How To Unveil Your Inner Genius

‘To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men – that is genius.’Ralph Waldo Emerson

When we consider the word genius we often attribute it to the Einstein’s or the Schubert’s or the Van Gogh’s of this world.

But let me enlighten you. There is a genius in you waiting to be unveiled. And as Simone de Beauvoir writes – ‘One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius.’

However, before I discuss this further, what is the definition of a genius? It is someone with exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability.

But my dear old friend Mr. Emerson further informs us that genius is defined when you believe your own thoughts. In addition he adds, that to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men – that too is genius.

And it is upon these two statements, made by my favorite mentor, that I wish to build this essay – for as a writer of motivational and inspirational material for well over a decade, and from the response from many of my readers, I have seen this truth played out time and time again.

Believe Your Own Thought

After more than a decade of writing this type of material I have no trouble in believing my own thought. Even when a small percentage of the human race that I reach with my words don’t like my thoughts, or even disagree with some of the ways that I express myself, I am not moved, for the pylons of thought and belief – my own thought – have been firmly plunged into the depths of my belief system. They are immovable.

But it hasn’t always been that way.

In the early days of discovering my own thoughts, defining my thoughts, and constructing them in a manageable and comprehendible manner – they were often challenged by my peers, my own doubts and the circumstances that surrounded my life at the time.

For I had not been raised on these magnificent life-changing thoughts. I was in my early thirties before I was well and truly influenced by the glorious world of personal development literature.

So as I read this material I had to remove a lot of excess thinking baggage from my mind – full of low self-esteem and lack of self-belief. The process took years to complete, for it required a 180-degree reversal of my previous thinking before I could begin to move forward with the confidence in my own thought.

But I never stopped. Like an unfinished marble statue being shaped by the sculpture – with each word I read –acting like a chisel – I slowly but surely created the beautiful structure of thought within – the genius – that had been waiting, all my life, to be unveiled. In fact it was how I discovered my purpose, and Melody Fletcher deals with that subject beautifully in her article  You Already Know What Your Purpose Is.

Believe Your Universal Truth

I never fully understood this until I self published my first book – and started to hear back from my reading audience. Then I created my Motivational Memo e-zine and then my Motivational Memo Blog.

Now I was in a great position to get feedback – and the continuing revelation from my readers was this – that what I shared from my ‘private heart’ was ‘true for all men’.

They felt the same way. They had the same fears. They reached for the same dreams. They had the same challenges. They wanted the same results.

All I had to do was share my story, open my heart, express myself – and before my very eyes I could suddenly see that my genius had been unveiled, and that I could now add value to my readers – inspiring, motivating, encouraging, steering, leading, mentoring, coaching, goading, girding, guiding – just like the ‘genius’ mentors who have guided me in my own personal journey to live the best life possible.

So my question to you is this: Have you found your genius within?