True Self

There are certain things I do well. I like to think of these things as my "special gifts." My thinking about this goes back to early Bible classes at St. Paul's Methodist Church where I learned that you shouldn't bury your talents in the ground or hide your light under a bushel. Those Bible stories are powerful metaphors and I'm glad I learned them. The point is, I have special gifts that God can use for His purposes if I don't bury them or put them under a bushel. I like that.

These are some of my special gifts: listening to people and encouraging their growth, organizing and reorganizing stuff with amazing speed and agility, starting new projects and inspiring others to participate and being a natural leader (some people call this "bossy" but I think that's a little negative, don't you?). I'm not bragging, I'm just saying...

So what are your special gifts? Everyone has some and it's good to know what they are. We spend so much time criticizing ourselves, it's helpful to remember and be able to speak about what we do well.

As a coach I help people realize and strengthen their special gifts. As a spiritual seeker I am grateful for these gifts, but I know they aren't the whole story. What I'm most interested in is my true self.

My true self is the "me but not me" that's been around forever. It's the deepest part that is always connected with God. It's the small, still voice inside that I can hear when I'm calm. It's the "me, but not me" that's being uncovered as I let go of attachments and limiting beliefs and all that other stuff that causes suffering.

Here's what Gourasana says about the true self:

Your true self is not a being like any you have experienced.

There is no question of not liking yourself;

you will have nothing but unlimited love for yourself.

I don't know the difference between true self and soul. I'll leave that to the philosophers. All I know is that I am always looking for truth, so it figures I would be finding some. And it figures that there's an always-truer expression of my self. The truer it gets the less fettered and encumbered it is. That's where I'm going and with God's grace I will keep finding more. Seek and ye shall find, right?

Good luck to you. Even when self-discovery gets difficult and all you can see is where you are not sufficient, remember who you really are and smile. That's where you're heading.