Tag: creator

Use Your Talents

by The Author, posted in Blog

Although Collins defines “talent” as “the natural ability to do something well,”[1] it’s important to remember that this ability is given to us by our Creator.

The Bible talks about this in Jesus’ well-known Parable of the Talents,[2] the central idea of which is to not waste our talents but to use them to “benefit others and glorify God.”[3]

As your spiritual life coach, I will ask you What are your natural abilities and how are you using them? Do you enjoy what you’re doing in life? Do you feel satisfied in the way that you are using your natural abilities? Are you living your own life, or the life that someone else imagined for you? What might be holding you back from investing that which was invested in you and increasing your gains?

What are your talents?

Before you can use your talents, though, it’s important to know what they are. What is it that you’ve been gifted with that is unique to you? Please stop and take a moment to reflect on this. You can write down the answers.

In the Parable of the Talents, those who invest their talents (which are represented as valuable gold coins from the word’s origin in Greek “tálanton balance, weight, monetary unit”) make gains even doubling them. This pleases the Lord of the parable who says, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in [my] happiness!”[4]

But talents are more than material possessions or “bags of gold.”[5]

If we invest our God-given natural abilities wisely, not only do we make gains, but we please God who will promote us. For example, a person who is a talented linguist can found a language school, be successful and support franchises which will all result in this person obtaining physical tálanton. 

The danger, according to the parable, comes in not using our talents wisely or using them in opposition to what our Creator intended for them to be used.[6]

How can I use my talents in the New Golden Era?

As we shift into a new, golden era, however, you may be wondering, How can I use my talents when the whole world seems to be in turmoil and things are changing faster than I can keep up with? What direction should I move in when the very rug (financial, religious, geopolitical) seems to be pulled from under my feet?

Whether it is known to you or not, this period of uncertainty and change is the perfect opportunity for you to use your talents by being calm, creative, flexible, ingenious, prayerful, faithful to your Creator, hopeful, generous, gentle, kind, firm and in-the-flow.

You won’t be able to effectively use your talents if you are anxious, an imitator, inflexible, dulled-down, spiritually disconnected, unfaithful to your Creator, stingy, harsh, mean, soft and out of touch.

The 5 steps to using your talents wisely

  1. Be grateful for the talents that your Creator has given you.
  2. Become consciously aware of what they are and list them.
  3. Use them in a way that will benefit others and glorify God.
  4. Assess how you’re doing as you use your talents by asking yourself whether you’re being fruitful and multiplying that which has been given you.
  5. Expect a promotion.

Let’s Take it to the Next Level Together,

Luba

Luba Rascheff is a chaplain and certified spiritual life coach in Toronto, Ontario. Book an appointment here.

Photo by Zlaťáky.cz on Unsplash

[1] “talent,” Collins, accessed May 5, 2024, https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/talent.

[2] Matthew 25:14-30.

[3] Microsoft Copilot. ‘Discussion on the Parable of the Talents.’ Personal conversation. May 5, 2024.

[4] Matthew 25:23 (NIVUK), modified.

[5] The NIVUK version renames the “Parable of the Talents” the “Parable of the Bags of Gold.”

[6] Matthew 25: 24-28.

It is unclear and there are competing voices. What should I do?

by The Author, posted in Blog

What should you do if something in your life is unclear and there are competing voices giving differing opinions?

It’s almost as if a haze sets in and, in your confusion, you are bombarded by what feels like a sea of voices. You wonder, “What should I do?” And, “If I do this, is it the right thing?”

First of all, the vast majority of us have been there at one point or another in our lives. If you are at this point now, there is hope that you’ll get through the confusion.

If something is unclear, in my opinion it’s best to wait until it clears up.

Definitely don’t rush when you don’t feel like the move you’re about to make is 100% right.

Rushing into something might make things worse.

Competing voices means that different people have different ideas about what you should do.

Your relative might think one way; your friend another; and you a third way.

At this point, it’s important to relax and pray about it. Before you pray, you might want to relax by watching something peaceful like this wonderful camping video.

There are so many stressors in our modern lives. When you compound such with lack of clarity and competing voices it’s a recipe for potential anxiety. When this happens, you lose your centering and you fall out of balance, like a person on a balancing beam starts to waver. That’s why it’s important to fully relax.

The best thing after relaxing is to pray. The thing with prayer is that although the answer can come right away, most of the time there is a delay before getting a response. God works, but it can at times feel excruciatingly slow. You may want to say to God, “Come on! Why is it taking so long for me to figure this out?” Thoughts likes these are normal and the Almighty won’t melt like sugar if you think or say this aloud.

After praying it’s important to wait. When you’ve relaxed and prayed about your dilemma, you need to wait and see what happens next. When you’ve calmed down and stopped listening to a cacophony of voices, your inner genius, the Holy Spirit or your guardian angel—depending—will “speak” to you. You can “hear” the guidance best when you’re calm, although there are no fixed rules.

