are YOU living or existing?

“You’re alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you can change the world, the world will change. Potential. Once you’re dead, it’s gone. Over. You’ve made what you’ve made, dreamed your dream, written your name. You may be buried here, you may even walk. But that potential is finished.”
― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

“What is a man, if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and god-like reason to fust in us unused.”
― William Shakespeare, Hamlet

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” – Aristotle

Potentials is what each of us have embedded within us. Just like  a grain of corn or wheat, what we are to become is inside us. However, like a grain of corn or wheat that is not planted, its potentials remains within it without being actualized. Our potentials can also remain within us without actualisation if we do not work towards bringing them to fruition. After balancing our self, the next important step is bringing to fruit the potentials within us. In the grave there is no flowering of potentials.

work towards achieving your potentials and self actualization


Every individual has got potentials. Each person is like a seed germ; all that he can achieve comes with him when born. His self, his background and environment then inform the possibility of achieving what is within him. Like a pot, the individual is made up of different shapes and sizes. The usage or capacity utilization of the pot depends on where it finds itself and how strong it is. Some pots are used as decorative pieces because there is nothing they can be used for except that. Other pots however are strong enough to be used in cooking hard things though such pots are made different from the ornamental ones.

Individual’s capacity is limited but some have more capacity then others. The decision to use one’s capacity rests on one’s background and self. Some individuals push themselves to the limit and their main aim in life is to use what God has given them. They do have the belief that if God does not expect them to use any talent or gift; he will not endow them with it. This is true, because God does not give you what you cannot make use of and what you do not need to actualize yourself. One point however needs to be clarified: this is the fact that one’s talents and gifts can be used negatively. No matter how one- find reasons outside himself for whatever he does, the cause and reason’s for one’s behaviour still rests within the person.The decision to use one’s capacity to the fullest rests within the individual so also is the decision to use his talents negatively or positively. The ability to utilize one’s capacity is the basis of evolving a good self-concept.

When the individual explores himself and understands who he is, he will then be able to assess and highlight what he has got. It is the job of every individual to strive towards using his innate capacity. He must word towards achieving his potentials no matter the kind of condition he finds himself. The history of most achievers and most successful people points to the fact that they increased their self worth or evolve a positive self- concept because they achieve their potentials despite all odds.If your pot is full of water it is not poured out in order for it to be used, the water becomes stagnant and after some time useless to the pot and those surrounding the pot. The job of actualizing one’s potentials is like emptying the pot so that it can be filled again.

Using one’s potentials and getting filled again strengthens the individual. It makes him happy in himself because with every achievement that is positive, he realizes that he can overcome problems and if he is reflective enough he understands that he cannot do anything alone without the help of God. This humbles him but also makes him happy therefore giving him a good self-concept, the I can-do it view and a great amount of self- esteem.

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