy to others. Still, whether you actually do that much work or not, isn’t the point I’m making. 

No one is going to know what your talent is unless you share it. That is all up to you. But what you want to do, to spend time on, is the clue to your key talent and your personal fulfillment. What we each choose to be our level of involvement t be is nobody else’s business. But not even finding what you bring to this world, that is something like a crime.

Have a great weekend!