The answer you receive may be definite or indefinite, but you will get an answer. If it’s definite, then follow that. If it’s indefinite, then that means that you have choice in the matter. That’s good, but you’ll need to narrow it down by selecting what the best choice is for you—not your relative or friend. Remember, it’s your life and no one else’s.

If you don’t get an answer right away, repeat the steps listed below.

When our mind, body and spirit are in alignment holistically, then we’re flowing in a way that will reduce uncertainty and the opportunity for competing voices to come in.

When we’re in relationship with our Creator and filled with gratitude for what we have now—despite problems and uncertainty—then answers come more easily.

Relaxing, praying and patiently waiting may not be the answer you were looking for when you read this blog post’s title. However, rushing headlong into something for the sake of rushing could worsen your situation.

To sum up, the more in tune you are with yourself and God; the more peaceful and relaxed you are; and the more you can listen to your inner genius or guide, the Holy Spirit or God, the easier it will be to find clarity and the answer that is right for you.

The four steps that precede a decision when there’s lack of clarity

  1. Relax and watch a calming nature video.
  2. Pray and ask God for guidance.
  3. Wait.
  4. Repeat if needed.
  5. It could take days, months or longer but that’s okay!

Let’s Take it to the Next Level Together,

Luba

Luba Rascheff is a chaplain and certified spiritual life coach in Toronto, Ontario. Book an appointment here.

Photo by Nigel Tadyanehondo on Unsplash

The One and Only, Incredible, Unique You

by The Author, posted in Blog

There’s no one else like you in the entire universe.

Please take a moment to reflect on this statement and then continue reading.

Every snowflake, flower, rock, tree and person is unique. No two are the same.

The Creator created us as unique beings in order for us to bless the world with our particular gifts and talents.

What gifts and talents are particular to you? What defines you and makes you special?

Nurture your gifts and talents

In order to be truly happy during our lives on earth, it’s important to do the things that we’re good at. Not only that we’re good at—but in the spirit of Take it to the Next Level—things that we were always meant to do.

You may be wondering, what are my gifts and talents? You can determine such by the feeling that comes with operating in your gifts and talents.

Operating in our gifts and talents means actively using and performing them respectively.

It feels easy and comes naturally

When we operate in our gifts and talents, we have a good feeling. Everything seems to flow. It’s uncomplicated and even easy! It’s the opposite of the complexity that the world often presents.

How many times have you visited a website and wondered what it is all about? It’s so complex and confusing that you can barely navigate it. There are so many rules and demands (notably for payment) that your stress levels start to skyrocket. In the end, the complexity masks the emptiness of what the site offers. This is the opposite of ‘easy and natural.’

When I write spiritual books, it comes very easily to me. That’s because I am 100% inspired. What about you? What comes easily to you? What inspires you? Are you good at writing? Are you naturally empathic? Are you perhaps good at math?

Speaking with people and coaching them also comes easily to me. I just know exactly what to say. This is a gift and talent. What about you? What comes naturally to you? What do you think you were born to do? If you’re not sure, then book a session with me and we can figure this out together.

We must be in the right environment in order to nurture our gifts and talents

For years, I struggled to understand what my gifts and talents were. Although I took aptitude tests in high school, I paid no attention to the results and blindly moved in directions that were clearly not for me. I moved in directions that were trendy, but not true to my nature.

Even worse, I was in the wrong environment altogether, an environment in which I could not flourish and grow into the unique person I was always meant to be. Is it possible that you aren’t thriving because you’re in the wrong environment?

Abram left his country of origin to become Abraham

Kabbalah—Jewish mysticism—tells the Midrash about Abram’s father Terah.[1]

Terah was an idol maker, worshiper and seller. He was in the business of making wooden idols—false gods—that people worshiped. One day, Terah asked a young Abram to mind the idol shop. Instead of encouraging customers to buy the products, Abram did the opposite! At the end of the day, he chopped up the smaller idols and put the ax in the hands of the biggest idol—to make it look like it did it.[2]

Terah wasn’t fooled, however, and reported this to Nimrod, ‘the highest official in the land’ who had Abram thrown into a fiery furnace. Abram did not die, however, because the Creator had a special purpose for his life.[3]

Pack your bags and go

When the Creator commanded that Abram leave his homeland, he did so immediately and moved to a new environment, an environment in which he and his family thrived, and he received a new name, Abraham.[4] Abraham’s destiny was to become the first patriarch of the Jewish nation.[5]

What about you? What’s your destiny?

Let’s Take it to the Next Level together.

Book your appointment here today,

Luba

Photo by Jake Blucker on Unsplash

[1] Yehuda Altein, ‘Who Was Terah?’, Chabad.ORG, accessed June 18, 2023, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4529921/jewish/Who-Was-Terah.htm.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Genesis 12:1.

[5] Yehuda Altein, ‘Who Was Terah?’, Chabad.ORG, accessed June 18, 2023, https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4529921/jewish/Who-Was-Terah.htm.