In this post I share with you three more essential keys to discovering your Unique Brilliance. Your Unique Brilliance is the one-of-a-kind crystal made of up the facets of the gifts you have come into this world to share. It’s how you shine.
If you missed my last post with the first and foremost key to discovering your Unique Brilliance, you can read it here.
These three keys may really help you begin to see your gifts more clearly:
- Your Unique Brilliance is innate to you; it has been with you since you were a child.
Your unique brilliance isn’t something you grew into or learned later in life. It’s not some skill you picked up along the way. It is fundamental to who you are, how you are wired.
What qualities, characteristics and inclinations have always been a part of who you are?
What did others comment about you as a child and young person? What good did they see and appreciate in you? What do they commend you on now?
And what do people say about you in the negative? What do people say about you repeatedly, both negatively and positively? Both are keys to your unique brilliance.
For instance, people told me over and over “You’re too sensitive.” My emotional, intuitive and aesthetic sensitivity is a core part of my unique brilliance. People also tell me, “You’re so creative,” and honestly even to this day, I’m still surprised by that and think it’s not that special in me, and that leads us to the next key.
- Your Unique Brilliance comes easily to you. Others think it’s remarkable, but you don’t.
photo by Averie Woodard
Your Unique Brilliance is so natural and close to you that it’s hard to recognize, like trying to see your own face without a mirror. Your Unique Brilliance is hiding in plain sight. It’s easier for others to see than for you to see it.
The fact that it comes easily and naturally to you doesn’t mean you don’t have to work to develop it, but it does mean there’s something innate in you. I have worked incredibly hard to develop my skill as a writer and my communication skills in speaking, and I continue to work at this, but I also have a natural facility with language.
What are the things you do and ways you are that come easily to you, and you are surprised when others comment on it because you think it’s no big deal? What is second nature to you? Do people admire your beautiful speaking voice? Are they wowed by your ability to galvanize people behind a cause? Are they surprised by your unique flair with clothing or how you pair foods together? Keep an ear out for these things.
For instance, I have an ability to feel what others are feeling and sense what may be going on in their minds. It is an intuitive emotional sensitivity that is so natural to me I hardly notice it. Again, I’ve had it since I was a child. Others are startled by this ability and will ask me, “How did you know that?” and I think, “Isn’t it obvious? Can’t everyone do this?” It doesn’t seem impressive to me or noteworthy.
You might have a natural ability to understand how machines work and a natural curiosity to take them apart and put them back together again. This may feel so easy and obvious to you that it’s hard to understand how others struggle with this, why they can’t see what you see.
- Your Unique Brilliance has no off switch.
photo by Andre Hunter
You can’t turn it off, you can’t stop being this way, seeing the world in this way, interacting with life in this way.
I have no off switch for that emotional sensitivity I talked about in the third key. It’s on all the time, whether I’m watching movies and feeling intensely in response to them or watching people in a restaurant, compelled by their subtle interactions, wanting to understand ever more deeply what makes people tick on the inside, in their hearts. My intuitive radar is always on.
Similarly, I can’t stop being creative. I look at things and I want to make something beautiful and interesting out of them, take the materials and play with them to create art, beauty, wonder, delight, whether that’s in my garden, on the page or on the stage.
What aspects of how you are are always on, always with you in every situation? What ways can you not stop being, what can you not stop doing, even if you sometimes wish you could? For instance, it might be part of your unique brilliance to speak up when you see injustice happening, despite the cost to you personally. Or to be funny and make people laugh, even though sometimes it’s inappropriate.
In my next post, I’ll share three more keys to help you discover your Unique Brilliance. One of these in particular may really surprise you. Until then…
I would love to hear your comments and questions. What opened up for you in reading this post? If you write in, I’ll respond.
To your shining,
Maxima
If you would like help uncovering and making the most of your Unique Brilliance to create a passionate, fulfilling life centered around what you most love, check out my one-on-one Mentoring Program. It could be life-changing for you.
