It's Not The Sun Rising But Our Potential
Rise Above It All
Welcome to a special midweek edition of YouTopian Journey, a Substack featured publication. We are off this Sunday due to the Memorial Day Holiday in the United States. I hope everyone has a great holiday and we have some big news coming your way. This week we discuss why you must rise to your potential.
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Now onto the good stuff.
THE PULL OF THE HERD
“Ours is not an age that wants heroes. Ours is an age of envy, in which laziness and self-involvement are the rule. Anyone who tries to shine, who dares to stand above the crowd, is dragged down by his lackluster and self-appointed “peers”.”-Douglas Gillette, King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine.
How many times has it happened?
How many times have you made a profound discovery that moved you and took command of your mind? Of your body? Of your entire existence?
How many times have you excitedly shared these findings with your family and friends only to have them burst your bubble? To reduce your flame into ash?
How many times have you shared on social media only to be met with silence?
This happens more often than we care to admit and destroys more people than we realize.
It begins so magically. We have an experience that causes us to think differently and consider options and paths into new worlds. This experience unlocks a passion within us that we didn’t know existed. Suddenly, we are restless, spending our time researching, networking, planning, and thinking. We can see options for a future that was unfathomable just mere weeks ago. Our newfound potential is visible to us and us alone.
We must share it. Surely, our friends, our family, our teachers and colleagues will readily accept our discoveries.
However, we couldn’t be more wrong. All of a sudden, our new ideas and newfound potential is silenced once it is shared with our personal network. We are met with a cold dose of reality, blank stares, and excuses.
You? Really?
You have no experience.
You have no connections.
You have no resources.
You aren’t a right fit.
Why now?
Don’t you have other things you can focus on?
I don’t think it’s going to work.
Don’t rock the boat.
This is enough to pull us down and return us to the muck and mire of society. It is enough to make us long for the safety of the crowd, to hold fast to mediocrity. The multitude, they embrace this fate. Many never escape once they are confronted with such questions and opinions. They are destroyed before they even begin, never again looking to reignite the spark of potential that was ready to set the world ablaze.
You cannot let yourself fall into this trap. You must protect the flame of potential you have within, or else it will be snuffed out (and some even enjoy snuffing out the flames of others, beware of them).
So many have already been pulled down into the abyss of conformity, submission, and safety. You must not add to their numbers. You must keep going, in spite of what everyone else thinks.
You must keep the flame alive!
Progress is made by those who didn’t give up. They continued to move forward, always full of doubt, sometimes alone, but always to victory. They lived up to and even surpassed their potential in every possible way.
The scientist who makes a discovery that forever changes the world.
The creative who creates a piece of work that people come to rely on, and in turn, changes their lives.
The entrepreneur who starts a company that changes an entire generation and those to come.
These individuals unlock a piece of themselves that the majority are afraid to even recognize (few actually do). They once faced the pull of their peers, but instead focused on their potential and kept going.
You can do this as well.
Find that special project that is meaningful and special to you. Go after it with every ounce of your being. Learn just how capable you are and what you can actually achieve.
You will have no need for the opinions and thoughts of others as you will be lightyears ahead of them in every possible way.
“There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming.”-Soren Kierkegaard
INFINITE POTENTIAL
“Every human life contains a potential, if that potential is not fulfilled, then that life was wasted...”-Carl Jung
How does one recognize the powers of potential and unlock them?
Simple.
By doing what they can each and every day.
It is that easy and that difficult. The days are already busy and there isn’t a moment to spare. But this mentality is already self-defeating and you must avoid it all costs. You must look at the possibilities that each new day brings forth.
First you must realize that every day is a gift. It is a chance to fulfill your potential. To hammer away at meaninglessness until it becomes meaningful. To attack the void until it is given form. It is the privilege of being alive. Each new day brings a new chance for success.
Yet the multitude waste this gift. They view each new day as something to get through rather than grow through. The possibility of the new day is traded for distractions and drama. That new show that must be binged, that sale that can’t be missed, the event that needs to be attended, the destination that must be reached and can’t be postponed. Nothing constructive comes from this, only the killing of time and the wasting away of opportunities.
You cannot make this mistake. If you already have, then there is still time to correct it. Still time to set a new course and a new routine. Still time to forge and stick with this new routine and witness the results of your efforts.
It is only through using your time and every day provided that you can grow and ultimately realize your potential.
Metaphorically, it isn’t only the sun that rises everyday but our potential. We can choose to rise with it. We can choose to take on the difficulties of our tasks and do our best with what we have. Or we can choose to hide in the shade, wasting our time, paying no attention to anything that is meaningful.
Know that every day is a chance for kindness, for knowledge, for growth, and for achievement.
But it is up to you to recognize this opportunity and act on it.
Up to you to seize the day.
Up to you to focus on the task at hand.
Up to you to use your time wisely.
Up to you to recognize that your potential can rise as high and mighty as the sun or remain subterranean.
The choice is yours.
“One's only rival is one's own potentialities. One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities. In this sense, every man can be a king, and must therefore be treated like a king.”-Abraham Maslow
JOIN ME
I have the honor to be speaking at the Talent to Money Summit June 7th and 8th where I will be discussing YouTopian Journey, purpose, time, as well as making your business a priority. It is being put on by The Ask, a substack publication which I had the honor of being interviewed by last year. It’s free and you can sign up here.
ONE LAST THING
None of this would be possible without help from subscribers like you. If you know someone who could benefit from this issue, please share it. We need forward thinking and courageous individuals who can put their creativity to use and benefit not only their peers, but society at large.
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There is a lot of cool stuff on the horizon. If you want to be involved and help the community grow, drop me a comment. You can also comment on what you thought of the issue. It truly makes me happy to see how my work is motivating, inspiring, and helping you in your endeavors.
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I’m Shaun Gold and if you are reading this, you are already on your journey. Catch you next week.
Your-best revenge and plan should be working on making your life as good as it can be.
Yes it is the human journey to convert tamasic mind states to rajasic ones, and rajasic mind states to saatvic ones. One tries more and more to be predominantly in the sattva mode. Then as bhakti towards the Lord and compassion for all matures, the Guru manifests and through his teaching one understands that in one’s true nature, one is not affected by the Gunas at all. This is termed as “transcending the Gunas”. This is not an action but knowledge of one’s true nature, and abidance in it.