Sunday 25 March 2012

Actualize Your Potentials

Every individual is born with certain potentials, gifts or talents he has received from the nature. These potentials can be in areas of logical, linguistic, spatial, musical, physical-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal etc. However they are in the seed form and need to be identified and developed.

We strive hard to fulfil our various kinds of needs like bodily needs, mental development needs, needs related to social acceptance and self-esteem but very rarely look towards our other most important need; the need to actualize our potentials. As the un-fulfilment of other needs creates discomfort within a person, so too the un-fulfilment of the need to actualize our potentials.
A person may have the potential of becoming a  great musician and have deep interest in music, but due to external factors he is be pushed to become an engineer, doctor or CA as those career fields appears to be more lucrative. Taking this direction can be dangerous for this person because he has overlooked his need to actualize his potentials. There is no surprise then why majority of working people are dissatisfied with their jobs despite having all materialistic comfort in their life. They find no joy and interest in their work, its challenges are perceived as burden and organizations have to constantly device new ways of motivating their employees.
Actualization of potentials also has a spiritual dimension. It leads one to the state of self-transcendence, a state where person become so engrossed in the activity or work that he losses sense of self and time. Being in that state is always energising and enlightening and each of us has some time or the other experienced it in our own life. This is also what Lord Krishna indicated to in Bhagwat Gita when he remarked, “Yoga: Karmsu Kaushalam” (perfection in work is yoga).