Hello,
My name is Dakota and I want to share a story with you about how I discovered my gift.
A while ago I came across a quote maybe from Carl Jung that said everyone has a gift and when we discover that gift we also discover our purpose and that's when we start to live a truly fulfilling life.
But Jung also said that our gifts are often hidden because as children we were shamed,
Mocked,
Or punished for them.
So we bury them and by the time we're adults we've buried them so deep that we don't even know what they are anymore.
That idea stuck with me.
I started trying to remember what I loved as a child,
What lit me up,
But I couldn't get very far so eventually I gave up.
A few months later I came across a video of Deepak Chopra speaking to an audience.
He said something that really made me think.
He talked about the benefits of asking the subconscious mind questions like what are my gifts,
What are my hidden talents and skills,
What am I here to do.
He said the subconscious mind will begin a kind of internal file search and eventually it will give you answers through something you read,
A line in a song,
Or even a conversation with someone unexpected.
He suggested asking these questions at night just before sleep and letting your deeper mind do the work while you rest.
So I started doing that,
Not demanding answers but gently inviting them.
Weeks passed and then one day I saw a video about a lawyer who had drawn cartoons as a hobby since she was a child.
Eventually she left her law career to become a full-time cartoonist.
She started a website,
Shared her art,
And ended up even more successful and fulfilled than she had ever been as a lawyer.
She found her gift and shared it and life opened up for her.
And right then I heard something inside me shout,
It's your voice!
At first I brushed it off.
I almost laughed.
My voice?
No way.
But then I thought about it a little bit more and something clicked.
Not just my speaking voice but my voice of truth.
My ability to speak things that other people can't or won't say.
And with that realization came a flood of memories of all the times as a child that I had spoken up,
Told the truth,
And trusted my vision and ended up losing something.
Whether it was safety,
Belonging,
Or even love.
I had learned early on that using my voice could be dangerous so I buried it.
Just like Young had said,
I buried my gift.
Now as an adult I can see it wasn't that I was wrong.
It's just that the people around me couldn't handle my truth.
So instead of nurturing my gift they shut it down.
And I internalized that.
I learned to shut myself down too.
But that night something broke open.
I could barely sleep.
I felt like I had found a missing piece of myself and once I saw it I couldn't unsee it.
It was like finding gold.
Not long after one of my English students casually mentioned an app called Insight Timer.
They said I could speak about my stories there.
Not just my voice but my truth.
I'd never even heard of Insight Timer before and the student and I had only had a few lessons together.
But it was like the universe was confirming the very thing I had just discovered and opened a door for me to share it.
I didn't even have to go out searching for how to express my gift.
The way found me.
And that's how I ended up here.
I'm still building trust with this part of myself.
I'm still learning how to let it back into my life.
But something deep inside me knows this is the way.
This is what I was meant to do.
Even if it's just the beginning.
So if you're listening to this and you haven't yet discovered your gift I want to invite you to start asking yourself some really important questions.
Ask what are my hidden talents and skills?
What lights me up that I've buried or forgotten?
What truth have I been holding in?
And don't expect an answer right away.
Just ask and stay curious.
Keep your heart open and let your soul speak when it's ready.
Because once you find your gift,
Even just a glimpse of it,
Life begins to change.
You stop chasing purpose and start living it.
And if you've already found your gift I would love for you to share it in the comments below.
You never know who might need to hear your story today.
Thank you for being here.
