2.5
August 6, 2013

The Spider Bite of Enlightenment. ~ Maggie McReynolds

 

The Supercharged Kiss of the Spider

I got bitten by a radioactive bug
I tried an experimental drug
I went for a stroll in a gamma testing range
I found an enchanted Uru cane
I made a serum that made me small
I modified the serum so it would make me tall
I got a radioactive isotope in my eye
A dying alien helped me accessorize

~ Super Powers,  Ookla theMok

If you’ve ever read Homer or just about any Marvel comic book, you know that a big part of the super hero mythology is having an epic quest, enormous responsibility and/or special powers thrust upon an unsuspecting, hapless, regular old human being.

You’re walking along, minding your own business (or, perhaps you’re a mad scientist carrying out some misguided experiment), when WHAM! Suddenly you’ve morphed from ordinary to extraordinary. And just like that, you can save the world.

But here’s the truth about how this works in real life, so sit up and grok this, okay?

We are all super heroes. Born that way. No accident or intervention or spiders needed.

We are all more intuitive, more capable and more powerful than most of us ever imagine. And we remain oblivious to our greatness in part because we take our super powers for granted. We’ve always been able to do them, right? So it doesn’t seem special to us that we are writers gifted with the power of controlling language, artists born with the power to move (or even cloud) men’s minds with our inspirations, natural educators with the power to teach, and, therefore, change the lives of those around us.

But I hear some of you say, I don’t know how to do any of that stuff! I’m not special!

Well, yes, you are.

Your super powers are likely hidden right under your nose, in something that seems trivial or even inane. Maybe you know the lyrics to every Moody Blues song ever written (super memory). Maybe you can take a snarled accounting system and set it to rights at lightning speed (super clarity). Maybe you are really good with animals (super empathy). Maybe you make the meanest chili this side of the border (super nurturer).

We are all super heroes: intuitives with the innate ability to deeply know ourselves and our truths about the world and our place in it; game-changers who have the courage to reach out and make a difference in our corner of the world. The courageous who know that life is about more than the latest purchase from Pottery Barn—more about the trimming hedges and watching others create, innovate, explore and live big. And who decide to actually go to it themselves.

We are all the super heroes of our own lives, if we will only see and own our unique gifts.

Don’t wait for the spider bite, the alien encounter, the accident in the lab, the call to come from outside.

The call can only come from within yourself. Shhh, listen. Hear that sound? That’s you, demanding that you save your own life.

 

 

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Ed: B. Bemel

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