When you read first-hand accounts of near-death experiences, often you'll read where someone in authority up there is telling the person to fulfill their mission on earth once they get back. Then the knowledge of that mission is erased and they're sent back to earth. Now why would they do that?! Seeing how each of us is unique, wouldn't it help to have a hint of what we are uniquely supposed to be doing on earth for the benefit of our fellow-man and ourselves?
I've come to the conclusion that the only way to figure this thing out is to look back on our life and ponder the things that we've instinctively been good at, use our patriarchal blessings as a guide, and then keep ourselves worthy to notice when the Spirit nudges us in the right direction.
In my own case, as a child I thought it was odd that I was really good at two things: spelling, and rhyming.
Of course, spelling is important because if you can't spell correctly, people won't take you as seriously. Try to picture the following essay in a child's handwriting.
Sticker Story Hores
I like hores. Hores have other hores frinds.
Hores like carrots. You wouldn't think they could
but they can put their legs strait up.
Hores make you feel good. My dad wants a hores
but my mom says no. When I am. 16 or 20
I will buy my own hores.
Okay, I hope that wasn't too offensive, but you get the point.
Spelling is important.
As a youngster, I read many poems. I really liked poems, so I found myself very irritated when I found out that RHYMES + POETRY = BAD. Rhyming was no longer in style. Now everybody was just putting their thoughts on paper without any sort of rhythm whatsoever. Note the following example:
Speak
Voices
Not mine, but someone else's.
Someone else's advice
Their hopes, their dreams
What do they say?
Do you choose to listen?
They're very convincing
All morals aside
It's fun, its easy, its ok
But it's also them, not you.
Will you be their echo?
by whisperettex16
It has some good thoughts, but it's missing something.
Now read this one:
Count That Day Lost
If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.
But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost --
Then count that day as worse than lost.
by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
So much more satisfying!
Later, after many hours and years of struggling with the keyboard, a new talent emerged. I found out that I could play the piano, and I was good at it!
It is just now, at this late date, that I've realized why I was good at those three things. It's because all were necessary to create SONGS.
One day I figured out that the songs I liked best were the ones that followed the natural cadence of a person's speech. Look at any Beatles song...usually the melody follows how a Beatle would naturally speak those words. That was an important day, because that's when I discovered that I could put all four elements together...spelling, rhyme, piano chops, and melody. (Chops = A slang term for the technical skill with which a jazz or rock musician performs).
Now that I've begun churning out songs, I'm started to understand what my place in the world is, and why it says in my patriarchal blessing, in effect: "Your influence will be felt by many."
The reason why I say we should keep ourselves worthy to notice the nudges of the Spirit is because I've found that when I'm doing what I know I'm supposed to be doing, not doing what I know I'm not supposed to be doing, and taking baby steps toward becoming a better person, that's when the musical floodgates seem to open. When I follow any other course, the floodgates are shut tight.
So, what are your natural talents, and what have you discovered about yourself?
What is your place in the world, and how are you using your talents to improve the lot of mankind?
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2 comments:
I remember writing my first poem in 4th grade:
Down in the canyon,
the canyon so deep.
Down in the canyon
that is so steep
Down in the canyon
where sheep are shorn
Down in the canyon
where squash is grown.
I have no idea what inspired me to write this but I have never forgotten it because it was mine. My creation. No one elses.
Didn't realize it until much later, that I could write. Songs, poems, books for children and adults. And I adored doing it. Wish I had kept is all in a folder to pass on or just laugh at. Glad you found your niche and are enjoying it. I don't know where mine will lead yet. :)
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