Let go of "sticky ego thoughts" and let in your genius

 

A coaching colleague of mine uses the word, "genius" to describe skills that we seem particularly talented in- skills that we seemed to have a natural gift for.  Unlike the "growth opportunities" that I described in a recent blog post, our "genius" skills would be those types of things we lose ourselves in. We forget all our worries as we let our minds fully focus on our new creation - the fruits of our genius.

My friend, Cathy, has many "genius" talents - music, art, poetry, language.   She recently had many of her paintings on display at a local coffee shop, and I purchased this scenic painting of Canyonlands for my home.  

I asked Cathy to describe the art medium and she answered:

The painting is chalk pastel, and I use my fingers to blend the colors. The paper has a sandy  surface to it, called the “tooth” of the paper— and the more gritty (more tooth it has) the paper, the more layers you can keep putting in it.  I probably would’ve worked that painting a little bit more, but I ran out of tooth! It was before I knew how to find paper on the Internet that had the thickest tooth on it.

When I told Cathy I'd purchased the painting, I also asked for a favor: a poem to go with the painting. Even though it had been quite awhile since Cathy had written any poetry, she accepted the challenge! 

[By the way, Major brownie points for Cathy for following through! Most people would roll their eyes and think, "Isn't a painting good enough? You need a poem, too?"]

Last night, Cathy and I met for dinner and she passed along the painting and poem to me!

The poem, titled "Spirit Home" begins:

Canyonlands (Needles) is my Spirit Home -

Where all the sticky ego thoughts

Are blown clean from my Soul - 

By the warm and gentle desert breeze,

By the clear cyan-colored summer sky,

Through which my Spirit soars pure and free,

Unfettered by all space and time -

The horizon stretching further than the eye can see.

Cathy's description of how she feels about her Spirit Home is very similar to the way we feel when we allow our inner-genius to create - to paint, to write, to flow.  I love the idea of having 'sticky ego thoughts' being 'blown clean' from our Soul, allowing in a "pure, free, and unfettered Spirit!"

I was so pleased that Cathy had given me this poem, along with the painting. She even included a bonus poem! [I suggested she might create a painting to go with the bonus poem about a Flicker..  She could start this whole Painting-Poetry Pairing Pastime! OK, OK...  maybe one big challenge is enough!]

I think many of us feel we don't have a "genius."  We don't think our talents are "good enough" to be considered "genius."  We become insecure about sharing our creations, worried they're too amateurish or won't measure up to the expectations of others.  

However, if we let go of those "sticky ego thoughts"..   if we unfetter our minds and simply slip into a liberated flow, we may discover we have more "genius" than we'd ever known.

Where is your Spirit Home? What is your genius?