The Importance Of Using Your Potential
Do you want to be happy? Do you want to make a difference? Do you want to have a life full of joy? What do you think can make it? Marriage, status, money, job?
Only 10% of our happiness depends on external factors. About 50% belongs to our genetics, it's kind of your set point. And 40% of your happiness depends on the way you train and use your brain. The connections between neurons are not static, we can change them by learning new information, meditating, doing some exercises, etc. Just the idea of knowing that you can make yourself happier is very exciting! You are not a victim, you are the master of your own destiny!
When I think about a joyful life I think about using my potential first of all. Happiness is not so much based on pleasure as on working towards achieving your goals. It is not even outcome, it's having a meaning and building everything around it. This is how I make myself happy. I noticed that if I spend a day working hard on something that means a lot to me, I will be happy and satisfied even if something bad happened. Even if I had my heart broken I could easily recover if I had something meaningful to do. Focusing on my potential always helps me to put myself together and work on my dreams coming true no matter what happens in external environment.
Everyday we make decisions which affect utilization of our time. And often our choices are built based on avoiding pain and getting pleasure. And sometimes we think about very short-term pleasures as a solution. For example if we feel lonely we are trying to find a new partner and sometimes end up with the wrong one. Or we don't like our boss and we want to find another job. After stressful day we go to the bar and get drunk to numb negative emotions instead of listening to them and work on our mistakes. All these easy solutions can be replaced by meaningful actions which will take more efforts but give long-term satisfaction.
And pain... What type of pain are you afraid of, and what type of pain stops you from using your potential? That you will fail at work or in business? That you will be rejected? That someone will be laughing at you? Most of all I am afraid of pain coming out of not using my gift! And I think this is the only pain we should really try to avoid.
Think of it: life gave you unique qualities, it made you special, and you just keep it to yourself. Days go by, you could do so many things by now, but you are postponing them because of some fears and short-term pleasures. This way you are killing your uniqueness. Can you be really happy in such situation? Really?
On other hand, if you were able to find your gift and you are using your potential more or less every day, if you believe in yourself and work on your dreams coming true, how can you be sad? Yes, sometimes you will face failure, but you will know that you are moving forward, that you are making difference. And things are not happening in a day or two, big dreams take a lot of time for implementation. But in order to get to the place you want to be you need to choose the right direction.
When I want to give up, when I feel like I cannot work on my dreams anymore, because it becomes too hard and looks like I am going nowhere I always say to myself: what will be the price if I do nothing meaningful? And the answer is - my whole life! This is how I see it.
By avoiding negative emotions we are giving up positive ones too. If you want to live full life, you need to go through the pain sometimes, you shouldn't be afraid of working hard, you should be able to say "No" to some pleasant sensations if they are pulling you away from your goals. I would say we need to be mindful about using our time and our potential. It is very important to figure out what do you want to do with your life and take little steps everyday. They can be tiny, but they will be yours, they will come out of your heart and will reflect your gift, your uniqueness, your passion.
Life without meaning is the most painful life. But by using your potential you can make it full of joy no matter what because you won't depend on external events and will always be able to find the energy within yourself! Learn new things every day, build new neural connections, move from survival state to creation state, become stronger and help others!
Don't be afraid to set up crazy goals, to dream big, and to work hard!
Be Strong And Love Yourself!
From Dasha with love