Talent Glasses

9th Oct, 2020

Try looking at a product, a space or a person through talent glasses!

For example, which talents are at the basis of a tastefully decorated living room or that cool song on the radio? Which talents are at the basis of a delicious freshly baked apple pie or an ice cream at the ice cream shop?

During the talent classes at our culture park, we regularly literally put talent glasses on the students so they can learn to think in terms of talents. For example, we assigned several groups of students to go into the exhibition space with talent glasses on and to take 3 photos of talents that stood out to them.

The first talent they noticed was the guide who addressed them in 4 different languages; “bon tardi, bon bini den nos museo”; “goedemiddag, welkom in ons museum”; “good afternoon, welcome to our museum”; “buenas tardes, bienvenido en nuestro museo”. After that, each group moved away and took several photographs. During the debriefing they all showed each other the photos and it soon became apparent that each group had seen very different things. For example they had seen a beautiful painting made by a young girl from Rincon (talent for painting), a braided hat (creative talent), a guitar-playing gentleman (musical talent) and a fishing boat (talent for carpentry/woodworking).

How do you acquire these talents? And what exactly is talent anyway? Why do we all see the world in different ways? Talent is something you are good at and you enjoy. It takes no effort at all and it gives you a lot of energy and satisfaction. For you this is quite normal. Some talents you inherit from your family and others are uniquely yours: a gift from God. It is not easy to discover your talents. The talent glasses help you to do that. If you learn to look at the world through talent glasses you will understand it much better. You will also learn to understand yourself - and others- much better. Suddenly you won’t perceive someone else as weird anymore, they become interesting.

 

As a young girl I grew up in a small village where everyone knows each other. Even though I loved grandpa and grandma's farm and my parents’ large vegetable garden at home, I also knew from an early age on that I would one day spread my wings and move away. Even as a child I have always been an adventurer; I have always had a desire to get to know other parts of the world and to be able to make a difference to the people there.

At the time I didn't know that this talent is specific to me and that my father also had this same talent; after all, as an 18-year-old boy he had already enrolled into nautical college and in the early years of his career had sailed on an international shipping line to many distant countries.

In the talent classes it is, therefore, important that the students regularly put on the talent glasses so that they become aware of all the talents around them.

Ultimately, this will help them to recognize their own talents as well. If you know what your talents are it is easier to find out what your contribution to the world could be and what makes you happy.

“Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God”
Leo Buscaglia