Show Off

"Showing Off"  Copyright 2011, Caris Cerdwyn, All Rights Reserved

These trees or plants always blaze bright red in the autumn.  Most of the trees are struggling this year, colors muted because of all the rain we've had.  But not this one!  I'm not sure what they're called.  They're interesting however, and I've never seen them in the midwest or on or near the west coast either.  I don't notice them much at any other time of the year, but autumn...well you just can't help but notice them!  I love that shade of red.  During an autumn like this one, well, they just look like they're showing off, when all the other trees look a bit depressed.

Each one of us has at least one thing we do well.  We may not show up most of the time...compared to others we may even feel a bit dull.  But when we share our gift, well we shine.  We definitely show up!  We are bright and amazing, even dazzling.

Now some folks seem to have an endless supply of those kinds of gifts and abilities.  They are always out in front, dancing the best dance, singing the best song, painting the best picture, taking the best photo, dreaming the biggest dream, raising the most money.  Well, you know the type.  And there is something natural in feeling some envy or jealousy around that.  In and of itself, a feeling is just a feeling.  And sometimes jealousy is just a "tough love friend"  as Julia Cameron says in The Artist's Way.  We all know the feeling.  And often times it gets the better of us.  When I feel jealous of someone, I feel as though someone is squeezing my esophagus closed, my stomach turns and oh how I would like to take out my claws and do some damage.  It used to be such an awful thing and I hadn't a clue what to do with it.  Sometimes it ended up hurting the people around me.  On more than one occasion, it destroyed a friendship.  Augh!  What to do with it?  What to do when our competitive nature kicks in?

For me, I have learned to listen to those awful feelings.  They mean something.  They have a message.  Just like pain in the body means something is wrong or off, jealousy is an alarm system of sorts in our emotional package.  Pay attention...not to the person toward whom you feel jealous, envy or a sense of competition.  Pay attention to your own self.  Your own gifts!  It is likely that you should be using some gift which is dormant at present, and needs to be brought out into the light.  Go for it!  Not as some competitive act.  But rather seeking an outlet for something that is possibly stifled.  And if you are spending too much time in the company of people who overshadow you and the gifts you bring, then pull back a bit, make your own stage, create your own opportunities, and use the good gifts and the good sense that God has given you.

It is never easy to be the one of whom others are jealous.  I've been there and done that too, have a t-shirt, a coffee mug and a consulting business!!!  I am not interested in always being center stage.  I enjoy it as much as the next person.  But the thing I most enjoy and most love, is helping others to find their own abilities, their own gifts and creativity, their own avenues for expression.  It is an absolute delight when someone steps into their element, and that special gifts emerges and helps to warm the people in its glow, inspiring and encouraging them.

So, let's give up the fierce competition.  Let's put aside the catty comments that tear people down.  Let's stop trying to outdo someone else, (unless you're trying to outdo each other in love!)  And let's just tend to our own gifts, keep them burning, share them when possible, and learn to be happy for others who succeed.

Go to it!  And if you need a consultation, do give a call!!!