‘Find yer talent an’ get busy buzzin’…!’

A few years ago I supported a charity called ‘Hope Africa’.  What particularly struck me were the unusual gifts sent out with each appeal for money.  Once, I received a lovely recipe for chilli jam, a beautiful card that still sits in my recipe file; on another occasion, a paper clip whose top had been fashioned into a flower.  I reflected on the hands that had patiently bent a length of wire into this intricate shape, no doubt for some meagre wage.  Fingers that fiddled hour after hour, probably day after day, doing this monotonous work.  I couldn’t help but feel, though, that love went into the making of each and every one.  This was something to be treasured.  So I did and I do.  Such an attractive way to keep my papers together.  A paper clip wouldn’t usually get a second glance… getting blog space though… this office sundry, deemed worthless, that’s far more likely to get shlooped up a Dyson at the end of a day.

But one item they sent out, went way beyond ‘food for thought’.  ‘Life changing’ in my opinion; a small card with these words attributed to Leo Buscaglia, quoted with permission from www.quotationsbook.com :

‘Your talent is God’s gift to you; what you do with it, is your gift to God’ 

Without treading on anyone’s toes/feelings here, please replace God with whatever fits your belief system.  The ‘Higher Power’ used within the recovery programmes cannot offend anyone but I like to think of God as The Universe; this Universal energy that pervades all things, all beings, and is working right now in our favour, if only we allow it to and… as long as we BELIEVE that it will.  Registering Leo’s words was one of those ‘Wow’ moments that I not only took to heart but tell others as well.  This card is always with me, on display within the plastic photo section of my purse… I mean which of my 4 kids would I put there anyway?

I believe that each and every one of us is incredibly talented.  We’re all awesome in fact and I’m convinced we know where our talents lie.  It could be an aptitude for certain subjects at school; maybe a passion for sport or photography or gardening.  We just have to find what gives us that ‘buzz’ and follow its path.  There are those… and I don’t wish to demean this in any way… who simply have an ability to listen.  How many of us just need a willing ear?  Even better if that person is understanding and compassionate; better still if they have the knack to somehow ‘suss you out’ within minutes.  You know.  Those people who tune directly into your wavelength and know exactly where you’re coming from; make you feel comfortable right away.

Unsure of my talents as a teenager, I felt drawn to a life working with animals and my father, give him his due, did get in touch with Sir Peter Scott and Gerald Durrell (whose ‘Jersey Preservation Trust’ I’d supported for many years.  He’s the guy who wrote ‘My Family and Other Animals’… One romp of a read).  Dad was advised that I’d need at least a degree in Botany to take this up seriously and, as I’d already failed Biology at ‘O’ level, this was rather a non-starter.  My parents knew I was a creative child but because I couldn’t come up with anything, suggested a career as an Air Traffic Controller in the RAF(!)  Fortunately, I can say now, I failed the 3 day ‘interview’, so next on their agenda was nursing.  That was so I could marry the doctor… instead of the RAF Officer… and thereby hangs another tale.  To say that I didn’t have a mind of my own or much of a clue at this stage of my life, is an understatement.  Anyway, my ‘A’ levels in Maths, French and Spanish proved most useful at this juncture!  While I don’t dislike caring for people, it’s hardly a creative occupation.  We were, for instance, taught ‘regulation corners’ when bed-making (this was the ‘stiffly starched apron’ era with Matron at the helm), so no scope there and there are only so many ways you can wipe a bum!

Creativity and giving injections don’t go hand in hand either… paralysis a likely outcome!

Remember my first time (no, not that, but that too!) and my patient asking whether I had done this before, as I fingered a cross on his buttock.  Not quite the time to tell him that till then, I’d only practised on oranges!  So whilst I did achieve those letters after my name, S.R.N. could p’haps stand for ‘So Right… Not’.

