By Samantha McKenzie

“Talent is a flame. Genius is a fire.” Bernard Williams

What’s your genius? What’s the one thing that makes you brilliant, that sets you aside from others, that keeps you up late at night or forces you to jump out of bed at unusual times?

I’m a firm believer that we are all born a genius, that we carry with us a specific gift, a unique intelligence that was deposited in us from birth. I wholeheartedly believe that this special quality exists just awaiting our acknowledgement. Our job, like it or not, is to discover it, nurture it, and give it back to the world.

Truth is, if you spend a little quiet time with yourself, you’ll find your genius. Maybe you already have. Has it been your secret since childhood? Was it your grandmother who recognized it first? Or was it that random stranger who peeped it during a strange encounter. We’ve heard it repeated through the years. You know you’re brilliant!

This genius wasn’t taught to you, even though, it can be refined through study and practice. No one can claim they gave it to you, but there will be lots of people who can say they helped you bring it out.

This part of you may never be attached to your career. It may not have shown up on your school report cards. Many of us will live and die without ever claiming it, without ever using it all up. But that doesn’t preclude its natural existence.

You are a genius and deep down inside you believe it too.

It’s time you let your genius free. Let your brilliance shine through in a way that makes it undeniable. Just be you. You deserve it. Our children are in need of it. The world can’t live without it.