Just A Thought (On Talent)

Talent is not so much about your God given ability
More so about your drive,
and having the opportunity
To put your gift to good use -
Your willingness to work hard
And follow through,
And the strength of your belief
That changing the world with your talent
Is what you were put here to do.

© 2008 Patricia B.

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Ever since Friday the 14th, at about 530 in the evening, I've been thinking about just what I was put here to do. You see - I failed the bar exam in July - and at the moment I found out I failed, I questioned my decision to take it in the first place and the decision I made back in college to start the journey towards becoming an attorney. I love to write - I live to write and as of late, I write to live. I love words. And I am passionate about helping people and "changing the world." All of that doesn't necessarily mean I need to be an attorney - but it sure helps. I questioned my decision the moment I found out my result but then I shut that question down - I just don't believe, I KNOW what I was meant to do and I also know that my impact on the world won't be dealt with a singular blow.

So I'm taking the bar exam in February. I deemed today to be the day I'd really head into my studies with full force - but it didn't happen. I bought a new handbag from Daffy's and contemplated my talents, and my drive, and my need for success.

Here's the quote that helped me start my day and will be on my mind as I focus on studying tomorrow:

The only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren't is the willingness to work very, very hard.
-- Helen Gurley Brown

My Originality:

We were each uniquely made, fearfully and wonderfully by the Creator.
We each have a unique set of talents and gifts provided by God,
With our own unique physical structure
Which include a pair of unique feet
With which we walk on our own unique paths.
In our uniqueness we are the same:
We all have something that makes us distinct somehow
But what makes me an original are not my distinguishable features
But my ability to recognize just what makes me distinct,
My love for my individual character and
My respect and admiration for the diversity of others.


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So I was reading the great Afrobella's blog just now and saw she and a company called Ododo Originals are doing a giveaway for this fabulous hair clip. Isn't it pretty? I love the color and (what appears to be) beading. It's lovely - and of the wide variety of colors available in this hair clip, this "Morning, Sunshine" and "Imperial" are my favorites!

So for the giveaway, they asked Afrobella readers to submit an answer in some form to the question "What makes you an original?" The above was my response. I don't know if it'll be a winner but I like it.

It's an interesting question. What makes someone an original? In thinking about my response and looking at all the other answers - most of which included something about responder's lovely natural hair, interestingly enough - I was reminded of a pretty obvious yet I think largely overlooked truth: everyone's an individual. We all have a number of things about ourselves that make us stand out - whether readily perceptible or not. So in the most basic sense of originality, we're all originals - and thus the question of what exactly makes one an original isn't an easy one to answer genuinely - at least for me. I could have talked about my lovely natural hair or my beautiful brown skin, big eyes, full lips, large love to learn mind, my writing ability, and a host of other things - but when I consider the things that may make some think of me as "different" (depending on the context and the circumstances I'm in) I realize that there are SO MANY OTHERS that have pretty much the same things going on. They might not have as much - or they may have more - or they have it all but they use it differently - but they have it. What I have is special not simply because it was specially given to me - but because I recognize it, I love it, and it's not threatened and undermined by whatever else other people have going on.

Here's another post of mine on individuality - as related to weight loss. Enjoy!


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True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision.
Edith Wharton

Love is...

As a part of National Poetry Month festivities, I'm using my blog to participate in the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day. The point is for the participants to share their favorite poems - preferably a pocket sized one. I love poetry and I love sharing things that I love - so I'm gonna share two of my favorites with you (though admittedly one is not as pocket sized as the other).

What Love Is Like

Love is like
a pineapple,
sweet and
undefinable.

- Piet Hein

--

Coal

I
is the total black, being spoken
from the earth's inside.
There are many kinds of open
how a diamond comes into a knot of flame
how sound comes into a words, coloured
by who pays what for speaking.

Some words are open like a diamond
on glass windows
singing out within the crash of sun
Then there are words like stapled wagers
in a perforated book - buy and sign and tear apart -
and come whatever will all chances
the stub remains
an ill-pulled tooth with a ragged edge.
Some words live in my throat
breeding like adders. Other know sun
seeking like gypsies over my tongue
to explode through my lips
like young sparrows bursting from shell.
Some words
bedevil me

Love is word, another kind of open.
As the diamond comes into a knot of flame
I am Black because I come from the earth's inside
Now take my word for jewel in the open light.

- Audre Lorde


What do you think it says about me that two of my favorite poems just happen to be about love? Would you say that these poems are speaking about the same sort of love?

(Things like this make me miss being an English major - and make me wonder why I'm in law school.)

Necessary concepts.

To achieve lasting literature, fictional or factual, a writer needs perceptive vision, absorptive capacity, and creative strength.
Lawrence Clark Powell (emphasis mine)

I think the same goes for poetry too. At any rate, I've been striving for all three without ever really conceptualizing my aims as a writer - until this morning.

And so I'd like to thank the good people at Google who decided it was a good idea to add the brainyquotes feed to the webclips section of my account! If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have probably come across this - never even knew this man existed until I saw another one of his quotes at the top of my page when I logged in:

Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow. - LCP

And that's what I do.