Write on Wednesday-Hidden Talents

How many people spend their entire lifetime headed in the wrong direction, without ever uncovering their greatest talents and potential.  Could you be one of them?

 

Dancing With the Stars is one of my “guilty pleasure” tv shows, and while I love the dancing, and the costumes, and the adrenaline rush watching these performances, what I adore about the show is seeing people discover a hidden talent.  Not the people who stumble through each week doing schtick performances, or those whose football, basketball, soap opera, reality show star fan base keeps them in the competition – the people who have never done a musical or theatrical or athletic thing in their lives, and all of a sudden demonstrate a remarkable talent for dancing.

Yeah, there are some of those.

Brooke Burke, this year’s new co-host, was one.  A few seasons ago when she showed up on the dance floor, she had nothing to her (dancing) credit except modeling experience.  She was a mom, albeit a strikingly beautiful and graceful one, with small children running around her feet at home. But when she stepped onto the floor each week, she was a vision in elegance, grace, and beauty.  She seemed born to dance, as if this natural talent were just lying dormant within he, waiting for a chance to be released from its bondage.

Just thinking about that gives me shivers.  Could it be that lying within every one of us is some stupendous, unknown talent, something we could be so amazingly good at doing, yet we have no idea it’s there?

If only someone could figure out how to unleash everyone’s hidden talents, they would be a millionaire, wouldn’t they?

So how does one go about discovering this buried treasure?  In a book I just read, one of the characters decided on her 60th birthday to “try one new thing every year for the rest of her life.”  Although you’d likely have some rather excruciatingly ego deflating experiences, you might just unearth a hidden talent.

You could take some aptitude testing, try and see what the statisticians could turn up in the way of hidden talents.

I wish I had the answer – for me, and for anyone else out there who’s ever wondered what talents might be hidden within them.  For now, all I can do it be open to new experiences and wherever they might take me.

Maybe some wonderful talent will emerge.

Harmony

You look for areas of agreement.  In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum.  When you know that the people around you hold differing views, you try to find the common ground.  You can’t quite believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others.  Wouldn’t we all be more productive if we kept our opinions in check and looked for consensus and support?  When others are sounding off about their goals, their claims, their fervently held opinions, you hold your peace.  When others strike out in a direction, you will willingly, in the service of harmony, modify your own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as their basic values do not clash with yours.)  In your view we are all in the same boat, and we  need this boat to get where we’re going.  It is a good boat.  There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.

Harmony was at the top of my list of strengths, as identified by the StrengthsFinder assessment I wrote about a while back.  The assessment, which takes about 30 minutes to complete, identifies five talents, defined as a natural way of thinking, feeling, or behaving.   When we identify our top five talents and invest the time to develop them, they can turn into a strength, or the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance.

Reading the description associated with harmony, I nearly laughed out loud.  That is exactly me.  And although I recognize myself in every sentence of that description, and am fully aware that harmony is important vital for me to be happy, I would probably not have considered that a talent or potential strength.  In today’s world, it sometimes feels as if we’re encouraged to be adversarial rather than conciliatory, taught to “make waves” in order to be really successful.   The person who favors peace and harmony is sometimes considered weak and ineffectual, while the person who behaves like the proverbial squeaky wheel will get the “grease.”

The StrengthsFinder philosophy allows me to turn that preconception on its head and look at what I once saw as a weakness in a different light.  Because I value consensus and agreement, I work well with other people.  I can be effective in creating a positive environment which leads to greater productivity and satisfaction.  Because I’m open to different perspectives, I can learn more efficient ways to do things. 

Remember that commercial campaign for Coca Cola back in the 70’s with the iconic theme song…”I’d like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony…”  

I loved that so much – and now I know why.  It’s my  theme song too.

“People who are especially talented in Harmony look for consensus.  They don’t enjoy conflict; rather they seek areas of agreement.”   

Don’t you wish everybody did?

 

 

Living With Poetry

In my meanderings though blog-land, I’ve happened to cross paths with Grete, whose beautiful blog (To Live A Poem) has inspired me to reconnect with some of my favorite poets.  Grete’s focus excites me, because she’s not simply reading poems for pleasure, nor is she dissecting them word for word to study symbols and rhythmic patterns…she’s living the poem, wrapping it around her life and using it to gain insight into her self and the world around her.

So I took up the challenge to live some of my favorite poems, and where better to begin than with Mary Oliver, and the poem I’ve typed out onto a small card and carried tucked away in my wallet for the past two years.  Each morning lately, as I’ve gone out to walk the dogs, I’ve written one stanza out and memorized it, repeating the words as I watch the world spring into life after the cold of winter.

