Perception Shifts Plus: The Gift You've Stopped Noticing

Not the running commentary on what you should fix, or the worn story of who you’ve always been.

I mean actually seeing yourself and the gift you carry that’s so much a part of you that you’ve stopped noticing it’s there.

We move through most of our days seeing what we expect, what we fear, what we’ve already decided is true. And the hardest thing of all to see clearly is the person in the mirror.

But clear sight is exactly what these times are asking of us—to heal the separations between people and nations, and to repair the damage we’ve done to our Earth mother.

When the World Feels Too Broken to Fix

Political divisions and disputes between countries can feel so vast that we wonder how we’ll ever return to being a people who listen to understand and work together in community and collaboration.

We may despair that we’ve fouled our air, polluted our oceans, and become either jaded about what we’ve done or complacent because we believe there’s nothing we can do.

But here’s the good news: all change begins on a small scale. With ourselves.

When we heal the divisions within ourselves, we can heal the divisions we have with the people close to us. Then, like concentric circles, it spreads outward into the larger world.

First, We Have to See the Problem

Sometimes that’s the hardest part. Our ego believes that if we acknowledge a problem, we’ll be trapped inside it.

That, of course, is the exact opposite of the truth.

Clarity about a problem always reveals a solution.

And healing divisions doesn’t mean we have to agree with each other. It means we listen with the intention of understanding and work together toward an outcome that benefits everyone.

Yearn to Understand First

Years ago, a line from one of my books, A Woman’s ABC’s of Life, found its way into the world through the then-popular Reader's Digest and has been quietly making the rounds ever since.

Every so often, it surfaces in my feed, shared by someone I’ve never met. That always makes me happy.

But what would make me even happier is if we all practiced it more often.

Yearn to understand first, and to be understood second. —Beca

Yearning to understand requires us to listen. Not with our heads, but with our hearts.

To listen to understand, not to answer.

And once again, we begin with ourselves.

Do we listen to our own still, small voice to gain clarity? Do we see clearly, appreciate, and honor all our spiritually unique gifts?

Not just some of us.

Everyone has gifts.

It’s a condition of being alive.

The Willingness to Say Yes

To reveal the life we desire, we have to accept that those gifts are valuable—and be willing to share them.

If we can do that for ourselves, we can do it for others. Concentric circles again.

Here’s how to begin:

Ask yourself, What do I love most about myself?
Are you willing to accept that it’s a gift?
Are you willing to express that gift—to yourself first, and then to everyone you meet? In person and in thought?

Start not with a list of things to do, but with a willingness to clearly see, accept, and express your unique spiritual gifts.

It’s the best thing we can do for ourselves and for others. All else follows from there.

Start small. You know—with the person in the mirror.

Love what you see. Find a quality you can celebrate. Then do it for the next person you meet, because after all, we are mirrors for each other.

Say yes to this simple solution for living the life you want to live. It just needs to be acknowledged and practiced.

To get started:

Pick a quality—a gift—that you love most about yourself right now. (Curiosity, steadfastness, kindness—whatever it is.)

Celebrate it and use it this month. See what happens.

PS: Not sure exactly what gift you want to express? The Intent Course will help solve that. It's my last community for 2026 (and the last time I'll lead this course live). Come spend eight weeks with us as we say no to what we don't want and yes to what we do.

The details are just below.