Shiny Bits of the Soul

Potential.

You know. That thing, that energy, that art representing your [essential] self. All those shiny bits at hand to make you a better, richer, bigger, fuller version. All those personal treasures clamoring to be shared with friends and family and the whole wide world.

Yeah. That.

So, I have to ask: Is there anything worse than unrealized potential?

You know. Wasted talent. Ignored talent. Talent dumped on the side of the road when the pack became too heavy. Talent left on a sunny windowsill to dry out – choke out – for want of a splash of water to feed the spirit. Talent as blessed jewels thrown in a drawer of Someday. Talent pushed aside when reality got … real.

There’s a world full of people who bemoan wasted opportunities, wasted time, wasted lives. They curse decisions that took them away from themselves. Away from the promised opportunities whispered in their ears by Talent as they slept. Compromises that steered them from the golden roads that led to the golden lands in which their best selves (best artists and doctors and musicians and zoologists) dwelled. Golden roads now merged onto the serviceable macadam of obligation, practicality, and a faded Someday.

But, isn’t that just the way it is? We dream, we grow, we compromise, we understand. We put aside foolishness. We make do. We replace dreams with responsible choices. We construct lives of measured contentment. We become accustomed to the road. We travel on.

But, I say we travel the wrong way.

I say, we may abandon our talents, but Talent is patient. It waits for us. It waits because - even buried and ignored - it is an inseparable part of us. In every stage of life, from our Technicolor childhoods to the quiet blue evenings of our final days, it waits. It lurks, blinking at us from around random corners and peeping up from the hard soil of Too-Little-Time. It waits, ready to fly forth on the first breath of encouragement. And, if we ignore it, it lies dormant and waits. If we reject it, it lies dormant and waits. If we take the path From, it lies dormant, waiting for one thought, one look, one receptive ear, one indication that is time – finally time – to turn over that next clump of fertilized soil from which Talent can take root – again – and bloom.

You know.

Like now.