Realizing Our Full Potential – Part Two
By Tomas and Joan Heartfield, Ph.D.

We realize our full potential by following what has heart and meaning in our lives, or by following our bliss as Joseph Campbell phrased it. This is no easy task when creating a life for one’s self in this day and age.  To be able to listen to our inner voice is an art worth pursuing. The true voice is not a digitized recording, but a reservoir of information stored in the heart.  It knows things the mind does not, but the mind must give the heart permission to speak.  Listen carefully.  As you attune to the heart frequency ask the question, “What is alive in me right now?  How can I show up and make a difference?”

Our full potential lies in our ability to use all our resources, even when we don’t have all the resources we think we need in any given situation. Itzhak Perlman, the great violinist, gave an extraordinary performance with a broken string. With only three strings, he expressed a level of creativity and genius never heard before.  He saw the broken string as a call to rise above the limitation of the moment.  It was quite possibly the best performance of his career.

Life often challenges us to improvise with what we have. Those who succeed in meeting the challenge rise above their perceived limitations. They touch the vast reservoir of their true potential, and they inspire us to try it for ourselves.

What does it take to tap into this place and nurture these seeds?  Here are twelve things we have found helpful

1. Seek and desire to realize your full potential. Ask to be shown the highest options for your life.

2. Be present and aware, so that when opportunities do show up, you are ready to move towards them.

3. Ask that your every thought, word and act be for the highest good.  Orient toward the most positive possibilities.

4. Cultivate and hone your talents and skills. Be as good as you can be at whatever you do. Resource talent you would aspire to have yourself.

5. Believe in yourself and have faith that you are being guided.

6. Have goals and break them down into short and long term increments.

7. Persevere.  Keep moving toward your goals, one step at a time.

8. Take time to cultivate your connection to Divine Intelligence through meditation, prayer and study of the sacred.

9. Trust your visions and have the courage to follow them.

10. Balance study, work and focus with stillness, time in nature and play.

11. Have compassion and reverence for yourself and all life.

12. Know you are doing the best you can do at any moment in your life, and you can always make new choices.  Learn from your choices.  Relax and enjoy the process.