I believe now, that any of us can achieve our dreams which will naturally be in harmony with our talents and that we can get involved in anything we want to, starting at the ‘grass roots’ level if necessary.  I believe too, that we are all created perfectly for the ‘whatever’ we are supposed to do with our lives.  Those of us who prefer outdoor work should not be stuck in offices.  Those who operate best alone, shouldn’t work within a team.  It all leads to unhappiness and frustration.  I mean, how many joyful, yes ‘full of joy’, commuters do you see on the average morning?  We spend by far the largest chunk of our day ‘at work’ or not, if we’re not, so why keep busy being miserable?  I know… possibly stuck in that rut of having to do something/anything just to keep the bills paid but…

we have to find the time to follow our passion 

even if it’s a few minutes each day.  Liken it to crowbarring our way into a wooden box.  Making that start can be difficult; it’s easy once we get the leverage.  This is our box of joy.  It’s already ours but gets sidestepped or ignored; likely stubs our toes.  But it’s our birthright.  We should wake up with a zing, excited to get on with the morning but having some ‘buzz’ time to look forward to, is a start.

Every day I receive an email from The Universe… well, not quite every day.  The Universe takes weekends off!  Sent from Heaven, Cloud 4(!), they are the inspiration of Mike Dooley (of ‘The Secret’ fame) and I would recommend anyone to subscribe to these gems from his ‘Truly Unique Thoughts’ website.  I save the good ones in a separate folder but have so many now, that I’m rapidly running out of gigabytes.  Here’s one from July 18th (this year) and quoted with permission:

‘Blazing desire, even when it’s all you’ve got, is all you’ve ever needed.  But mind you, if your blazing desire has not effortlessly thrown you into action – preparing the way, taking baby steps and doing all you can – then it’s just a smouldering desire and you’re thinking other conflicting stuff as well.

Always hot for you,

The Universe’  (copyright Mike Dooley @ www.tut.com)

 

And another ‘Note from The Universe’… again quoted with permission.  This one emailed on July 23rd, also this year:

‘When you move towards a dream, it moves towards you.

When you move every day, it moves every day.

Someone pass me a calculator.

The Universe’  (copyright Mike Dooley @ www.tut.com)

 

Don’t you just love this guy?  His zany humour?  “Thanks Mike. We love you!”

Many years ago an astrologer friend told me that my very promising aspect of Mercury and Neptune indicated a potential to be a successful writer.  I was at that time running a business with my now ex-husband, so kind of pooh-poohed this suggestion.

Besides, some English teacher at school had assured me I had little writing ability.  Mud sticks wot.  But I wasn’t enjoying many aspects of this job, the huge amount of associated stress (the physical repercussions came later) and especially the entire night’s sleep I had to sacrifice once/twice a week just to keep on top of it all… plus I had the children to supposedly look after as well; half a football team by then, including two step-children and our baby.  (Yeah right, we had time for that!)  But how can you run a business from home and attend to their needs?  Emotional needs don’t even get a look in but you try your best.  “You do what you can, with what you’ve got” so they say, or someone said!  Looked it up… Where would I be without Google?  It’s actually a quote by Theodore Roosevelt:

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

So I managed the ‘relaxed’ breast-feeding with my neck crooked round the phone and pen and paper in hand(s) to deal with orders.  Expert positioning of pillows needed.  Didn’t use I.T. then.  Didn’t know how, and hubby was always too busy to show me but good old-fashioned  accounting worked well and I found it quicker to access someone’s account (i.e. PULL RELEVANT FILE OFF SHELF, FLICK TO NAME) than wait for a computer to load up/download/whatever.  But in trying to be housewife/mother/career person and find ‘Me’ time (What was that?)… something had to ‘give’.  The kids did, much of the time (and we were struggling to make ends meet*, by the way, not ordering gold-plated taps)…

*Our delightful fridge magnet read: ‘Just as you’re about to make ends meet, God moves the ends.’ 

… so days spent doing child-orientated activities meant going without the sleep (above) to catch up with the business.   It saddens me to this day that my eldest son only ever wanted to fly his kite with me and by the time I had the time, he was more interested in a pint.  Was it all worth it?  In the grand scheme of things: NO.  People who say they can do/have ‘it all’ will compromise big time or they have help in the shape of a Nanny.  (Psst… She’s the one reading your kids their bedtime stories).  Just a thought: Is that when ‘children’ became ‘kids’… The Victorian ‘Nanny’ era?!

