Hi, Reader,

What if your “worst qualities” are the signposts that guide you to your unique gifts?

Plot reveal: They are.

Last year, I had an incredible opportunity to study 1:1 with Jean Houston, philosopher, mythologist, author of 25+ books, long time collaborator of Joseph Campbell -- and frankly, someone who should be more well-known than she is.

One of Jean’s greatest powers -- and she has many -- is to help people shine the light on their own greatness.

Connecting to our greatness, our unique gifts, is so essential right now.

The world and its problems need our unique gifts. It’s not an exaggeration to say that our future depends on us uncovering and expressing them in the service of others.

And yet we have an epidemic of feelings of inadequacy.

I have only met 2 people in my work with thousands of amazing humans, leaders, high achievers who told me they don’t experience self-doubt. (I think we need to study them and their brains because it's so rare!)

In fact, I believe my own feelings of not being good enough are my worst vice.

This isn’t some humblebrag.

I mean this literally: I know that feeling this way is preventing me from fully unleashing my unique gifts and being of greater service to more people.

So, back to Jean. One of the things she talks about is how when we reframe the qualities we dislike in ourselves -- our shadows -- we discover our unique gifts.

For example, Jean shares in her book, A Mythic Life, that one of her shadows is being hypersensitive. When she examines the deeper aspect of this, she finds empathy -- one of her gifts that allows her to help so many people. (She has worked in more than 100 different countries, including with the UN, and has helped hundreds of thousands of people!)

I told Jean that I often feel that my work isn’t original enough -- my brain tells me some version of "everyone already knows what you want to say and teach."

This is another version of not-good-enoughness.

She asked me to think about how this fear of not saying what is truly original and valuable could guide me to my unique gifts.

I don’t have THE answer... but I’ve thought about my deep respect for truth, authenticity, and creativity.

I hold these as essential values. I strive to honor them with how and what I do.

And I do feel that one of my gifts is being able to take in ideas, process them, allow them to transform me, and then share their essence with others in deeply authentic and practical ways so they can be transformed by them.

Just like I’m doing in this email, by sharing this idea from Jean’s work with you.

To do this, I need to find the truth in the big idea, be deeply honest so people trust me, and be creative in how I articulate it so it's easy to grasp.

Jean also got me thinking about my deep sense of commitment and responsibility. Perhaps this questioning of whether my work is truly original and valuable stems from my commitment to truly help people transform their lives through my work -- not just read/hear it and move on.

Digging deeper and looking at my shadow through this new lens of how it could point me to my unique gifts has been powerful.

I won't lie and tell you that my doubting the original nature of my work has disappeared. But it doesn't have the hold over me. And when it comes up, I remind myself that it stems from my deep commitment to people who encounter it.

💡 Your shadows are you guideposts to your unique gifts and abilities.

When you allow yourself to reflect on this possibility and move past self-judgment into self-discovery, you will uncover what those are.

So here are your questions for reflection:

What is a quality you dislike about yourself?

How could you examine its different deeper aspects to uncover your unique gifts and abilities?

Give yourself some time to reflect and marinate. The answer may not reveal itself asap -- it didn't for me.

But even just asking these questions and recognizing that the qualities you don't like about yourself have aspects rooted in your unique gifts is transformative.

If you're brave enough to share, I'd love to hear from you about how this reflection went. What did you uncover?

I read all of the replies to my weekly emails with deep joy -- and I will try to reply!'

Here's to uncovering more of your unique gifts,

Nataly

P.S. On Wednesday, July 31st, at 12pm ET I'll be hosting the 100th (!!!!) episode of The Awesome Human Podcast! I'll be sharing a major announcement and 5 lessons I've learned about reinvention and thriving through change in the past few years.

​Click this link to register to join me live!

If you register but can't attend, we'll send you the recording!