As per Hindu religious scriptures, Hanuman was the avatar of Lord Shiva and one of the most powerful Gods. There is a fascinating story about him. Lord Brahma had blessed Hanuman with many boons. Hanuman was very mischievous as a child, and once, he even tried to gulp the Sun thinking of it to be a fruit. As a child, he was not mature enough to understand his powers and how to control them.
Hence Great Sages became enraged and cursed Hanuman that until the time was right, he would forget about all his might. Also, he would only remember his powers when someone would remind Hanuman of them. And that time his powers would return.
Hence, when he was searching for Sita, Jamavanth reminded him of his powers, and only then he was able to cross the ocean as all his powers returned. Hanuman helped in Lord Ram’s victory over Ravan, and this could only happen because Hanuman was able to recognize his potential.
Most of us know this story, yet very few of us have tried to realize our hidden potential so far. We keep limiting our potential by limiting our thoughts, not realizing that the mightiest power in us is the power of thinking. It is time for us to finally learn to employ our intellectual energy for our growth and evolution.
We realize our souls have the potential to learn, experience, and evolve; however, we do not realize that our souls are the actual potential. Innumerable times we ignore our inner voices communicating our strengths to us, as these voices drown in the noises coming from outside.
There are four ways our awareness works as per the Johari window. Johari window is a psychological tool created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955.
Johari window illustrates that we have traits or strengths which can be divided into four windows.
1. Open: Traits we possess and know, and others also know about them.
2. Blind: Traits we don’t know, but others know about them.
3. Hidden: Traits we know but others don’t know about us
4. Dark: Traits we possess, but we and others don’t know about them.
As you can see, it’s relatively straightforward for us to move from window 2 and 3 to window 1; however, what can we do in cases where even we do not recognize our potential?
1. Find what makes you happy: So many times, we end up doing things that make others happy and not what we are naturally inclined to. Ask yourself if you are doing things for others or yourself and making your decisions based on it? Choose what makes you happy and not something which makes you miserable.
2. Help Others: Sometimes, while helping others, we realize the capabilities we fail to experience otherwise. Empathize with people and help them whenever you can
3. Self-awareness: Be in the moment. Spend some time with yourself. Talk to yourself as you talk to a friend. Find out more about yourself? What do you like, what do you want to do, and why you sometimes behave the way you do? Self-awareness can help you find your hidden potential.
4. Being open to new possibilities: Be open to new experiences and possibilities. Don’t turn away from something just because it’s unique. Who knows, you might end up loving it? Opportunity to teach a class, write a poem or invitation to speak at an invent. Don’t decline it just because you have never done it before.
5. Don’t hide: We should not appear boastful, so we try to hide our strengths. Please don’t do it! Someone might see that strength in you and help you polish it and help you achieve something you have never accomplished before. So Shine on!!
And when you finally find that potential, know what to do with it as
there is nothing more unfortunate than not being able to use your potential!
Vibha S Kapil
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