Inspiration: Catch It. Spread It!–10 Days of Inspiration

Today I watched happily as my youngest daughter, Faythe, followed her older sister, Dyllan, around. They worked together to design clothes for a teddy bear. Dyllan put everything together on the sewing machine.

Every parent has experienced more than his or her fair share of days full of fighting and arguing, so even though the house was a mess, I was content to watch the bonding occurring this morning.

I must have been inspired because without thinking about it I ended up washing dishes for my son. While he rinsed, I watched my daughters and asked Ashlee to snap a picture to record the sweet moment.

I wondered why they got along so well right then. (Overall, our kids tend to get along pretty well. I don’t want to make it seem like it’s constant fighting over here.) There was something special happening.

Suddenly I dawned on me that sharing talents is unifying and inspiring! Dyllan was inspiring her little sister.

I can remember many parties and camping trips where someone breaks out a guitar and starts playing. A group forms around that person in short order. Usually one or more ends up lingering to ask questions about chord fingering, music in general, and the process of learning to play. I would venture to guess that this interaction is almost always fueled by the person being inspired by the talent of the performer and wondering if they could do it too.

We all like providing value. Maybe we don’t necessarily like being in the spotlight, but we feel great whenever we cook a meal that is appreciated by others, write a letter or blog that made a difference for someone, or simply share a compliment that touches another person.

It feels awesome to make a difference. One of the most simple and pure ways to do this is to share talents.

This is a loaded topic for me, because for most of my life I thought my only 2 talents were being able to eat obscene quantities of food in one sitting (remind me to tell you about my nickname “waiko-gringo” sometime) and getting good grades in school with minimal effort.

I have since learned to manage self-talk and self-image better and recognize I do have a few more. My most recently discovered talent is getting myself caught in chokes and submissions so my fellow Jiu-Jistu players feel better about themselves. (I don’t think it’s very professional to write LOL in a blog, but I literally chuckled after that last sentence.)

Service and talents make a difference!

The holiday season is upon us, and I feel like the shift in mood has already started. People get a little nicer around this time of year. We pay more attention to those around us and how we can serve them. Christmas angel programs, adopting families for Thanksgiving, plates of goodies, and caroling are just a few examples, but the result of those acts of kindness ripples throughout society and leads to this time of year being the favorite for many people.

In order to extend the holiday cheer throughout the year, I invite you to be intentional in two things: Find opportunities to be around talented individuals. And share your own talents more frequently!

Find opportunities to be around talented individuals

I want to take a moment to remember that everyone is talented in some way – so this invitation doesn’t mean you have to try to hang out with a famous superstar.

It could be supporting the local high school band or theater group. Attend a church talent show. Be the supportive voice for a friend who has an opportunity he is afraid to take – like sharing a poem or singing in front of a group. Watch YouTube videos on a topic you enjoy. Attend a tournament, art show, fair, or some other event.

There are countless ways to enjoy others’ talents, but it is so easy to be distracted by life and forget to do so. Make it happen and act on the inspiration you feel when you do!

Share your own talents more frequently

I definitely believe that the greatest impacts in this area will be achieved when we stretch outside of our comfort zone. Something special happens when we do hard things. You will be amazed after taking an opportunity that you don’t feel good enough for or have a million other reasons why you “can’t” do it, but you make it happen, and someone will tell you how much of an impact it had on them. Nearly universally the next words out of their mouth will be about how they could never do that!

You will likely see their potential better than they do. Conversely, it will surprise you that in their eyes you seemed a lot better at what you did than you felt about yourself.

If this process is repeated enough we start to see that we are all immensely talented individuals! We are all at different places on the spectrum of talent, but simply engaging in the process of improving and sharing is incredibly inspiring to others.

My recent example is learning to draw. At this point I’m doing well to look at someone else’s drawing and try to duplicate it. I rarely feel impressed by my efforts, while others around me are astounded at my talent.

As I work on it, I have seen my kids drawing more, and this is the process I wanted to share after watching Dyllan and Faythe demonstrate it so beautifully this morning.

In a few days I will write about why we often think we don’t have a talent when we really do.

Until then appreciate a talent and share one of your own! We would love to hear all about it in the comments below, in an email, or on our Instagram or Facebook pages!