Karen Restivo
In other words
The 2004 movie “Napoleon Dynamite” defined an alternative set of superhuman skills desired by the main character Napoleon as described to his friend Pedro when it came to getting a date.
He said, “I don’t even have any good skills. You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills…. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!”
By the end of the movie, Napoleon Dynamite turned the volume down on his ego’s lyrical lack of skills messaging and instead showed up fully as himself on a stage with killer dance moves not for a girl, but for the sake of a friend.
Superhuman skills aren’t up for sale to the highest bidder, they are intrinsic qualities within each of us.
We dream up elaborate inventories of what we’re missing, never pausing to examine what we were equipped with in our original factory settings.
Familiarizing ourselves with their qualities and implementing them into skillsets is a choice.
Below are six examples of superhuman skills with life-time warranties:
Emotional regulation - the ability to choose how you respond rather than simply react is perhaps the most self-empowering thing a person can cultivate.
It is the difference between being driven by your circumstances and steering through them.
Gratitude - practiced daily, has been scientifically shown to elevate overall wellbeing and happiness.
It doesn’t require good fortune to begin.
It only requires attention - a deliberate turn toward what is already working.
Self-discipline - is not punishment.
It is freedom in disguise.
Knowing when to say yes and when to say no - and having the inner strength to honor that knowing - is a skill that compounds quietly over a lifetime.
Forgiveness - is the one that surprises people.
It feels like a gift given to someone else, but it is entirely for you.
Releasing old pain and settled hurt clears the interior space where brighter chapters are waiting to be written.
Mindfulness - asks only one thing: your presence.
To be fully in this moment, not rehearsing tomorrow or replaying yesterday, is rarer and more restorative than most of us realize.
Consistency - showing up when it’s hard.
Showing up when you don’t feel like it.
Showing up anyway.
It is the least glamorous skill on the list and arguably the most transformative.
In other words, flashy skills make for good action sequences in blockbuster movies.
The inner skillsets make for a blockbuster life using courage, loyalty and the help of a few killer dance moves.
Karenrestivo57@gmail.com