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Potential; n. – existing and ready for action but not yet active

While musing (hey, it’s what we do here!) on the shiny brand new year that’s preparing to unfold before us, the word potential seems to keep reverberating inside my brain (sound of pebble rattling around in an empty coffee can; hopefully it’s not the sign of an otherwise empty head!)

Let’s do a simple thought-experiment. (It’s OK; I promise it won’t hurt much a bit.) Imagine, if you would, that you hold in your hot little hands a single piece of plain white paper. Now answer me this: what would you say is the potential of that piece of paper?

Just like a plain piece of paper which, when properly folded turns into an amazing work of art, potential is revealed only after an action or activity is completed; never before. Nevertheless, it’s still there – hidden, biding its time, patiently waiting for the one single influence that triggers a cascade of activity and results in a change of state.

There’s a fascinating experiment we used to do in High School: creating something called a supersaturated solution. When you dissolve a normally crystalline substance into a nearly-boiling solvent (such as dissolving salt in hot water), it results in a very highly-concentrated salt solution; far more concentrated that what you could normally manage at room temperature.

The heat is what makes the difference. However, once enough salt has been added to the water, the solution is then slowly cooled back to room temperature again. It still looks like clear water at this point, but here’s where the fun begins.

When you drop a single grain of salt (called a seed crystal) into the solution, you’ll see an amazing transformation take place right before your eyes. A crystal forms, then lots of crystals form, and finally the water completely disappears and you’re left with nothing but a solid crystalline mass!

(If you ever saw the first Superman movie, it’s a lot like when he throws that mysterious green crystal into the Arctic Sea and voila! the Fortress of Solitude pops up; it’s just about as fast, too! It can be quite astonishing the first time you see it for yourself.)

See, once in that supersaturated solution state, the potential of a solid mass of crystal was there. As long as it wasn’t disturbed, the solution remained in equilibrium and nothing changed. But all it took was just a teeny tiny little push to begin the dramatic transformation from one state to another.

OK, back to the new year and all…

The question before the jury today is, well, what potential is present in your life – hidden, biding it’s time; waiting for that one inspiring influence, that trigger, to set it free?

When I was a kid (er, human, not goat), I remember daydreaming about what I’d end up doing in life. Not that I was a deep thinker or anything – hey, I was just a kid, after all! I mean, it wasn’t like I spent a lot of time pondering Where Babies Come From, The Meaning of Life (questions I’m just now getting around to) or How Many Pennies Can I Hold In One Hand (307 – and yes, I checked).

Naw; it was more along the lines of What I Would Be When I Grew Up (and to be perfectly honest, I still wonder about this one). Actually, I do remember wanting to be an intergalactic explorer, or at least a spaceman (because being a fireman seemed, well, way too dangerous).

But the one thing I had in abundance, and I didn’t even realize it, was a heaping measure of potential. So what was it that, um, crystallized my current state? Well, over the years, it’s been a series of events and influences; sometimes seemingly quite insignificant.

For instance; here are just three examples of how my own hidden potential was unleashed by a pivotal moment:

• My grandmother changed my life when she simply turned my attention from one type of toy to another.
• Who knew my entire career path would change one day while I was just trying to do my job?
• My “inner writer” was unleashed when I started blogging on June 22, 2006. (Actually, it was June 21 – but my first attempt was so pathetic I deleted it and started over the next day. I could give you the link – but I wrote mostly dreck for the first few months, so why bother?)

Now here’s an interesting thing about potential. It gives us the capacity to become, well, larger than ourselves.

You remember that supersaturated salt solution? Well, once it crystallized, it occupied a greater volume than when it was still in a liquid state. That’s because the salt molecules occupy more space when in crystal form than when in the liquid state.

Like a shadow on a wall, our own potential is, well, much bigger than we are. But here’s the thing – until it’s unleashed and realized, it’s still just a shadow: two-dimensional and insubstantial.

Hmmm…

OK; color me curious now. Can you think of at least one pivotal moment where your hidden potential came to light?

Origami figure rings4 by Robert J. Lang
Me And My Teen Spirit by sosij

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