A key lesson for me has been present-mindedness: to appreciate the journey, and not obsess about the destination. Intuitive, long-range thinkers can easily see beyond the here and now, and foresee the implications of our actions (or inactions). When there is a humanitarian lens, that foresight can be daunting, because it is impossible for any one individual to remedy all suffering in the world. No destination is ever truly final or sufficient.
It is a humbling lesson: to strive to surpass our limits, yet to accept that the ideal can never truly be reached, and remain satisfied and hopeful on the journey with that knowledge. It’s a delicate balance. For this reason, I’ve learned that our connectedness with others, through shared values and action, is where we can reach our highest potential. Like aeh, my faith tradition informs my passion. I wake each day grateful for the gifts I have been given, with an intuitive knowledge that they will bear most fruit if they are given away for the benefit of many.
It took a long time to get here. I was also treated - and allowed myself to be treated - as a trophy by various people through my youth, for my seeming Swiss-army-knife abilities, and it required a conscious re-think on status-based achievement vs value-based achievement. The gifted are not a superhuman sub-species, and I think we do great damage to ourselves and our children when we insinuate anything to that effect. (I am not pointing fingers at anyone here; that is a general observation from my own lived experience.)
So for me: present-mindedness and prioritizing achievement that creates societal value are the skills I’d flag for myself.
