Tag: potential

The Freedom Of Possibility

The Freedom Of Possibility

It was one of the stupidest decisions I’ve ever made.

Driving home from a late night out in the big city with a few friends. In front of me was a wide open stretch of highway which for some unknown reason inspired me to wonder just how fast my car could actually go. Fueled by a potentially lethal combination of teenage invincibility and alcohol, I pressed the pedal as hard as I could just to see exactly how fast my ’73 Toyota could go.

My experiment was cut short by a rather unsettling noise coming from the rear tires. Apparently the high rate of speed I was traveling at created a great deal of heat causing the retreads on my tires to separate from the tires, which I discovered after stopping to see if I could find where the noise was coming from. I had no idea that was even possible until I held a piece of a tire in my hand. After that experience, I had no intention of ever finding out exactly how fast that car could go.

Things certainly could have easily turned out much differently.

This far more mature and long-sober version of me often ponders a different sort of experiment. What would the outcome be if I pushed myself to my limits. Like, if I gave life all I had to give, Continue reading “The Freedom Of Possibility” →

Do You Own Your Own Potential?

Do You Own Your Own Potential?

Maybe I shouldn’t swear as much as I do. But if you’ve ever stepped on an acorn while barefoot, a few colorful curse words makes for a logical form of self-expression.

Fall in New England is a magical metaphorical time. It’s a season of letting go, of change, and of preparation. For me it’s also a time of reflection and contemplation as we head into the silence of the coming winter. Regardless of the season, I still need to eat, and as I made my way to my grill I was reminded just how painful stepping on an acorn while barefoot actually is.

As the oaks begin shedding their leaves they also drop their acorns, and with the oak tree’s close proximity to my house the back deck is constantly littered with their presence. Acorns are an oak tree’s way of perpetuating their species. While the ones on my deck will never take root, other acorns the tree has dropped may find the proper nurturing environment to turn an acorn into an oak tree. A fascinating process of Nature ensuring it’s own survival.

Acorns are little packets of potential. The seeds of what they were created to become reside inside each of them. But no matter the potential residing within them, their growth and full expression require cultivation in an environment conducive to growth and full expression. They’ll never become anything just resting on the patio.

Us humans are quite similar to acorns, aren’t we? We, too, are all little packets of potential with the seeds of what we were created to become resting within each of us. We, too, will require a nurturing environment conducive to supporting our own growth and full expression.

Unlike acorns whose growth is contingent primarily upon external conditions, the most important Continue reading “Do You Own Your Own Potential?” →

The Top 5 Good Excuses For Not Living Up To Your Potential

The Top 5 Good Excuses For Not Living Up To Your Potential

Boy, did I set myself up for quite the challenge.

My task this week was to filter through a lifetime of learning and living and come up with the definitive list of the top five good excuses for people not living up to their potential.

Not to brag, but at one point in my life I would have been considered an expert in this field. In fact, I probably would have won the lifetime “lack-of-achievement” award for my consistent and innovative excuse making if, of course, the world actually awarded those who’ve never done anything other than make excuses as to why they’ve never done anything.

Based upon my extensive research and unquestionable qualifications, I present to you Continue reading “The Top 5 Good Excuses For Not Living Up To Your Potential” →

The Importance of Being Selfish

Trust me, you want me to be selfish.

And I want you to be selfish, too.

Being selfish doesn’t seem like a good idea. Especially if building community and relationships is important to you. After all, being selfish is about being self-centered. It’s about the “me” and not the “we”. The focus on individual accomplishment and development can’t possibly be beneficial to the collective good of our society.

I disagree.

Continue reading “The Importance of Being Selfish” →

The Perfect Gift: 3%

Looking for the ultimate gift this holiday season?

Give yourself 3%.

I just purchased my all-new 2010 calendar. Just waiting for December to end and up on the wall she goes.

It was about this time last year that I purchased my all-new 2009 calendar, waiting for 2008 to run its remaining course. In some ways 2009 was a breakout kind of year. Certain goals, such as starting this blog, transitioned from concept into reality. LivingHalfFull.com has been read in 49 US states (hello W. Virginia?) and in 59 countries around the world. As much as I look back upon the successes of 2009, in other parts of my life, the only thing that changed was my age.

All I have gotten is older.

A STINGING REALIZATION This past year’s 365 days presented themselves to me as opportunities for growth in so many areas of my life. Yet in many areas of my life all I am is just another year older. Years, like life, can easily just slip away, one innocently wasted unfocused moment after another. I’ve incorporated the “I’m just too busy” mantra into my life for years. I’m really quite good at it. But of the 8,760 hours we have in a year, couldn’t I have found even a little time to work on areas of my life I’d like to improve upon?

Continue reading “The Perfect Gift: 3%” →

Someone Once Said…#12

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

— Leo Buscaglia

We all have the ability, and I would argue the responsibility, to make our world a better place. Building better people builds that better world. Today you will have many opportunities to build better people by performing the simple compassionate acts of caring that are mentioned above.

Use your greatness to help others rediscover their own.