Acting Like You’re Special Dims Your Specialness - Grasshopper

We are all unique and that alone makes us special. It's when we think we deserve special treatment that we cause our specialness to spoil.

If it's your birthday, wallow in your pseudo-specialness. If you get a backstage pass at your favorite performer's concert, you can strut a bit. If you carry those actions past some special circumstances, you're not special, just self-absorbed.

 

People of privilege or people from poverty all have an underlying specialness that's to be noticed and celebrated. Their inner glow, that can be easily viewed, comes from the same source. It's not destined for any one individual; it 's for everyone.

 

We turn off that special light when we think we're entitled. Reminds me of two stories . . .

 

I worked with a woman who came from "means." She married a person of means and she has never wondered or worried about how to make ends meet. Her actions exuded entitlement. She had an assistant in her home and just watching her order that person about reeked of special. She was extremely talented in her field and her special light showed up in her work but rarely shone on the people who worked for her, and as a result, she lived in a dark world.

 

I worked with a man in radio who was always scrambling to pay his rent. He had a special view of himself as a performer that no one else shared. He was a mediocre talent on his best day but he thought he was special. We were out to lunch one day and you only had to pay attention to how he treated the wait staff to get a giant whiff of his special odor. His world was also dark.

 

When we think we are better than others, our better selves remain in the dark and, frankly, we stink.

 

Your inner specialness will shine more often when you give your attention to others. Keeping it all for yourself keeps your light from shining. People shun people who think they are special. These are the people who have to pay others to make them feel special.

 

The fix is simple. Just shine your light on everyone you meet. Acknowledge them and give them your attention. It accomplishes two things: You feel special and so do they.

 

If you are feeling less than special, pay attention to someone else and watch your burned out light bulbs regenerate and shine your special light.

 

All the best,

John