Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay Spiritual Laws says, "The talent is the call." Our unique talent directs us toward one particular path in which all space is open to us. When you are in that channel of your unique talent everything falls into place, the path lies clear before you. If you turn from your unique direction you will come up against barriers that serve to guide you back to the path where you can be in the greatest service.

Emerson tells us that when a person is in that channel of his unique talent, "There is an inclination to do something which is easy for him, and good when it is done, but which no other man can do. He has no rival. For the more truly he consults his own powers, the more difference will his work exhibit from the work of any others…By doing his work he makes the need felt which he can supply. Be doing his own work he unfolds himself."

What is your talent? What is your call? Where are you in service in the Universe? Where are you supposed to be in service? How are you unfolding yourself?

It has taken me 73 years to align myself so completely with my talent that my call is clear. Yet nothing has been wasted. Every newsletter I wrote, every time I communicated from the stage, every organizational job I had, every healing technique I learned, every path I explored, all gave me skills that I now easily use. But it took me a while to recognize the core talent around which all this work centers. I was given the gift of being a distiller of information. I gather from many sources and weave it together in what I think of as a logical, sequential "hook to hang it all on." And the Divine Urge, the Wind at My Back is to share what I have learned with others.

Look at what you love to do. Look at the parts that are easy. Look at what you do better than a lot of other people and you will be getting close to your true calling. Then look for your uniqueness. In marketing it is called the USP, your unique selling position. In life it is simply your Authentic Self.

Emerson continues: "Man must make a frank and hearty expression of what force and meaning is in him…Until he can manage to communicate himself to others in his full stature and proportion as a wise and good man, he does not yet find his vocation."

I particularly like "a frank and hearty expression." Am I doing that? Am I frank when I express myself? Am I hearty in my enthusiasm? Do I communicate all that I am in all that I do? Am I true to myself? Am I true to my calling?

Emerson continues, "A man's genius, the quality that differences him from every other…determines for him the character of the universe. As a man thinketh, so is he, and as a man chooseth so is he and so is nature…A man is a method, a progressive arrangement; a selecting principle, gathering his life to him wherever he goes…What you heart thinks great is great. The souls emphasis is always right."

We create our own life experience by what we think, by what we choose, by what we see. I particularly like the idea that we are a selecting principle, choosing, accepting, ignoring, embracing, turning from, turning to. Every moment is filled with choices. I gather my life to me wherever I go.

Follow the longing of your soul. Following the wisdom deep within you. Listen to the Divine Urge. Honor the unique gifts and talents that are yours alone. Follow the channel most open to you. Do what is easy and what you do well, which no other person can do but you.

That is your calling. That is your expression of the Universal Mind. That is your unique contribution to the Universe. That is who you truly are.