Better Late Than Never

Over the past ten years I've begun to develop an appreciation for what I now recognize as my innate musical ability. The reasons why it took me almost forty years to get to this appreciation could keep several therapists gainfully employed but those reasons really don't matter. As Werner Erhard is credited saying: "Why is the booby prize".

But I have been reflecting lately about how many of us take our innate abilities for granted as long as I did. I think some of my earliest moments of appreciation occurred when I started teaching guitar regularly and noticed how some students just "get it" right away & others do not. In a parallel situation, I've many times watched people new to public speaking; some are naturals - others are not. It's not that my guitar students who don't get it right away never will or those who are not naturals cannot become effective public speakers. But the ones with an innate aptitude for either skill are readily apparent to me. Why? It's possible I see this because these are two of my own innate abilities. I can learn to be better with tools. But, that ability does not come naturally to me. I'm reasonably sure any competent carpenter would recognize this. Further, I'm almost as sure that same carpenter would have observed the same thing in me as a child.

What are your innate abilities? How have you manifested them in your life? Which of them have you perhaps taken for granted? How can you learn to appreciate them more?