Discovering Your Strengths

[Ann]

Discovering Your Strengths
by Ana Garcia

Some time in the process of the transition from the old you to the new you, a truly miraculous thing happens. I call it the manifestation of your new strengths.

When I first came across this concept I couldn't imagine me having new strengths. The reason is because we tend to think of ourselves as having specific natural gifts and we identify with them. Throughout our lives we endlessly work on these gifts, modify them, using them to different extents in different positions (e.g. at work) and situations (e.g. in our every day lives), adapting and flowing around them, but how many of us think of developing or manifesting completely new skills, specially if these skills used to be our weaknesses? We would view our character partly through the lack or those qualities or characteristics that we thought would never have!

Developing new strengths is what I call 'Rounding Yourself Up'.

You see, after a certain amount of work on yourself, as you work on a specific 'quality', others are developed in a parallel way.

These unobserved skills only become apparent when you allow yourself to have enough space to let whatever needs to manifest do so (e.g. release control) and when you are prepared to let whatever may come out to play (e.g. release fear).

What does all this mean?

You nurture your strengths when you are true to yourself, when you choose YOU above anything else, when you are IN INTEGRITY. And the reason is that you are not using your energy to hold the pieces of your being together any more, and because you are following your intuition instead of relying on your willpower in order to make things happen (or create your reality), you are releasing your natural gifts.

As these qualities are manifested or 'externalized' you can then see them. If you acknowledge them and don't dismiss them, they become stronger.

Then a phenomenon happens: your new discovered strengths seem to take a 'personality of their own' (and a strong one at that!) and as you focus on them (discover them, experiment with them, see how you can use them or how you can put them to benefit to your life) all your energy and attention gathers around them.

You then start attracting better opportunities because you are no longer looking at your life from your limitations but through the new lenses of your strengths. As you expand, these become beams of light, beacons that call your future towards you.

As one of my teachers said to me some time ago 'your reality of today is the result of the way you saw the world yesterday, so by shifting your attitude and way of thinking now you are creating your reality of tomorrow'.

What a great truth!

As you start seeing life under a light of expansiveness, you get excited about the new world of possibilities that you feel coming towards you. Keep alert and awake and trust this feeling ¡V the moment you decide in your heart and your mind 'I will not tolerate this any longer', whatever it is, you are calling the Universe to bring you your next challenge, you have reached a new level and are ready to graduate in that level in the School of Life.

Welcome these new strengths, recognize them, acknowledge them and accept them. You never know where they will lead you!

But in the stage of transition, let go of the old safety - the job, situation or relationship that you used to have and which was your identity. This is the moment of courage, the moment of the truth.

As it is explained in 'Sacred Contracts' (by Caroline Myss), this is the time when the old is no longer the leading force in your life and the time when the future has not fully manifested in the physical world yet. This is the moment of trust, the moment of strength. But feel the expansiveness of the non-formed reality and relish in the excitement of the limitless future that you are having the great honor and privilege to seeing as it is being born in front of your very eyes.

Nothing in Nature stays as a vacuum; as soon as a gap is made, it gets filled straight away. You don't see the full perspective of all the links coming together because we lack the point of perspective that God has, and this is why it is so important not to walk back. In fact, I would say that once you have reached this point you can't walk back even if you wanted to because you have expanded beyond the person you used to be and that old life doesn't fit you any longer.

It is as if the snake tried to go back to that old shed skin that is now just too small for it, that has no lustre and is broken into pieces, and only because it is scared to shine brighter and to be stronger and more powerful. It just doesn't happen!!

The shift happens when you realize that your skills are simply a stepping stone in the development of Who You Are.

In our heart there are always a set of skills that we know we need to become that bigger being. We know a renewed effort will be required (e.g. do something different than we did before, for instance study something new, join a new group, shift our attitude or our mindset) and the problem is that we don't really know what the benefit will be.

The question here is:

IS THIS A SACRIFICE I AM WILLING TO MAKE?

« Are we prepared to let go of the opportunities around the corner just because we know that it will take energy and effort?

« Are we prepared to graduate or do we want to remain as eternal students?

« Am I going to let my Ego lead my life or am I going to stay in integrity and allow my higher self to show me the way?

« In other words, am I honoring the fact that I am an ever expanding being or am I going to settle for limitation, shrinking of my soul in a more and more asphyxiating environment?

« Will I allow my life to be reorganized around my new found strengths giving them the status of 'spiritual lighthouse' allowing them to beam with their own light and "call" or "attract" the future that is awaiting for me, that is mine to have?

« Am I going to stop using my will power alone to accomplish everything or will I give my intuition some space?

You will know when this shift happens because you will get a lot done but with a fraction of the energy you used to need. You will feel less exhausted and more energized.

When we run on our 'emergency mode' for a long period of time, every part of our system wears out much quicker and much deeper and it takes longer to build it up again because it all has been forced at a speed that couldn't hold.

The secret is to "take ownership" of your own light and stop others trying to dim it or push it around according to how or when it suits them and regardless of the effects on you.

This means that you will I therefore have strengthened your wires or emotional and spiritual bodies so you will be able to stand rejection, pushovers, lies and deceit, backstabbing, untruths (and any other form of integrity damage) and this will allow you to go ahead in your soul's goal of being heard and telling your truth (or standing by your truth).

Remember, a building is only as strong as its foundations. When a building is out of integrity, it simply collapses, no matter how high or flashy it is.

Yes, expect to go through the stages of grievance, pain, anger, acceptance of your reality, adjusting to the new flow, etc, but once your present is accepted and acknowledged, you know that you are riding the wave of flow.

Look at what you have to lose or how much it will cost you in terms of your own self esteem, dignity and energy and I choose always ME first!

[Gabe]

“Sacred Contracts” by Caroline Myss. A great book.
“We all come into this world with Sacred Contracts . Some know it as a calling. Some see it as a life mission. In short, a Sacred Contract is an agreement your soul makes before you are born."

[Don W]

Anne, This reminds me of a class at the VA Hospital. We were told to list our strengths, all our pens were down in 2 minutes. Our faults? They had to tell us to stop. Maybe this is why when others talk glowingly about us, we almost feel their talking about somebody else. We have all gained so much in recovery. To bad there wasn't a scale to show the good out weighing the bad. Don W

[Ann]

Don, every day I find new strength right here, sharing with my friends, learning from them and reaching out to them when my strength is failing. It's a gift of this program that we draw strength from each other and learn that we have more strength than we think within.

Hugs
Ann