Thursday Thought #159: Our Greatest Potential
In many conversations I have with people, I often notice a very similar thread that goes something this:
“What I’m up to Right now is x. But what I really care about is…”
Inevitably, I’ll respond: “Well what why don’t you do that?”
And they reply: “Oh I could never do that… i just don’t have the time…” or “I kinda tried a couple years ago, it didn’t really work out…” “i just haven’t learned enough yet… it’s just an idle thought.”
And yet they will go on talking about that idea that really moves them in a profound way.
We grow up in a world of pain; of confusion; of disappointment — sometimes of competition where people try to cut each other down.
Thus, we often live our lives not striving for the very best that we can create — the very best that we can manifest. I believe that part of this fact is a fear of loss.
Is it better to have loved and lost? That question is not always easy to answer. Painful events can often define our reality. And so in order to avoid that potential pain, we forego opportunities to advance our story.
Many people who have accumulated a material life of riches or who have attained their dream career live in a state of worry or even paranoia of losing it all; of watching it crumble around them. So they live to maintain a fragile reality that should be one of great enjoyment.
In that fear of potentially losing our dream, we can often override actually working and striving for it.
And yet, this world is also a world of potential; of immense support; and of pellucid beauty.
The second fear seems to be losing our fire. Oftentimes people have that secret dream that keeps them moving through the route the days and weeks. Paradoxically, the thought that that dream could one day become a reality keeps a very happy stasis in their mind. But if they actually had to strive for it, and give everything they could give… and still fall short… then some feel that they would have nothing left.
They wouldn’t know what their identity would be if they didn’t have that Gatbsy green light in the distance.
But distance is a great deceiver. It lulls us with a blanket of safety until one day we wake up and realize there is nothing left.
The final reason we don’t strive seems to be a need to make things a monumental success. We’ve been inculcated with the belief that our deepest desire has to be an Earth-shattering success of an idea. It has to be the next big world changing idea. But the fact is… it doesn’t. Some people have dreams of impacting their community. And that’s enough. Some people have dreams of impacting their family. And that too, is enough.
We put so much pressure on ourselves to be defined by our ideas and accomplishments. I know I certainly fall into this trap constantly
But you are not your ideas. You are not your accomplishments. You are not your plaques or awards. You are you.
And that burning idea can be just that: an idea that is ready to manifest. But we so often default to the disempowering story. So what is the story that you’re telling yourself that might be keeping you from tapping your toe in a new water? And what’s a new empowering story that you can change it ?
With a new story comes a new identity. And the ability to give that idea a world. And perhaps he’ll inspire someone to take their own dream out of a treasure box and into reality.
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