Should #Talent be shared?

a video song of Maestro Sergio Snyder, Pianist

A tribute to a very talented man, he shared this joy with thousands in his life!

When you listen to Beethoven’s 5^th symphony it’s hard to imagine how could anyone write such a magnificent piece. And when you look at a Picasso or Monett, makes you think of the hours they spent with every single stroke of a brush trying to bring life into their pictures. The inspirational performances of actors, dancers, musicians and singers make us stand for five minutes clapping our hearts out in admiration for their craft. Enjoying a carefully crafted meal from an award-winning chef and it's delights in our taste butts and leaves us wanting more. A beautiful pair of custom made shoes, a designer dinning table, a high performance sports car, are all personal possessions people seek and desire to own because of it’s unique craftsmanship. All of these are made or produced by very talented individuals who are masters in their craft and bring joy to people through their art. Whether it is in the form of a song or a piece of clothing, all are representations of someone’s talent that have enriched our lives.

Now imagine a world without Beethoven’s 5^th symphony? I guess if he hadn’t exist we wouldn’t know any better and probably life would have gone on, but how tragic it would be not to have the joy of listening to such master piece! I guess everything around us, if it hadn’t been written, produced or invented, we wouldn’t know we were missing out on such magnificent things, and perhaps others would be available to us.

But what does it all mean to us? And why is it important to know that talents should be shared? A few months ago I wrote a blog called “talent, gift or ability” in which I debated that you cannot learn talent, it is something you cannot teach and you are born with it. We all have talents, and they range from writing a master piece to managing a team or even driving a car or cooking a meal, whatever your talents are, these are the things you are good at and makes you who you are.

But talent’s worst enemy is lack of self-confidence and fear of failure. These stop even the greatest from bringing their talent to the world. If Mozart thought his music was rubbish and he was not good at it, we would not have the pleasure of enjoying his work today. Yet he knew he had a talent and wanted to share this with others, but was there another “Mozart” out there, just as talented but with a lack of self-confidence; I guess well we will never know and perhaps we have all be deprived of the joy of enjoying his/her work.

The real debate here is - if you have someone who has a real talent and enjoys his or her gift but lacks self confidence and does not wish to share it with others because of fear of rejection or failing, is that ok?

Everything we have and enjoy today is because a talented person wanted to share their gift with the world. If Michael Jackson had decided he loved signing but would confine it to the shower, the pop world would be very different today and non of us would have made a fool of ourselves dancing to Thriller pretending to be a corps!

We all have different talents, and as long as we are aware of these, it is our duty to share these with the world.

If you know you have a talent, but doubt yourselves I implore you to go out there and don’t let fear kill your gift, and share with the world what you are good at. We all have a role to play in life and after all talent is a gift we have been given, a gift we have to share with the world.

There is always a reason why…

It’s been two months since I last put pen to paper… and there is a reason why.

And to be honest the reason is not a valid reason but a reason nonetheless, which is what promoted me to take time off my busy life and put some of my thoughts down on my good old blog. It pushed myself to finally get back on the saddle and ride my writing horse, something I really love, and have always had time for.

I wanted to share with you all my thoughts this week based on the fact that in life there is always a reason why we do or not do something, and that the challenge we face, more often than not, is finding far more reasons why we should not do something instead of why we should. It is human nature to divert from what we should be doing, often by finding those reasons why we should. Let me perhaps explain a little with a couple of examples.

Last year I had a magnificent year, I was on top of my game. I wrote a blog every week, I trained every day on the treadmill, which led me to complete my first ever half marathon and I wrote two scripts. And I managed to do my full time job too! This was all driven by my fundamental believe that you can do anything you want and time is there for us to use it wisely. Being disciplined with yourself is essential to achieve this and knowing that in life is much easier to say no than to say yes; therefore you need to remain focus to say yes rather than no. And why is it easier to say no? Because is the easiest alternative and by nature humans always look for the easiest solution; not always a bad thing, this is why we have progressed so much! However saying “I won’t run today because it’s raining” is the easier alternative rather than drive to the gym or indeed run in the rain! “I don’t have time, I’m just too tired” energy comes from believing you have it. “I can’t do it” because to be able to do it requires time, effort and commitment – which would you chose? Always the easier, NO! In other words there is always a reason why… why we can’t, but don’t forget there is also always a reason why… why we should!

So 2014 was my year of YES but 2015 has been the year of NO. Somehow I have managed to lead myself to find reasons why I can’t! It all began with my knee injury, which has put me out of running since last December. This has been a real blow to my self-esteem and energy and after 4 months of physiotherapy I now have an appointment to have surgery in September. It won’t be until year-end that I will be able to run again! And somehow I managed to talk myself into finding a reason why I can’t find alternative ways to stay fit, which has led me to gaining 5 kilos and making myself deeply unhappy!

At the same time I began to slip away from my writing and my newly acquired passion “Vloging” There is a connection here; my lack of commitment to stay fit is affecting my commitment to my passion and I have fallen into a deep circle where there is always a reason why… I can’t or don’t have the time to do something. And despite people reminding, often by commenting “we have not seen your videos recently or your blogs” or “how’s the fitness going” I kept on finding reasons why.

And it’s not about being busier or not being able to run, those are just circumstances in my life, its about being in the right state of mind to drive myself to make sure I have time and energy to do all of the things that I like, which I always have had in the past, nothing has changed!

I began this blog saying I had not put pen to paper for two months and there was a reason why. The reason was not valid but a reason all the same: I have talked myself into believing I had no time to write or Vlog, when time is the one thing I have! I guess the beauty of writing blogs is that one-day you can look back at what you wrote and think, “I have fallen victim of my own preaching and did exactly the opposite of what I believe” It’s good to know that no one is perfect!

So today I am finding a reason why I need to get back on track. And the reason is simple; it gives me great satisfaction and keeps me mentally healthy. Ok I can’t run until I have my operation, but I can do other types of exercise and watch what I eat! (at this point I have to credit my very wise, supportive, understanding and always right wife who knows best and has been telling me to do something else to stay fit… sorry you were right, again!) And ok I have a lot of work, but there is always enough time to write, even if it is just a few lines!

And finally I must remember the reason why I write, and that is “because someone out there reads!”

So I’m back, and there is a reason why…