Realizing and Releasing Your Human Potential
Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t – you’re right
– Henry Ford
I remember about 5 years ago, I was in conversation with a dear friend in Sweden about human potential and the power of belief and I remember him saying to me that he was always brought up to believe that he could do anything, be anything and have anything he wanted. I asked him “so you do believe that?” To which he replied without hesitation – yes, absolutely.
Everything I had read and certain instances of my life suggested this to be true. I remember when hearing my friend say that, that deep down inside I too believed that to be true. But more prominent and mind consuming than that voice of belief was a voice of fear and doubt. In that moment of being more honest with myself than I had ever been, I realized that I was filled with a far greater sense of doubt than a sense of certainty. I also realized that to achieve my vision – to become everything I always intended to become, I would have to shift my mindset so that it would be filled with a greater sense of certainty than doubt.
It was incredibly disempowering, disheartening and depressing to realize that no matter how much I had tried to shift my mindset into believing, “I can!” I had only been fooling myself into believing that I could be, do and have anything. At best, I could only hope, and at times I felt I was near losing even that too. I was becoming what I feared the most – full of fear, scared almost to dream, as to dream meant to be depressed; depressed to know that I could be do and have anything, yet I was “somehow” responsible for holding myself back. I felt hopeless, to know that all I had to do is believe in me… such a simple thing, yet so impenetrably impossible to trick my mind into doing.
Can’t See the Wood For the Trees
I felt I had read everything there was to read on human potential, gone to every personal development seminar, turned every philosopher’s stone. I knew all about the unproven boundaries of human potential, yet I was unable to harness any of it. I felt like a ball of energy, just wanting to direct my creative energy into something amazing and extraordinary. I knew it was possible, yet I felt I was paralyzed in my ability to create anything resembling the character I intended to be, the life I had intended to live. From everything I knew, in theory I knew it could only be I that was holding me back, yet I couldn’t see for the life of me just how I was doing that.
Self-Awakening
It’s amazing when I look back on my journey of coming to the point of self-awakening, and to see that truly – it’s almost always something so simple that we simply cannot see it. It was there all along, yet to see the simple truths in life, we must first ourselves become simple. I have no regrets about everything I went through. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing. But I am only able to truly feel that way about it all now that I am on that journey of releasing my human potential. Something so simple can often be mistaken as something so easy. But the journey is never intended to be easy, nor would you ever want it that way in truth (or in heart).
To become your deepest truest intention, you must connect with your deepest truest self. Some people call this true self God; some call it Spirit, Soul, Divinity or just Universe. But the name matters not, only that which it awakens within us. Finding this place within takes patience and discipline. It is through taking small daily actions, that our actions can become our habits, so that our habits can develop our character. Just as this is true in matters of the heart, this is true for all matters in life.
Silent Prayer; Meditation
The place from which you come to know your true character is from hearing your heart. The only place in which we can hear it is in silence; when the mind become quiet, the heart can be heard, though not in words, but in feeling. A quiet mind can be achieved through meditation, also known as silent prayer. It takes daily practice, but eventually, the voice of your heart speaking with certainty will become louder than the voice of your head speaking with doubt.
Realize however that your mind is not your enemy. Your mind is an amazing gift to you. However, it can only express its truest potential when it in is service of the heart. Much like a wild brumby horse, by nature it wants to run wild and seemingly free, the mind seemingly wants to run wild and free –be mindless. But if we want to live with true freedom that comes from taking decided action rather than living in simple reaction, we need to take control of our minds –be mindful. Freedom comes from discipline. Just as the wild brumby can be tamed and serve whatever wonderful purpose its whisperer desires, the mind can be tamed and serve any wonderful purpose the heart desires.
Again, it requires patience and discipline. The process of meditation or silent prayer is
1. Focus your full attention on every moment of your breath coming in, and going out
2. When the mind’s attention wanders, gently, and in a non-berating way, bring your attention back to your breath.
As you can see, the process is very simple. But ‘simple’ is not to be confused with ‘easy’. Having said that though, it does not mean it is ‘difficult’ either. It requires effort in order to stay mindful of the breath. But it also requires ease in order to let go of entering thought. A continuous balance of both is where one finds stillness and silence. It takes patience… and it takes trust. In silence, you receive no feedback. You may feel as though the process isn’t doing anything. But the evidence is not in the process itself, it in the ever increasing evidence showing up in every day of your life once you have committed to the journey of daily meditation or silent prayer. Clarity will follow from your confusion.
In silent prayer or meditation, the mind becomes present as the breath is always in the present. When the mind becomes present it becomes still. When the mind is still the heart can become open. When the heart is open, it becomes filled with love and gratitude, and allows our mind to become certain. These are the four cardinal pillars of a living self-aware and self-actualized. It is here that we begin to hear, and ‘know thyself’.
So if you feel that you are at that crossroads in your journey where you are ready to develop the character you always intended to be, what you cannot perhaps explain but feel, then this is a process that can set you on that path. Essentially, no one else can find that path for you or even guide you toward where you need to walk. That guidance can only truly come from your own within.
Something I was once told that helped me along my meditative journey was that meditation is not about how long you can keep your mind’s attention on your breath (effort), nor is it how quickly you can return it back to presence once it has wandered (ease). It is simply the process of allowing both to just be.
I recommend taking 10-20 minutes each day to engage in meditation or silent pray. That is all. Anymore than that and you are less likely to form a habit of meditation and thus unlikely to develop your intended character.
As the Zen story goes
The master said to his students, “If you put into practice every day, in 7 years a master you will become.” A student then asked “So how long will it take if I work twice as hard?” To which the master replied “Then it will take you twice as long.”
With love, gratitude, presence and certainty,
Karl
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