What do the following three stories have in common?
Story 1
The year was 1930.
She was only 8 years old. Her school considered her a distraction to the entire classroom. Her assignments were late and her handwriting was terrible.
Her name is Gillian.
Obviously, the school thought Gillian had some kind of learning disorder. There we no medical terminology (such as ADHD) in 1930 that would pigeonhole Gillian.
Gillian’s parents were summoned by the school to take her to the school psychologist for an assessment.
At a certain point during the assessment the psychologist (deliberately) left Gillian in the room by herself and turned the radio on to play some music.
Gillian was unaware that the psychologist and her mum could in fact see what Gillian was doing without being seen.
Almost immediately, Gillian was moving around the room to the beat of the music.
The psychologist immediately realized that Gillian was not sick. She loves to dance – and – sees the world through her dance.
She went to dance school every week and practiced everyday.
Some time later, Gillian was accepted by the Royal Ballet School in London. Following that, she joined the Royal Ballet Company performing as a soloist all over the world.
After her solo career ended – she formed her own musical theatre company and produced a string of highly successful shows in London and New York. She also worked with Andrew Lloyd Webber and created hits including Cats and Phantom of the Opera!
Her full name is Gillian Lynne.
Story 2
Matt was good in class. He got good grades. But always found that he is very bored. To keep himself amused he started drawing during classes. Matt eventually got so good at drawing that he could draw without looking, to give the impression that he was paying attention to the lessons.
In high school art classes, he would paint about 30 paintings in a single class.
As his drawing become prolific, he started to tell stories and jokes using his drawing.
Without pursuing his passion, Matt, known to many of us Matt Groening, would not have created The Simpsons.
Story 3
Mick found attending a boarding school in England very boring. He could not make sense of the world around him.
One day, visiting his sister in Chelsea, he saw Miles Davis playing and felt totally comfortable. He was fully absorbed and lost track of time listening to Miles Davis.
Mick’s supportive parents decided school is NOT for Mick and sent him to London with a drum kit to follow his passion.
The rest as they say is history for Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac!
What am I getting at?
The point of all these stories is to emphasize that we ALL have something unique to bring to this world. Our calling is how we make sense of this world. Our calling is how we express ourselves.
This is about doing what embodies who you are!
How do you know whether you are living your work (or calling)?
According to Ken Robinson, the authour of “The Element – How finding you passion changes everything” ,if you experienced one or any of the following then you are on the right track!
- When you are doing the work you love that you are naturally good at, you feel a sense of freedom and authenticity and become cantered in your true self.
- Time seems to pass very quickly and fluidly and you feel you are having so much fun!
- You will get a lot of ideas come to you very fast, as if you are now connected to a new ‘ideas portal’.
- You seem to ‘get’ more energy. Logic dictates that that act of doing more work should deplete your energy. But the act of doing the work you love seem to attract all the energy you need to keep you going!
- Life is too short to spend doing things you do not want to do. Many of us get trapped in doing things so that we can pay the bills. There is nothing wrong with that. But when that consumes our life – we tend to live a life of quite desperation – and contribute nothing to this world.
We are here to express our talents.
Go for it!
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