Susan thought her life nothing more than a giant “might have been.” If she hadn’t married so young, she might have had a relationship she was happy with. If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, she might have finished law school. If she had finished law school, she could have been the lawyer and not the legal assistant. Susan couldn’t figure out where to begin.

Her early enchantment with the law had faded. She wanted a new life, and her greatest fear was, to paraphrase Oliver Wendell Holmes, that she might die with her music still in her. For Susan, it was time to start playing her own music.

Working with a life coach, Susan asked, “How do I find out what exactly to do? Can you tell me?” “You have to find it within yourself,” the coach said. “But I can start by asking you a few questions that will begin to reveal your gift.” “But I don’t have a particular gift. I’m not gifted.”

If you were to ask someone what their gift is, chances are their minds will immediately turn to Michelangelo sculpting his Pieta or Einstein unlocking the universe’s secrets with a simple equation. People tend to think of gifts in such extraordinary terms. They see a gift as an innate, something few people are born with. But they are wrong.

A gift isn’t just the province of the exceptionally talented or the blessed. Quite the contrary, everyone has a gift. Some gifts are thousand-watt bolts of light. Others are hidden in the stone. All are there, waiting to be revealed. — Beliefnet.com