My idea to embrace for today:
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life. Robert Louis Stevenson
Of all the great pursuits in life, to me this is the most important. Every virtue, treasure and reward in life is obtained only through this quest. What is it? It is living your potential.
But what is potential? Webster’s dictionary defines potential as possible (as opposed to what’s currently actual) capable of being or becoming or a latent excellence or ability that may or may not be developed. So potential then is what you can become. It is the best possible version of yourself.
The first challenge to living our potential-is realizing the greatness that is dormant inside of each of us. Why don’t we then? I think what stops most of us from tapping our inner genius; the hero or heroine inside each of us is fear. We are actually afraid of our greater potential.
I know I am constantly challenged by the philosophy espoused by Marianne Williamson when she says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who I am I not to be? It is hard to remember but I have learned that me playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around me.
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of our highest potential that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