When I am among the trees

Especially the willows and the honey locusts

Equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines

They give off such hints of gladness

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

These early days of spring the tiniest of blossoms have barely sprung from their buds, and the sky appears to be filled with a fine, green mist, the “hints of gladness” which will emerge in full leaf just a few weeks from now.  I feel that hopefulness in my own life these days~ a spring in my step as I walk onto the front porch, bathed in early morning sunlight. There is such hope in all this, such promise, that I can’t help but feel saved from the dark days through which I’ve walked in recent months.

I am so distant from the hope of myself

In which I have goodness and discernment

And never hurry through the world

But walk slowly, and bow often.

Because all too often I am so distant from the hope of myself, feel light years away from ever being the woman I want to be, from even knowing who that woman is.  Because all too often, all I do is hurry through the world, from one obligation to the next, never able walk slowly, or acknowledge the simple goodness and beauty around or within me.

Around me the trees stir in their leave

and call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say

And you too have come into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.

Such wisdom among the trees, such simple and perfect counsel, this mission of ours in the world…”to go easy, to be filled with light, and to shine.”  To find that place where we fit – where the work that we do, the life that we live, is filled with people and things and activities that we love. 

So my morning walks this month have become a time to dwell within the poem, to live and breathe it while I move purposefully through the brisk morning air, to let the words mull and simmer in my brain and enliven my thoughts and spirit for the day.

To live a poem…

 

Brave Beauties

How can it be, when it’s only April, that these have popped open in all their splendor?   As much as I love them, and all the other blossoming, burgeoning signs of new life everywhere, I’m afraid –  frightened that winter is not yet done with us, will roar through these flat plains one more time and slap down all this brave beauty.

I hope, hope, hope that I’m wrong, that it’s just my usual fear and foreboding, the old familiar mistrust that nothing good will stay.

Because  anything as brave and bright as these beauties should be allowed to shine, shouldn’t they?

What’s shining in your neighborhood these days?

Music Matters

When we were in Florida last month, this article about budget cuts to the arts programs in Lee County schools was on the front page of the paper.  News stories like this are quite familiar here in the recession battered midwest, but I was  taken aback to find the same problems existing in more affluent areas of the country.

This makes me sad – and angry.  As a musician who would likely never have been exposed to music if it weren’t for her wonderful elementary school music teachers, I’m heartbroken for all the potential young music makers who will never have that opportunity to develop a talent, or discover a life long passion.   As an adult who has worked with student musicians for 20 years, I’ve seen firsthand the powerful effect the arts can have on children of all ages.  It develops confidence, fosters a spirit of teamwork, provides an outlet for stress, all while improving fine motor skills, coordination, and mental agility.  If you ask me, music packs a powerful educational whammy, one that should be valued above many others.

The newspaper article referred to a study which indicated that students who majored in music as undergraduates had a higher acceptance rate to medical school than those who majored in biochemistry.  It also cited the many studies which have proven that music education helps children develop critical math skills, while education in fine art encourages creative and non-linear thinking.   Certainly these are fine arguments for continuing to support music and arts education for children of all ages.  I wish, though, that we didn’t have to persuade people that music education is important only because it makes you good at something else, wish that people would see the value in learning to make and listen to music or art for its own sake, simply for the power of having the ability to create something beautiful in your life and to offer it to others.

 It seems to me that as a society, we place less and less value on the well rounded individual, one who has been educated and has an appreciation for all manner of ideas, than on the “superstar,” the kind of person who capitalizes on one area of expertise throughout their life.   Nearly as soon as they start talking, we ask children what they want to be when they grow up.  And while we probably don’t expect a serious answer, it’s all too easy for little people to start pigeonholing  themselves at a very young age, especially if their exposure to opportunities is limited. 

I think encouraging people, especially children, to be one-dimensional does them a major disservice.  Education should be about exposure to all manner of thought and history and ideas, not just about learning information to fill in the right answers on a state mandated test.  Life is long, and sometimes hard.  Being able to call upon multiple areas of interest and talent is crucial for keeping pace with the future. 

Music has always mattered to me.  It has enriched my life in more ways than I could ever have imagined.  And it all started on Wednesday afternoons in fourth grade, with a plastic recorder, and Mrs. Evans, our music teacher.  In this, the richest of all countries, we must continue to offer that gift to our children.

Situation Normal

You know what?  This has been a really normal week.  A week where things have gone according to schedule, where all assigned tasks have been completed, where some unexpected (but nice) opportunities have arisen. 

I liked it.

I could get used to this thing called normal.

See, I really like a routine.  I know that makes me somewhat pedantic and uninteresting, but I function best when things happen in a prescribed fashion, ideally one over which I have some control.  Deep in my heart of hearts, I’d like to be more of a free spirit,  wish I could go with the flow and take what comes.  But when things are up in the air, I get ansty and prickly.  Can’t help it…that’s just me. (See how self-aware I am, and I haven’t even taken the StrengthsFinder?)

Here’s what happened this week that I really liked…

~my weeping cherry tree blossomed beautifully.  oh yes.

