Do you know people that have a particular talent they somehow acquired but with little work involved? Do you know individuals that have an extraordinary endowment that seemed to have come to them with ease? These attributes can be in many different forms. They can be proficient in a variety of cognitive skills such as math, English, music or even trivia. These aptitudes can also be expressed in the physical form like athletic ability, or more commonly revered: bestowed with the human traits of beauty itself.

The pathways one leads is quite often reflective of the roads that open up to them. Frankly, some people have less troublesome paths than others due to the cards they were dealt in life. Conversely, there are those that are given ample opportunity, yet seem to squander their potentials for poor decisions made through-out their lives.

Interestingly, some of these gifts are used by the individual for either a greater good, or for a narcissistic purpose altogether. I wonder where this motivation comes from. Given these gifts we can either take them for granted, or we can cultivate them. The only decision we must make therefore is to what degree we utilize them and for whom they will benefit. Indeed we must acknowledge and have an awareness of such “gifts” in the first place, but I think most people are fairly able to identify these talents. I have a suspicion that many people do not identify clearly with their potentials, and they simply do nothing to cultivate what is naturally present within themselves. I also suspect that there are just as many people who are quite aware of their known advantageous qualities, and thus use them to meet an end of their own desire.

Surface or Substance
The challenge to undertake is entirely up to us. If our gifts come from a higher power; then precisely what we do with them can be our gift back to that higher power.