The Line Between Ordinary and Extraordinary
by Rena M. Reese
It is in our nature to be extraordinary. Just like a tiny acorn, we are packed with the potential for astounding greatness at the start of our lives. With the proper conditions, the acorn becomes the mighty oak and with appropriate nurturing, we too grow, thrive and burst forth to create an extraordinary life.
Every human being, like every seed, takes form with a built-in divine code of instruction. The corn kernel and acorn, for example, each allow their divine programming to effortlessly unfold in perfect time. The spiritual equivalents of a seed’s need for “water, soil and light” are your life-experiences, natural-born talents and intuition. Each of these helps to illuminate your life path and life purpose. Now more than ever it seems people are tapping into this inborn wisdom in their quest to create an extraordinary life.
So what make a person extraordinary?
From the moment you took your first breath, you were extraordinary. You had not yet gone to school, earned any letters after your name or earned a single cent. You had not yet provided any service and had not achieved any great accomplishment other than making your way into this world. You were born into this life extraordinary. The great spiritual teacher Deepak Chopra says, “By knowing something, you become it”. So today, please know that you are and have always been extraordinary, regardless of your present-day assessment of your life.
Building an Extraordinary Mindset:
You create extraordinary results; extraordinary results do not create an extraordinary you. What truly makes us extraordinary are not our degrees, titles, bank accounts or the beauty of our physical bodies. Each of these is simply an outlet for your extraordinary nature to be expressed and take form. Additionally it reveals where you have placed you precious attention. If you give undue credit to your dollars and degrees as a measure of what makes you extraordinary, then you cease to be extraordinary when the status of one of these things changes. The truth is your extraordinary nature is fixed and unchangeable, regardless of the events that take place in your life.
Adversity often provides the opportunity for you to reveal your extraordinary nature. When Denise Taylor courageously supported her daughter, Jonnae, through her battle with leukemia, she did not yet know how the eventual loss would re-route her life. Jonnae’s Heavenly Birth, not only revealed Denise’s calling in life, it would also become the title of the book in which she would write about her experience. Denise mined for the gift hidden in her profound loss and infused it into the dynamic inspirational speeches she now gives all over the globe as the founder of the We Get To Organization (WeGetTo.com). Another example of this premise is in the promise Nancy G. Brinker made to her dying sister Susan G. Komen that she would do all she could to help end breast cancer forever. That promise was the seed from which the Susan G. Komen for the Cure (komen.org) grew. To date it has generated an estimated one billion dollars for research and support.
Ordinary people achieve extraordinary results with extraordinary effort.
When you hear stories about people achieving remarkable things, what you are really hearing are stories of people displaying extraordinary courage, extraordinary dedication, extraordinary desire, and extraordinary vision. Whether we are referring to Jerry Rice, recently named the number one player in the NFL’s top 100 players or inventors like Louis Pasteur and Ben Franklin this rule absolutely holds true.
Three Spiritual Truths to help reveal your extraordinary nature:
As within, as without: Author Caroline Myss said it succinctly when she explained “Your biography becomes your biology.” Scientists are now proving that your inner world creates your physical world. Examining your “story” in addition to your relationships and habits, are some spiritually responsible ways to “prepare the soil” so that your “extraordinary seeds” have a healthy place to grow.
You become like what you are around: It has been said that you are the sum total of the five people you spend the most time with. Make a list of your five people and decide if you are thrilled by the list– or need to make a change. Unhappy friends, unhealthy family members or friends with addictions will not throw a party for you when you decide to focus your efforts on your extraordinary vision. Because this is true, advocate for your personal the environment; the choices and relationships that will best support what you want to create.
Taking care of you is selfless: You can only give as good as you’ve got. When you are your healthiest, most energetic, creative and vibrant-self, you can more effectively support others and do extraordinary things. To quote Dr. Wayne Dyer, “You can not get sick enough to heal one person, your cannot be poor enough to make one man wealthy—and no amount of your feeling bad will ever make anyone feeling good.” When you honor this truth in your life, you are also giving those who share your life permission to do the same.
Perhaps you have already utilized everything in your metaphorical acorn to achieve results that are fully congruent with your full extraordinary-ness. If this is the case, celebrate! But, perhaps just now – you are beginning to be ready to commit to the new consciousness you’ll need to reveal your extraordinary-self. If this is the case, consider the story of the archeologists who first uncovered the ancient tomb of King Tut. These scientists found more than just the sarcophagus of the boy king; they found jewels, pottery, clothing and food. This food was in the form of corn that was thousands of years old. Just as you might pack a moving van to relocate to a new city, the Egyptians filled the tombs of their rulers with what they believed would be needed in the after-life. This ancient corn was like a cooler packed with sandwiches for the trip.
So the scientists used this ancient corn to do what scientists do. They planted some kernels to see if they could yield a viable corn plant and tried to pop some kernels too. Thousands of years of lying dormant in a dark tomb did not diminish the potential that was packed into each tiny corn kernel. This ancient corn could not only be popped, but when it was planted, it also yielded healthy cornstalks, surprising and delighting the scientists!
Whether your extraordinary nature has been sealed up tightly in the dark or has been otherwise resting dormant waiting for the right conditions in order to grow– know that there is resilience in your inborn seeds of greatness. Plant them and reveal the extraordinary nature already in you just waiting to manifest!
[Rena M. Reese is the founder of Soul Salon International, an inspirational multimedia company. She is the author of several inspirational titles, a professional speaker and coach as well as the host of a weekly radio program, The Soul Salon. For more inspiration and information, please visit The Soul Salon and connect with her on Twitter @TheSoulSalon]
(c) Rena M. Reese All Rights Reserved
