Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Don’t set limits on your unlimited potential. Unknown

What is our potential? How good are we compared to how good we could be? Is there a limit on improvement? If we continually improve something in our lives, our lives can be richer, and what if we don’t know how good things could be? Does this apply to individuals, families, communities, countries, and the world?

What part of our lives would we like to see improved? Do we have enough friends, or should we join a group of like-minded people? Do we get enough exercise and have enough fun outdoors, breathing in fresh air with the sun on our faces and the wind in our hair? Are we robustly healthy for our age and stage in life? Is the food we eat as wholesome and colorful as it can be?

We watch children grow and develop, but when do we decide we are developed? What if we didn’t reach the magical age of adulthood and settle into building a life, and often give up on earlier dreams? What if we kept those dreams alive for later when we have time to pursue them? Doing for our families takes all the time, energy, and resources we have, but what if, after the heavy lifting of raising children is over, we have a new lease on life and potential to make something out of the later years that didn’t fit into those years of heavy lifting?

Life is a journey, and what if we never finish improving something until we breathe our last breath? I’m looking around at women who are aging gracefully, who are active in their eighties, going to the gym, swimming, joining book clubs, travelling, and active in Toastmasters or other groups like horticulture societies, and quilting guilds.

Our health might not be as much in our control as we’d like; seemingly healthy people are blindsided by cancer, and some overcome it, and some will not. Maybe it isn’t so much the years in our life as the life in our years.

Believe in your potential, even when others don’t see it yet. Unknown

I wonder if I am living as fully and deeply as I can. Where can I improve? Is every relationship in my life as great as I would like? Will there always be room for improvement in relationships, and is it possible if I set my mind to it?

Life is ahead of us until it isn’t, and none of us know when life will take a turn we didn’t see coming. Change is coming for all of us; we can embrace it, live with it, and love it, live with it and hate it, but we can’t change what we can’t change.

Seeing the potential in our own and others’ lives is what we can do. Who can we encourage who struggles with seeing the potential in their lives? Who can we uplift, encourage, and support?

Sometimes we want to do big things, but maybe focusing on small things we can do right now will make the biggest difference in our lives. The more we get the little things right, the more we will get the big things right, because little things add up to big things. Are we too busy focusing on the big things that we let the little things slide, so we never figure out how to get the big things we want in life?

If our daily habits are what build our lives, then it makes sense that all change must come from our daily habits. What does a good day look like? What would a good week look like? Of course, perfection is the enemy of the good, and do we look down on little satisfactions and pleasures which add up to a good life, thinking about big things others are accomplishing, which makes our life look small and insignificant?

What if comparing ourselves to others is one of the worst things we do? What if we should be comparing where we are to where we used to be, and take satisfaction in the forward momentum of our lives? Small incremental steps will get us somewhere, so will big leaps, but what if the small incremental steps lead to the possibility of big leaps?

We are where we are, and we have to be okay with that; it doesn’t mean we can’t move in the direction we desire. We might want to be the hare, but what if we are the tortoise? We applaud early bloomers, but what of those who make continual though not applauded progress in life, and what of the late bloomers? What if some of the best moments can still be ahead of us if we have the right attitude? What if we embrace getting better in all areas of our life, and we don’t know where that will lead, because there is always room for improvement, and when we get to the top of one mountain, we see another mountain to climb?

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. Nido Qubein

Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking your potential. Winston Churchill

You are the master of unspoken words, but a slave to the words you have spoken. Winston Churchill

Thank you for reading this post. Please return and read more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.