Accessing Your Full Potential

Rock balancing 

I once had a yoga teacher tell me "Everyone has the ability to go just as deep into a pose as anyone else, this is because we are all human and we all have the same potential, it is just accessing that potential that sets us apart. The difference between one that accesses that potential and one that does not is two simple things; letting go and visualizing it." When this yoga teacher first said this I heard the words but they did not process, I did not understand, instead I let them sink into my being and soul to be kept for a time when I could process their true meaning. It is now that I realize and truly understand what my yoga teacher was saying that day as two of the biggest things I access in my daily life are letting go and visualization. Learning to let go and visualize have lead me to reach goals and change my life, and everyone can learn to use these tools in their lives to do the same.

It is true as humans we do all have the same potential in us to do and achieve the same things, just some of us access it all to achieve our goals and some of us only access bits and pieces of it. How we access our potential and what we do with it is our choice, but when we access our full potential we tend to lead happier more fulfilling lives. Learning to visualize and let go can be challenging but it can be just as rewarding, it is as simple as changing the way you think and see the world. 

First lets start with the letting go part as it is a little ambiguous. Letting go is not about just being free, wild, and care free, this is only part of it. Letting go is about letting go of any fears, anger or resentment that is holding you back from achieving your dreams and goals. When you look deep down inside there is always some sort of fear holding you back; the fear of failing, what people will think of you, how you will look to others, not being enough, someone not loving you, and so so so many more fears hold us back. Fear is what holds us and causes us to stay in situations or places that are not accessing our potential, the fear of leaving these situations are often greater than the unhappiness of the situation so we choose to not do anything. We must consciously choose to let go of the fear, or fears, that hold us back to access our full potential.

Crossing the finish line of my first official race

I get a lot of emails, texts, and other messages asking how to release fear. Well it's simple you just do it. I know it sounds too simple to be true but it is the truth. So what if you fail? You just pick yourself and stuff back up and try again. Scared of people judging you, well chances are honey that they are more focused on their lives and their own fears they do not even notice what you are doing, and the ones that do notice are not going to judge as those are the people that love and care about you. What about haters you ask, well haters are always going to hate and do you want to know why, it's because they are too scared to over come their own fears of their own situations so they attack others who try. 

All you need to do to release your fear is to just realize that it does not exist and that whatever you fear you can conquer.  It sounds easier said then done but it is true you just have to do it, and sometimes I need a little reminder that my fears are not real and to give them a good boot to the door as well. I will give an example from my yoga practice; there is this pose called the crow pose and for years I could not do it and why because I was too scared I would fall on my face, then one day it came to me, even if I fall the worst that is going to happen is that I will catch myself before I hit the ground. I began facing my fear of falling and failing in this pose every morning when I took to my mat, and guess what I did fall few times, one time I actually didn't catch myself and got a little hurt, but I still continued to face my fears, release them, and just let go until I finally was able to access my full potential and succeed in the pose.

Visualization is the second part to accessing your full potential as a human beings. Most of us have heard of visualization and may have even used it once or twice before. A lot of successful professionals, athletes, actors, musicians and the such use it to help them train themselves for "go time" and success in their chosen profession. We can all use visualization to our advantage and in our daily lives as well, all you have to do is visualize yourself being successful in what ever it is you want to do. Visualize what it would feel like, what it would look like, invoke all your senses when doing visualization; sight, sound, touch, taste. When you add all your senses and feelings into your visualization it makes it more real and makes your conciseness and subconsciousness believe that it is happening/will happen. You can also use visualization when letting go of your fears, visualize what it would look like to let that fear go, how it would feel, what would change, and so on and so forth. I did a lot of visualization during training for my very first official race, I visualized me crossing the finish line, I saw myself reaching my goal time, I felt how it would feel, I tasted the saltiness of my sweat, I visualized it all, and then finally on the day of I succeeded and it was actually better than my visualization. 

There you go!! Now it's your go time!!! I have added two more amazing tools to your tool box to help you access a life that you deserve and help you to access your full potential in life. These are simple enough that you can practice them everyday anywhere, so go on and get on it! I know you are all capable of greatness, now go show me that greatness I know is there!