But I don’t believe any of us can really multitask.  Yes, it’s true that, technically, we can cook the dinner whilst on the mobile or eat, while doing the same… the flat I shared with my last partner, was so small that landline calls could be taken not only from the sofa, but also from the bathroom, whilst cooking and, at a ‘stretch’, even from our bed, all from the one socket… but we cannot give both activities 100% of our attention.  This can only ever be divided between the number of activities we’ve taken on.  Think about it.

Can you really listen to a phone conversation while counting the number of pepper twists a dish needs or while making the culinary mental gymnastics to ensure all aspects of the meal are completed simultaneously?

Can you truly savour a meal whilst doing justice to a phone conversation?  This invites the question: Should meals be eaten in silence?  This was something my ex advocated but it never happened.  I mean, it was that ‘get the family together’ time.  But if you’re out on a date or with company, perhaps with people you haven’t seen for a while, you will naturally want to talk, won’t you?  And that delicious soup will get lost among the consonants and vowels like I’m being sidetracked into these syllables.  Where was I?  Finding your talents…

It wasn’t till much later then, when we finally gave up the business, that I realised this astrologer was right.  Began to pen my first poems, learnt to understand that ‘less is more’… Hard to believe that coming from me, eh?  I drafted short stories and came up with endless ideas for books.  Have even outlined a film script, though most of it’s still in my cerebral cortex!  I rediscovered my love of reading poetry, especially the contemporary stuff.  But since my last (aye, not the first) divorce, I’ve been busy doing ‘anything and everything’ just to keep my head above the proverbial.  A year off ‘to write’ wasn’t an option.  During the recession (we’re still in it, aren’t we?) my various jobs began to dry up; an opportunity then, to finally overcome my fear of technology, grab hold of my crowbar/computer illiteracy and prise my way into that local library… which I did, firstly to open up an email account.  Quite an achievement at the time… Soon I was surfing the Internet(!), opening documents, cutting/pasting… and beyond, which meant I could finally get busy buzzin’.  Tell me though, which idiot (the genius!) decided that the ‘start‘ key would stop/close down a computer!   Yeah, it’s obvious when you know but when you’re new to this game, you spend ages clicking this, that an’ t’other in vain.  ‘S all right for you youngsters… Technology’s second nature, though I reckon pre-school children will eventually lose their ability to choose crayons and colour in pictures (neatly of course).  These days it’s ‘move mouse and click’!  But hey, I’m now freed from the restrictions of the library with a laptop of my own which now keeps me up half the night in a different way… emailing, Facebooking, Youtubing (sometimes), sorting photographs, searching Google Images, getting involved with the blogging community plus typing this lot at 2 in the morning… but I love it.

So if we want to find out what makes someone tick, we perhaps shouldn’t ask them what they do for a living but rather what they enjoy doing in their spare time,

a much better indication of a person’s interests/skills.  If they light up when they tell you, you’ll know you’ve hit the spot.

 

COPYRIGHT FOR IMAGES / QUOTES:

The three photos of the paper clip, the oranges and pepper mill are my own.  Permission needed to reproduce please.

The quote attributed to Leo Buscaglia is courtesy of www.quotationsbook.com

The photo of the ‘crowbar and box’ by kind permission of Mark @ www.mashkulture.net

Both ‘Notes from the Universe’ courtesy of Mike Dooley @ www.tut.com

Image of ‘muddy boots’ licensed to me from www.123rf.com as follows:

Image credit: <a href=’http://www.123rf.com/photo_4718766_muddy-work-boot-isolated-on-a-white-background.html’>Cole123RF / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

This lot (above) ‘s all gobbledygook to me but it’s what they advised me to do (copy and paste)… unless I’m supposed to do something else with it/put it somewhere else?  Anyone know?