Develop Your Personal Gifts
Who are You? Self development starts with understanding exactly who you are, what personal gifts you already have and what personal qualities you want to obtain to make yourself a better person and enrich your quality of life.
This means taking an honest hard look at yourself from the inside out, and analyzing yourself objectively. I like to think that we all want to better ourselves as we aspire to do more, achieve more, learn more and help others more. So, this of course means slowing down every once in a while and taking a look at ourselves. It’s a necessity that is sometimes ugly when we honestly peek inside our souls; admittedly rooting out something that shouldn’t be there and replacing it with something better.
Why not work on enhancing the personal gifts and qualities you already possess? What are YOU good at doing? What really motivates and inspires you to take action? Start your self development with those things. Jimmie Burroughs wrote a nice article on “Knowing Yourself” and developing your personal gifts. Here’s a segment from his post I found inspiring.
Self Development And How to Know Yourself
By Jimmie BurroughsIt was Socrates who said, “Know Thyself.” What great advice! We could add to that, to thyself be true and love thyself even as you love others. When we begin to explore who we really are, we come face to face to who God and his creation is also; it answers the questions about what makes us tick and respond as we do; it enables us to take into stride the events of life without fear. It washes away the doubts and negative feelings of life. “You are your own raw material. When you know what you consist of and what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.” – Warren G. Bennis.
To understand yourself is to understand what you are made of, what your properties are and how to best develop them and to conform them to the image you desire. Often parents make the mistake of not understanding that each person is a unique, individual creation of God, with different desires and gifts and so they sometimes try and direct their children into the same career that they are involved with. That is okay, if that happens to be the interest of the children, and they are also gifted in that same area, but otherwise it could be a sentence of misery and failure.
Understanding ourselves and what our particular gifts are is crucial to finding the purpose and meaning in life that brings satisfaction. Ask yourself: What gives me meaning and purpose? When you know the answer, then that is the direction you should go with your life and not what someone else may prescribe.
It may sound to you as if I’m talking just too young people, but I’m also talking to you if you are older. It’s great to discover ourselves when we are young and then begin early in life to pursue our purpose, but it does not always work out that way. For me it was much later in life, but later is better than not at all.
How does one gain both an objective and subjective understanding of themselves? Subjectively, we search our own heart for specific, unique interests. It was easy for me to rule out any kind of medical career because it had absolutely no appeal to me. The thoughts of being a surgeon, and cutting another person open were something I could not handle. I understand the great services doctors and surgeons perform, but it is for those who desire it and are gifted for it. So it is with any direction in life. Deciding to pursue something on the grounds that it pays well or that is a family tradition is a poor way to plan your future.
It does take some soul searching, and some knowledge of the creator to uncover the deepest desires of the heart, but in time it will become clear. Objectively, others will tell you, from time to time, what you are good at, and from that you can consider if it is true and if it is something that you want develop.
Continue Reading Full Article Here
http://jimmieburroughs.com/?p=3431
Self development and personal growth is a process folks. Everybody has natural talents and abilities which are just innate. Grow “your” personal gifts. Work on all the positive things that you’re good at and build them up. Look at ways you can improve on what already inspires you. How can you help somebody using what you already know. As you develop the personal gifts you currently have I bet you’ll discover more.
What do you think?
Stay focused and Stay faithful. I wish you every good thing.
