Posts Tagged ‘Talents’
Making Peace With My Weirdness (Guest Post by Holly Pennington)
Today I’m delighted to welcome my friend Holly Pennington to my blog. Holly is a uniquely gifted writer, blogger from near Seattle, US. She writes about vulnerability, and faith, and has so much wisdom to share. Take it away Holly!
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I’ve never tried to be weird. But I have always felt weird. No purple spiky hair, grunge obsessions or gothic dress phases. Not even a single tiny hidden tattoo. Growing up in the 1980’s, I was a predictable Guess jeans-wearing suburban kid.
But I did own a pair of red plaid Doc Martens once. To be exact, I was only part-owner. My sister and I shared them. We simultaneously fell in love with them but Doc Martens weren’t cheap, so we each paid half. When I went away to college, I took them with me just until my next visit home; then, her turn. Being part-time keeper of the boots somehow made my love for them stronger.
Treading across the Wake Forest University quad, an insecure thumb tucked under each backpack strap and self-conscious eyes fixed downward, the surprise of my feet clad in red plaid filled me with a distinct burst of joy. I felt daring in my Doc Martens. My connection to them was made of courage, awe and a tinge of rebellion.
But, what made me feel weird was not my style; it was my interests.
Read MoreIrregular Intentionality: Making Sense Of Our Busy Lives
Blogging has been tough for me for a while. In truth, for nearly a year. Even though I had a break which was meant to help, on reflection I didn’t use that break as effectively as the one I had in 2014.
The recurrence of this issue though, has shown this problem was far deeper.
And I have absolutely no doubt what the real problem is.
It’s an issue with time management. An issue which many of us struggle with, and has become a major issue for me. I’m simply not creating enough space in my life to cultivate the habits, like free-writing, which help me find my voice & inspiration.
And I need to do something about it, or I’m not going to achieve what I’m capable of. Because if we don’t manage our time effectively, we won’t realise our full potential – in any area of life.
Read MoreChristopher Reeve & Why You Are A Superhero
I’ve always loved superheroes. As a child my hero was Christopher Reeve’s incarnation of Superman (left). I wanted to be him. His ideals, his values, his belief in our ability to be better as people. And of course, his super powers.
Now of course, as an adult I know I don’t have ‘superpowers’ like comic book heroes.
I’m just a writer. I’m just me, with all my insecurities, and imperfections. I’m not perfect. And a lot of the time, I think I’m nothing special.
Don’t we all?
But I was watching a superhero movie today, about Spider-Man – an ordinary guy who gets powers, and still has all his insecurities, fears and imperfections despite that.
And I felt God speak to me quietly, and tell me that I do have a superpower.
Writing – as only I can write. Being me.
Read MoreWhat Is Calling? – A Podcast Series
Calling. It’s a word more and more of us are thinking about, and using in our day to day lives.
Calling speaks to our desire for purpose and meaning. It causes us to ponder what we really wish to do with our lives. It whispers to us in our imaginations, and makes us wonder whether our life might just be about something bigger than ourselves.
Calling and vocation can, however, be easily misunderstood.
So every day on my podcast this week, I’m going to be unpacking this subject, and these a bit more.
You see, many often talk about calling in terms of one calling for life. These
Read MoreLiz Gilbert & Why Our Calling Doesn’t Have To Pay The Bills
Author Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir ‘Eat Pray Love’ sold 10 million copies. But what many people don’t know, is that she was a ‘successful’, paid writer before that book. Maybe not to the degree that she is now, but still relatively successful.
But even so, as Gilbert shares in her recent book ‘Big Magic’, she only gave up her day job once ‘Eat Pray Love’ went huge. She had been freelance paid writer before then, but had kept a day job the whole time.
Because she saw – and still sees – writing as her calling, her vocation – whether it’s her day job or not.
Which highlights one of the biggest and most dangerous myths around calling:
That to pursue a vocation or calling means it has to become our day job, our primary source of income – otherwise we’ve failed in our calling.
And it’s a total lie.
Read MoreHow Will You Be Transformed in 2016? #OneWord365
Each year is a season. Each year, we undergo a process of transformation, of some kind. We’re never the same person departing the year as we were walking in. Whether we’re intentional or not about this process, transformation always happens. For good, or for ill.
Ironically, the word transformation was one I chose for my ‘OneWord365’ for 2015 (I’m going to talk more about One Word 365 and how it’s impacted my life, and how it can impact yours, in the podcast on Wednesday.
There’s no doubt my life as a whole, and especially my perception of life, faith, spirituality, and creativity, has transformed in 2015. And as happened in previous years, the word I chose has become true in many more ways than I could have foreseen.
But what I’ve learned is we are always in a process of transformation. Whether we like it or not. The choice we have is not whether we’re going to be transformed, but how.
Read MoreSurrendering The Final Word
I can screw up. A lot. I’ve said and done things I’m not proud of. I’ve got regrets. And I’ve had to hear and reflect on some harsh truths in my time.
It’s so easy for me, as a writer who tries to be honest, and who writes material to encourage and help others grow, to give the impression you have all the answers.
But many of us, whether we’re writers or not, love to the have the final word. And we’ll keep on responding in discussions – online and offline – just to make sure we do.
Which, as we all know deep down, is not a healthy approach to life.
Experience has convinced me there’s a better way. Surrender.
Read MoreAfraid? Today Can Be Different
I’ll be honest, something in me panics every time I have to step out and do something on my own, without approval, without knowing the answers, without control, without training.
Every. Single. Time.
Usually, my response is excess panic, emotion, stress, anxiety, fear, thinking a million steps ahead, thousands of ‘what ifs’, jumping all the steps straight to the result, pulse rate going into emergency mode, adrenaline pumping, rational thought gone, mind clouded, stress levels growing.
All together in my body in less than 10 seconds.
This panic is basically what stops me from being the best version of myself.
And it all comes from fear.
Read MoreBe The Best You
It’s so popular in our celebrity culture to say “I want to be like [insert name of well known successful person you admire]”.
Celebrity idolatry is at an all time high. Fortunately, over time many people have learned to recognise it for what it is, and to avoid it.
But there’s a subtle, much more significant issue at work too. That of ‘wanting to healthily model the person I admire’.
At it’s best this is healthy. In some ways to learn from and aspire to be more like others who have walked a similar path, can be a good thing. It’s important to look at others with similar gifts and callings, those we respect, and learn lessons from them.
But if we’re not careful, this can lead us down the path of essentially becoming copies of those we admire.
We can become so busy trying to become like someone else, that we forget to be ourselves.
And even worse, we can use our ‘trying to be like someone else’ as a way of avoiding being who we were made to be. Maybe even to cover up for a belief that we, in ourselves, on our own, don’t have value or legitimacy, and nor does our work.
And it’s a horrendous lie.
Read More‘James Talks’ 3 Episode Week – 2: ‘Hearing Our Subconscious’
Hey friends, welcome back to the blog. I hope you’ve been enjoying my new podcast, James Talks. We’ve had 3 episodes now & it’s been great so far.
This week I have some great news – there’s going to be three – yes, count ’em, three – episodes.
There was one yesterday called ‘A Tale Of Two Fathers’ (The Bad Father & The Good Father), and there is another new episode going out on Friday.
And to make up the three, there is a brand new episode live right now! It’s called ‘Hearing Our Subconscious’
Today I talk about how creativity and our subconscious are connected, and can help us discover our true, authentic voice.
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