Self-growth and relationship secret #1 Open Yourself to Your Potential
In order to grow as individuals we have to open ourselves to our potential. We always know that we are capable of being more because there is a restless voice inside us that keeps reminding us. We stop growing when we ignore this voice or rationalize it away. What keeps so many of us from taking action to reach our potential? The answer is the demon: FEAR that invariably accompanies change. What we have to accept is that growth is always accompanied by a fear of the unknown that tries to hold us back. Learning to live with the contradiction becomes the key to bringing forth our potential.
How to bring forth your potential:
1. Get in touch with what you want for yourself
My friend Mary was unhappy with all the demands placed on her by others. Yet because she was a very giving person she found it hard to say no. The result was that she became resentful, felt hopelessly stuck, and bored. When she did the exercise of getting in touch with what she wanted for herself at first she came up with nothing. At last she zeroed in on a daydream she had held on to for the past 25 years. She wanted to write a book for the young adult audience and even had a plot figured out.
2. Trust your daydreams and inklings
The reason they exist is to nudge you to bring out your potential. If you don’t have anything specific in mind let that be OK. Appreciate your strength and trust that it will become clearer with time. My mother in her 80s was feeling useless. She tapped into her abilty to crochet and started designing and creating individual afghans for all her great grandchildren. The doing gave her enormous vitality and pleasure. My neighbor is passioned about creating habitats to attract varieties of birds into our neighborhood.
3. Take action on what you want for yourself
It is by taking action that you are really open to bringing forth your potential. Others may question what you want to do, you will get scared, but by keeping at it you will feel energized and engaged with your life. The road is invariably messy and uncertain but the reward is that you will feel proud of yourself.
