Soul Mates: Understanding Potential

People who are involved in soul connections that have gone awry find themselves frustrated and confused. These are the people who find their way to me for coaching or readings. The word potential is often bandied about during these sessions which got me to thinking about what exactly potential means in terms of ourselves. The best way to look at potential and what could be the result,is from both sides. Greatness cannot be achieved by re-writing your life's script in order to place blame on others for mistakes and bad choices you once made and then act as if they never existed. If everyone, or selected others, are to blame for all of your failures then there is no need to face the responsibility of being an adult. It is always a failure when you do not treat people (or animals) with respect and dignity. Greatness cannot be achieved by living, or surrounding yourself with people that are mediocre at best, and deluding yourself that they are something more. Greatness cannot be achieved by ignoring your personal problems and issues that need to be addressed in order to live a healthier life. Greatness cannot be achieved by hiding your emotions and living in fear, including fear of love. Greatness cannot be achieved by thinking you are the leading authority on so many things. Some of our greatest inventors and scientists never thought that they were authorities. Greatness cannot be achieved by earning loads of money and worshiping at the totem of the material god. So then, what is greatness? Greatness is living your life with integrity. This is done by telling the truth, owning up to mistakes, acting on promises made, and placing value on good relationships, enough to do the aforementioned. Greatness is achieved by doing what is right by others even if it seems impossible to the ego to do so. Greatness is achieved by not constantly trying to take the easier path in life. Greatness is achieved by not living in the moment, at the expense of others. Greatness is achieved by a true sense of gratitude. Greatness is achieved by genuinely caring for others as much as you care about your own welfare and actually doing something about it. Greatness is achieved by always being willing to learn and to experiment with things. Greatness is achieved by understanding that we alone have the power to design the lives we want, and then to start doing so. Greatness is achieved by recognizing that our actions, or lack of action, does have an impact on other people and we are responsible for the hurt as well as the joy that result from action. Greatness is achieved by being honest with yourself. You cannot hide from yourself. Greatness is achieved by honest and forthright communication. Greatness is achieved by showing unconditional love towards others and accepting the failings of those we love as we do for ourselves. We can choose to live in mediocrity as our life path of course and many people do. For most, life will be fine, but for a person destined for much more, the mediocre life will leave them restless and constantly unsatisfied. The difference in living in mediocrity instead of striving to make that potential for greatness a reality, is where my insight ends.It's where we must come to understand in relating to others that potential is not reality. When we do this, perhaps inner peace can be found.