Good Fortune Chases Genius
"The more you live in your personal genius, the more good fortune finds you" - Gay Handricks.
One of my biggest struggles is learning to not be distracted by what I'm good at, or what I think I'm supposed to do. We all develop skill sets and characteristics to help us survive, adapt or belong in different periods of our lives. We're multidimensional people so it makes sense that we could get good (even really good) at something that is not necessarily who we are, or where our personal genius lies.
In fact, developing what we're good at vs is our unique gift to flourish, is sometimes easier to do because it's not as vulnerable.
Here's the problem we encounter though: when we stay in what we're good at to the exclusion of developing what makes us truly flourish (our personal zone of genius), we create an enormous amount of frustration for ourselves.
“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” Gospel of Thomas, from the Apocrypha
Let me put it this way: when we start to actively build our days around our personal genius, our lives start to flow differently. It is the key to a profound relationship with ourselves, with others and the best possible strategy to flourishing in your outer world as well.
I woke up and felt like we could all use a beam of clarity in our lives; a fresh jolt before the weekend. So let's re-discover, affirm or find your personal Genius. Let's uncover your unique key to Flourishing.
I'm going to put some questions and activities below for you to ponder this weekend. These questions are great for uplifting conversation, and having a second set of ears listening to your responses can help identify key themes or clues that often turn out to be helpful insights.
These are some of my favorite questions to ask to help me reconnect with where my genius lies:
- Timeline: What are the key moments/memories in life when I felt my absolute best? What was I doing? What was different about it? How did I feel about myself? What made it so meaningful/enjoyable?
- Emotions: When I have been the happiest? When have I felt "most like myself"? When was I the most proud of myself? When have I felt like I was 'made' to do something?
- Activities: What activities do I MOST enjoy doing? What activities do I do without having to be told to do them or check them off a list? What activities do I regularly turn back to in some form throughout my life, simply because I want to do them?
- Flow: When do I lose track of time because I'm so consumed in what I'm doing? When have I thought or felt "I can't believe I get to do this" or "this is what I'm meant to do" or "I would do this everyday if I could"?
I challenge you to toss these questions around this weekend with people who know you well, are safe and that you enjoy talking to- and see what happens!
Looking forward to hearing what you discovered and how you felt after uncovering more insights about your unique gift to flourish.
Stay in the Light,
Jesska Layne Herfst, MAPC
High Performance Consultant
Founder of Layne & Hugh Consulting