Spirit Matters: Discover your superpower – and use it

What is your superpower?

What do you do better than anyone you know?

What have you been told you excel at?

Your superpower flows from your innate personality, character strengths and skill set. It is what you are naturally good at, gives you energy and can make you lose track of time. If it is a character strength, it allows you to connect with other people in a unique, empowering way.

Maybe you are a really great cook. You know your way around the kitchen and the pantry. You know how to blend seasonings to make the perfect dish and what foods work well together. To top it off, you know how to present your creation so that it looks and tastes magical to those who eat it.

You put your soul into your efforts and, in effect, your skills and attentiveness to quality touch the souls of others.

Or maybe you have strong empathy skills and know how to listen well. You listen in a holistic manner rather than to simply respond with your own story. You don’t interrupt others. You ask follow-up questions, and you can sense what is not being said. You offer insight and understanding that is rare to find from others.

You have been told by more than one person that you have a calming presence. They feel safe opening up to you. The way you show up for others is healing for them and might just be the catalyst to help them get unstuck from a life situation.

The term “superpower” is a fairly recent construct in terms of personality and abilities. It is often used to describe those who possess high sensory abilities, which allows them to detect all manner of subtleties in their environment and to offer a calmer, more nuanced way of experiencing the world that is always in high definition. But it can apply to anything that one excels at – fixing cars, making people laugh, educating others, offering quality medical care, etc.

Some of us have difficulty recognizing our superpower. The sense of excelling in a particular area wasn’t emphasized when we grew up. Maybe we have just done what we do well and never thought of it as anything special. Maybe we grew up in an environment where our unique contributions weren’t noticed, much less recognized and celebrated.

Often, we must wait until we are out in the world and others mirror back to us how our talents, abilities and way of being in the world have touched their souls. One way you can know your superpower is by hearing the same comments from different people about what you do well. These comments and reinforcements can be life-giving water in the lives of those searching for meaning and purpose.

A superpower can guide you to a more purpose-filled life. Once we have an idea of what it is that we are naturally good at, we can look for opportunities to grow in knowledge and skills in that area. Rather than being weighed down by effort, we will naturally be inclined to seek growth in it if it is our superpower.

Take some time this week to reflect on your life.

What do you like doing more than anything in the world? What do people consistently compliment you about? What are you doing when you lose a sense of time?

Once we know what our superpower is, it is our responsibility to give it away. We have been given these talents and abilities to make our world a better place by connecting heart to heart, soul to soul. The gift you’ve been given, give as a gift.

Our superpower has been given to us to make a small yet mighty contribution to our sphere of influence.

By using it with gratitude and intention, we can make our little corner of the world a better place.

SPIRIT MATTERS is a weekly column by Jerrilyn Zavada Novak that examines experiences common to the human spirit. Contact her at jzblue33@yahoo.com.