How do you speak of your talent?

Stern's book also show a way to see one's talent. As Stern writes, it becomes clear that he is aware that he has world class talent; exceptional talent. I think most people either shy away from acknowledging this talent, if they have it; or go too far the other way and use their talent as a force to clear others out of their way.

Stern seems to have found the balance.
"The cantor of the temple was a man named Rubin Rinder. He was a very good cantor of the old school, and he loved music. One day there was some occasion when I played the violin in the temple. Cantor Rinder chanced to hear me and suddenly realized that he was hearing talent. He knew my family had no money for lessons: there was hardly any money then for us to live on. And so he spoke about me to a certain maiden lady." [p. 11]

The cantor was hearing talent. It's the perfect way for Stern to say that he blew the cantor away. It is also important that the statement comes in the stride of a the paragraph. Stern has achieved the perfect balance of pride in himself and the awareness that talent is a gift.

And so he is aware of it and neither abandons it nor use it to beat up others.

How do you view your talent?

How do you view your talent? What is the proper angle?

I like this quote I just read in Issac Stern's "My First 79 Years". Stern is speaking,
"I have another photograph of Mr. Pollack [one of Stern's first teachers], this one of him alone, dated 1930, on which these words appear over his signature: 'to my beloved pupil Isaac Stern - May he watch every day over the treasure nature has given him.' "

Your talent is given to you by nature.
Your talent is a treasure from nature to you, which you must vigilantly watch over every day- to protect it, to grow it.