Starting At The Beginning

Back in September I started attending a weekly meditation group on Wednesday mornings. After our main meditation, we usually draw "angel" cards to see what they have to say for us today.

Today, mine mentioned my "divine purpose". The leader asked me what I thought mine was. I said "to educate and mentor". I love to teach and I tend to draw to me people who want to learn from what I've learned.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what kind of teaching I like to do. I've noticed that I most often get excited by helping people get started in something. I like to teach the 101-level classes, the getting started classes, the introduction-to classes. I get jazzed by helping people explore, step into, or accept the challenge of something new. I like giving people the confidence to go somewhere they haven't gone before.

I've wondered, at times, if I'm deficient because I don't help people develop mastery. I do not tend to lead people deep into a subject. I help them start on a path but then I have to hand them off to someone else for the advanced work. Am I a dilettante, ever dabbling in new fields and new experiences but never staying long enough to gain depth?

Maybe. More likely, I think this is my role in life. Others are not good at the "getting started" but they are darned good at the "going deep". I'm the experimenter. I am the explorer. I get buzzed from learning new things and sharing that.

In recognizing and claiming your strengths, you also have to have at least a nodding acquaintance with your weaknesses. That's valuable. It improves the odds that you will not commit to something that depends on your weak side.

The is my learning for today.