4 Questions to Identify Your Unique Gift: The Wednesday 1-2-3

Published about 1 year ago • 1 min read

Hey Reader,

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I refer to as “the gift percolating up from within me.”

Some folks call this a “calling.” Others call it our “daimon” or reference the Japanese concept of “ikigai.” Gay Hendricks calls it our “Zone of Genius.”

I think of it as the quality of living that is uniquely ours to nurture and bring forth in the world.

And, when I’m present to my life, I notice this quality more and more. I notice when I’m engaging in work that doesn’t feel like work. Or when I slip into that wonderful state or experience of Flow. Those moments when I find myself embodying a posture of total openness and creativity.

It's that feeling of "this is the only thing in the world right now and it is mine to do."

Hendricks offers four questions for us to consider in identifying what this space is for us. I invite you to grab a journal or go for a walk with these questions this week.

What is the gift percolating up from within you?

Hendricks’ 4 Questions:

What activity do you most love to do? What you can do for long stretches without getting tired or bored?
What work do you love to do that doesn’t feel like work?
When you’re at work, what produces the highest ratio of abundance and satisfaction to time spent? [I would add: “work” doesn’t have to mean a job or career.]
What is the unique ability that you possess?

❓ Questions

Who are the people in your life that seem to bring this quality of living out in you?
How might nurturing this quality of living help you approach conflict in your life with a more curious and centered posture?

🧰 Resources

Learn more about the concept of "ikigai" (article)
What does it mean to enter a flow state? (article)
My thoughts on "calling" and my path to (and away from) teaching (IG post)

👉 Recommended Next Read

A Practice for Helping Your Questions to Emerge

Read it here

Hope all is well-enough with you,

Andrew

IG: @andrewglang

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