What makes you special? A colleague asked me that question last week as I prepared to make a short video about Family Constellation. It was a difficult question for me to answer as a student of A Course in Miracles because the Course says no one is special because we are all special. I believe that, yet I also understand that here in the world of form, we each have unique gifts and talents to share with the world. No one does things exactly the way you do, even if they are in the same profession or participating in the same activity.
When I pondered this question later, it occurred to me that my presence creates a safe environment where people allow themselves to be vulnerable. I didn’t face the same challenges as many male massage therapists when it came to female clients. Many women who thought they would never let a man give them a massage ended up on my massage table. It was very flattering. At the time I thought it was because I grew up in a household of women, which gave me a more gentle energy. That may be part of it. Now I realize it probably has a lot to do with my studies of the Course, which can be summed up with these 3 statements from the introduction. “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” Since I feel safe, people feel safe in my presence. Somehow they know I’m not going to judge them or make them wrong no matter what they share. Quite frequently people will tell me very personal things about their life soon after I meet them.
One memorable example of this happened last year while I was out and about in Wilton Manors with one of my best friends. We met a couple visiting from California, and to say that they were a bit flirtatious is an understatement. Things got very uncomfortable when the older gentleman started yelling at my friend for getting too close to his partner on the dance floor. The angry partner confessed this happens a lot and he wanted to know why? This lead to a deep conversation about how fear sometimes masquerades as love. I never expected to be doing a coaching session with two strangers at a bar, but they were very grateful for the talk and I felt like that was the reason I was there that night. I used to wonder why this kind of thing happened to me all the time, but now I consider it a blessing. It certainly makes my job as a Life Coach and Family Constellation Facilitator much easier.
So I will ask again, “What makes you special?” Is there something about you that you used to think was a curse and now you see as a gift? Don’t worry about being arrogant while answering this question. We all need to own our gifts and talents because we were given them to be a force of Love on the planet. When we own them and share them, we give others permission to do the same. Can you imagine how amazing the world would be if EVERYONE was owning and sharing their gifts and talents instead of hiding them or feeling like theirs weren’t worth a bag of beans? Please shine that special light of yours. The world needs you!
Until next time, remember you are special so keep shining like only you can!