~i got to accompany my friend’s church choir rehearsal last night.  hadn’t played the piano in three weeks!  yes, indeed, that felt good.

~it was so quiet in the office this week that i got all my work done in the allotted time and didn’t bring anything home with me for the weekend.  whew.

~got one step closer to completing the disbursement of my aunt’s estate – namely, preparing to finalize the transfer of her house to another of her nieces.   big smiles.

~walked two miles every day this week.  feelin’ fit in spite of pizza for dinner.

Here’s what I’m looking forward to…

~marathon men’s chorus concerts tomorrow at the University of Michigan, where I expect to hear and see some of my favorite young men from the high school.  brava!

~going to East Lansing next weekend with my friend C. while our men are away on a choir tour of their own.  yea for girlfriends!

~sleeping late tomorrow and then taking the doggies to the park.  nice.

~more spring like weather which is said to be on the way.  ahhh…

In short, I’m loving life in the normal lane. 

How about you?  What’s your situation these days?

Based on Strength

“The best leaders have a good idea who they are as a person.  They know their strengths and find ways to use them in their jobs every day…” from an interview with Josh Allan Dykstra, Organizational Development Specialist

The concept of natural talent has always interested fascinated me – the way some people have such an obvious proclivity for music or art or sports or telling jokes or cooking or growing things or teaching… all the multitude of talents that make the world go round.  And sometimes I wonder about the talents people have that go undiscovered, because I’ve seen talent revealed quite by chance and it causes me to think about the times that opportunity doesn’t occur and someone’s true talent may never be uncovered.

It seems the Gallup Organization has been extensively studying the concept of strength and strength based leadership.  According to Josh Dykstra -who happens to be my friend C’s son-in-law, but is also one heck of a smart young man- a strength is where “talent meets knowledge meets skills.”  It’s about knowing who you are and what your strengths are, and then finding ways to use them in the things that you do everyday.  Apparently the worlds best leaders don’t necessarily share a list of similar characteristics, as you might imagine.   What they do have in common is a heightened sense of self-awareness which they’ve parlayed into their life and work.

This information comes at an interesting time for me, because over the past several months I’ve been tested in my job in ways that are uncomfortable.  I’ve kvetched about it here a few times, but in essence, my job has changed dramatically so that I’m now in a position of  totally managing other people’s work, while still being responsible for the final product.  I’ve been trying to figure out why this is so difficult for me, why my stomach knots up every morning when I’m driving into the office, why I sometimes feel like crying when I sit at my desk and survey the piles of papers littered around me. 

So reading about strength based activity makes me realize that the reasons I feel so unhappy and frustrated is that I’m no longer using my natural strengths to their best advantage.  It makes sense to me that if people are most effective when they’re working within the areas of their greatest strength, than the opposite would also be true- that we are not only less productive, but less satisfied when we our work entails utilizing our weaker traits.

Now here’s where my inner Puritan pipes up.  “It’s work, you ninny,” the black-robed figure scolds, “it’s not supposed to be fun or satisfying.  It’s supposed to be hard!”

But the Gallup people have a different take on the subject.  Don’t we owe it to our employers to give them our best selves?  And doesn’t it behoove companies to encourage  employees to discover their strengths and help them find ways to use them in their employment positions, to make them more effective and productive?  Shouldn’t that be a win-win for everyone?

Hmm.. it should, I think.

So in the days ahead I’ll be delving a little deeper into this idea of strength based leadership, trying to determine just what my strengths (in this context) might be.  Perhaps I can find ways to use them in this new world I’m working in.  And perhaps in the process, I’ll gain a better understanding of myself as a person.

I’ll keep you posted.

To find out more about strength based leadership, and the StrengthFinder assessment, visit the Gallup Strength-Finder website here.

Sprung

Weather has an amazing effect on the personality, doesn’t it?  We’re enjoying an unbelievably early spring (it was 76 degrees today!) and people are so full of energy and enthusiasm.  Just give folks a little sunshine and they’re good to go – if only we could bottle that.  What’s that, you say?  they do?  It’s called Vitamin D? 

Well, you know what I mean. 

You can’t pop a pill and get that euphoric -suck -in -a -deep -breath -of -that -fresh -warm -air feeling that comes from the first warm days of spring.

I’m no exception to the giddiness of the first spring day.  Even a day of paper shuffling at work was made bearable by having the window open and hearing the birds twittering away outside. 

Each year when winter rolls around, I wonder if I’ll make it to spring, if I’ll survive those long months of  ice and cold and gunmetal gray, if I’ll live to feel the sun on my face, to sit on my back porch and drink coffee in the morning, to hang my sheets on the line, to fill my flower beds with impatiens. 

Today, I knew I’d made it again, that I’d been released from winter’s entrapment, allowed to breath easy once more.

It’s spring.

I’m sprung.